Oregon Campus Compact

UO Students Enjoy Fruits of Their Labor

2009-11-30T06:01:00.000-08:00

Hintze, H. Kezi.

EUGENE, Ore.-- In September, about ten freshmen from the University of Oregon participated in Project Tomato. They went to local farms and picked 900 pounds of tomatoes, then hand-processed each one to make pizza sauce.

This week, the Carson Dining Hall is celebrating "Farm to Table" where students and staff get to eat locally grown food. "I'm a big fan of the healthfood swing that we're moving to in our country and I think it's better when we use natural local products," says freshman AJ Gorton.

Project Tomato students finally get to eat the fruits of their labor--every pizza made this week will use the student's sauce. "I think it's really cool so many students are eating something I made and I love cooking, so it's awesome," says Ashley Anderson, who participated in the project.

The Carson Dining Chef Manager says staff make 144 pizzas each day. That's more than 2,300 slices!

Pet Talk: Portland's new pet food bank was decades in the making

2009-11-30T05:53:00.000-08:00

Von Lunen, J. Oregon Live.

You don't build what might end up being the largest pet food bank in the country overnight. At least not if you're Larry Chusid. You build slowly, carefully, tuned in for signals that it's time to take the next step.

The Pongo Fund Pet Food Bank, a huge effort to help not just pets but also families in need that opens across from the Oregon Convention Center on Sunday, has been in the making for decades.

It started with two dogs tied to a shopping cart downtown some 30 years ago. Chusid, then a student at Portland State University, wanted to help the companions of a homeless man he always saw near campus and bought them a bag of dog food.

This gesture was not extraordinary for Chusid. For years, he made care packages of food and sundries and handed them out to those without shelter, helping however he could.

Meanwhile, he ran several successful businesses and had dogs of his own. The last, Pongo, died in October 2007.

Later that month, Chusid got the first signal to focus his charitable efforts. He noticed two dogs at a homeless campsite and stopped to ask their owners if they'd be OK for Thanksgiving. The people said they'd be fine, but none of the food pantries had pet food. Could Chusid get them food for the pups?

That's how the Pongo Fund started. Soon Chusid was handing out pet food to homeless owners all over town. Since that Thanksgiving two years ago, he estimates, he's given out more than 100,000 pet meals. That also helps the people, who would otherwise feed their own rations to the pets.

This year, Chusid got the next signal to move forward. He was getting pet food out of his car on a freezing day in January when a woman stopped.

"What are you doing?" she inquired.

"I'm feeding homeless pets," Chusid replied.

"No, you're not."

"Really? What am I doing then?"

"You're feeding the soul of a family," the woman replied.

She was a social worker on her way to check on a family in dire straits. About a month earlier, the parents had told their children that there just wasn't enough money to feed everyone, that they didn't want the dog to go hungry and that it would go to live with a family who could afford to feed it.

Now the woman was going to see the family because the children had become despondent -- and not just because their dog, and the emotional support it provided, was gone. The children thought they'd be next in line to go live somewhere else if money was tight again.

Chusid realized there was a whole population on the verge of homelessness that had never had to worry about hunger before.

"The people on the street, they know where they can get food," he says. "It's the people indoors, suffering silently, that don't know where to go."

In April, Chusid went to a pet-product trade show and happened to meet the owners of Canidae Pet Foods, the California company that had supported the Pongo Fund from the start. He told them he had an idea for a pet food bank in Portland for people struggling to pay their bills who might give up their pets otherwise.

The Canidae people shocked Chusid by offering $125,000 worth of food on the spot. He had to tell them he wasn't ready yet.

He now needed a space, volunteers, grants and fundraisers. He needed to form a nonprofit organization. Hoping for tips on how to find free legal services for doing so, Chusid went to see Alan Jensen, a high-powered tax attorney and partner at the law firm Holland & Knight with deep connections to Portland's animal community.

They talked and it turned out that Jensen used to see, out of his old office window, the same homeless man for whom Chusid had bought a bag of dog food 30 years earlier. Jensen particularly remembered the man feeding a dog part of a sandwich, which the dog spit out.

