Nov 7, 2009 9:32 am US/Pacific
U Of Tenn Embraces Sustainability
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) ―
The University of Tennessee's flagship campus is riding a green wave that is sweeping across campuses nationally.
UT-Knoxville has ramped up its recycling efforts. It has rolled out an extensive energy savings and carbon reduction program. And it is encouraging staff and students to ride the bus and turn off the lights.
Some university programs are even incorporating environmental awareness into the curriculum — notably, the UT College of Architecture and Design.
"By end of next academic year, every course in their college will have a sustainability component," UT spokesman Jay Mayfield told the Knoxville News Sentinel.
Some peer pressure is involved. Colleges are now being ranked on their eco-enlightenment by the Sierra Club, the College Sustainability Report Card and the survey-based Princeton Review.
"It seems to be the students that are pushing this movement," said David Soto, the Princeton Review's director of college ratings.
UT-Knoxville scored 85 out of a possible 100 in the Princeton Review and received a "B'' on the College Sustainability report card. It was not one of the 135 institutions included on the Sierra Club list.
The university compares well with other large Southern institutions, Mayfield said.
"We pay attention to the rankings, but I think the concern is much more evaluating against ourselves and trying to improve our operations," he said.
At UT's College of Architecture and Design, sustainability has become a core around which the program is orienting itself, according to faculty members.
Last year, the college announced the goal of being a carbon-neutral design campus by 2010. The initiative promised to incorporate "the elimination or reduction of the need for fossil fuel as a central tenet in its design education."
Today, all fourth-year students must design a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified building and all courses taught in the architecture program include concepts of sustainability.
"We just feel like it's the way you design," said James Rose, a lecturer at the school.
With that foundation, the school has launched a project called UTZero in which both undergraduate and graduate students design buildings that are energy self-sustaining, experimenting with new technologies and designs along the way.
Their homework: design and build a fully functioning, energy efficient, solar-powered house for the U.S. Department of Energy's 2011 Solar Decathlon competition.
Across UT's academic programs, efforts to weave sustainability into everyday instruction are taking root, said John Nolt, co-chair of UT's Committee on Campus Environment.
"I think there's been a steady growth in the importance of the environment and environmental issues in the curriculum," he said. "Given the crucial importance of climate change right now, I don't see that reversing. Students need to be educated about what's going on in their world."
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Information from: The Knoxville News Sentinel, http://www.knoxnews.com
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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