This encapsulated the lose-lose situation an increasing number of people are in: because of lack of pet food, the owner ends up with less to eat and the dog still doesn't get properly fed.

Chusid ended up getting a nationally renowned attorney to work for him for free. Then the Portland Development Commission provided space, and the Portland-based Hedinger Family Foundation got on board.

Now pallets upon pallets of pet food are sitting in a warehouse on Northeast Martin Luther King Boulevard, ready for the doors to open. There are three semitrailers' worth of kibble and cans -- more pet food than you've ever seen.

The demand to meet that supply is there. The two other pet food banks in the Portland area -- both at least 15 miles from downtown -- have given out increasing amounts of food since they opened. In Sherwood, the Cat Adoption Team's food bank, the larger and older of the two, gave out 2,500 pounds of cat food just in the past month. And people are coming from as far as Vancouver and Troutdale.

Local agencies are welcoming the new resource. 211info, a local call center that provides information about emergency food, shelter and health services to anyone who needs it, will now point clients with pets to the Pongo Fund.

"I was really thrilled to hear about Larry's project," says Susan Salisbury, a resource specialist with 211info. "We've been looking for a service like this for some time."

Even the state will send people to the Pongo Fund. Chusid told a local caseworker for the Oregon Department of Human Services about his plans a while ago. The caseworker asked her boss if she could tell her clients about the pet food bank. The answer was yes.

"When I heard about this I thought, 'What a great idea,' " says Gene Evans, a department spokesman. "When people hear food stamps don't cover pet food, they ask what they're supposed to do. Now caseworkers can point out this resource."

Chusid is ready for them now. He is planning on handing out eight tons of food a month. That's 16,000 pounds -- more than a thousand large bags of food. While no one compiles national statistics for this kind of thing, according to media reports from other cities, these numbers would make the Pongo Fund the largest pet food bank in the country.

Not that that matters.

"The numbers aren't the important thing," Chusid says in his self-effacing manner. He's a little uncomfortable being in the spotlight.

"For years only the homeless knew about me. Now I'm shining a light on this to say we all could help."

After-school Health Lesson is Succeeding

2009-11-30T05:39:00.000-08:00

Achen, P. Mail Tribune.

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Fifth-grader Mikaela Degrande used to think General Mills Honey Nut Cheerios was a relatively healthy choice for breakfast until she discovered a serving of the cereal has nine times more sugar than plain Cheerios.

Mikaela said she never thought about sugar content in her breakfast cereal until she began participating this fall in Be A Fit Kid, a free after-school program at Medford's Griffin Creek Elementary School.

Published studies from July 2008 by the program's founder, Jenny Slawta, in Health Promotion Practice show that program participants generally improve their body-fat composition, fitness, nutritional knowledge and dietary habits and reduce their cholesterol and triglyceride levels.Be A Fit Kid, a program of the Medford-based Healthy Kids Now nonprofit organization, provides students with after-school fitness activities and nutritional lessons in the form of noncompetitive games for about two hours twice a week at Griffin Creek and Jacksonville elementary schools.

Slawta, a Southern Oregon University associate professor of health, developed the program in 2002 in response to the national childhood obesity epidemic and local reductions in nutrition and physical fitness education at schools because of state budget cuts.

The number of obese children in the United States has nearly quadrupled in the past 30 years, driving up the rate of type 2 diabetes and heart disease in adolescents and young adults, according to the National Institutes of Health.

About 45 students attend the after-school program at Griffin Creek from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays. Slawta and SOU health and physical education students staff the program.

Last Wednesday, students ran on the track and jumped on benches, an activity meant to promote bone growth, played tunnel tag and did an obstacle course.

"We vary it so there is something new each time," said SOU senior Carolina Campbell.

"I like it," said fifth-grader Leiah Calice. "You get to play all these cool games and run on the track."

After the physical exercise, students go indoors to learn about nutrition. Slawta brought them a worksheet showing how many grams of sugar are in common breakfast cereals. One of the highest was Raisin Bran. However, Slawta cautioned, that's because of natural sugar content from raisins, which is not the kind of sugar consumers should be wary of. What children and their parents should limit is cereals that are high in processed sugar.

"You shouldn't eat that much sugar," Mikaela said, demonstrating some of her nutritional knowledge from the program. "You should only eat a little each day."

Students at Griffin Creek receive at least one 40-minute period of physical education per week, but teachers have the discretion to hold PE classes up to 40 minutes a day five times a week, said Principal Ginny Hicks.

Slawta recommends that children have at least 60 minutes of vigorous physical activity per day for optimal health. Adults should have at least 60 minutes of moderate exercise per day, defined as the exertion required for brisk walking, she said.

Slawta's curriculum also provides detailed nutritional information, including the benefits of certain kinds of food, and emphasizes a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, unsaturated fats, such as olive oil, and whole grains and low in saturated fat and sugar.

"It's better to eat fresh or frozen fruit than canned," said fifth-grader Taylor Stevens. Canned fruit loses nutrients during the heating process and often is stored in syrup, which escalates the sugar content.

"I find kids are extremely receptive to the nutritional component and very receptive to trying new foods," Slawta said.

In the past, she has brought foods such hummus, millet oat bran cereal and vegetable pizza with minimal cheese for children in the program to try, and the majority of them try the foods without much ado and enjoy the taste.

"You have to get out of the mind-set that a child's palate is different," Slawta said. "Some parents are more worried about their children eating than what they are eating. Children need to be accustomed to eating healthy when they're young."

She encourages kids to try a food several times before deciding they dislike it.

"It takes kids at least six times to start liking something," Slawta said.

Be A Fit Kid also supplies nutritional curriculum to teachers at nine schools in Jackson County for use during classes, including Medford's Oak Grove, Jackson, Kennedy, Wilson, Howard and Washington elementary schools, Central Point's Scenic Middle School, Phoenix Elementary School and Children of the Kingdom, a Waldorf preschool at Bigham Knoll in Jacksonville.

Student nurses from Oregon Health & Science University at the SOU campus teach the curriculum mostly during the school day, said Joan Smith, the students' OHSU clinical instructor.

Schools that offer federally funded free and reduced lunch programs, which include most public schools, are required to have a wellness policy on file. Teachers often don't have time to complete the nutritional instruction that goes along with that, so OHSU students are able to fill that gap, Smith said.

"My students and the elementary children are having a blast," Smith said.

What OR Campus Compact did on its summer vacation!

2009-10-27T11:46:00.000-07:00

School has started and, for some, fall break has already come and gone!

What did Oregon Campus Compact do over its summer “vacation”? Well, we brought together critical partners to get things done in communities across the state of Oregon and we grew our team! It all adds up…

OR Campus Compact + the Corporation for National and Community Service + the Portland Schools Foundation + 37 Students from 9 Member Campuses = 14,800 hours of service + Inspiration for Rising Ninth Graders

37 AmeriCorps VISTA Members addressed the critical issue of high school completion and access to post-secondary education over the summer. In ten weeks, the Members worked with 600 rising ninth graders and nearly 200 parents or caregivers. Together they provided over 14, 800 hours of service to the community. Members created capacity for nonprofits and schools through volunteer recruitment, parent education, curriculum development, and creating mentoring programs. The Portland Schools Foundation Ninth Grade Counts program provided the focus and impetus for the summer pilot. Together we made ninth grade count!

OR Campus Compact + the Corporation for National and Community Service + 13 Member Campuses = A year ahead of Getting Things Done!

19 AmeriCorps VISTA Members began their year of service on your campuses across the state. The year ahead shows great promise as these members build the capacity of your programs to address poverty across Oregon. Members will be building community partnerships, connecting students and faculty to service, and inspiring us all to a lifetime of community engagement.

OR Campus Compact + the Corporation for National and Community Service + Washington Campus Compact + 17 Member Campuses = 460 Education Awards + 138,000 hours of service in Oregon communities

The OR Campus Compact Students In Service (SIS) program recently launched its sixth year. This regional program, hosted by Washington Campus Compact, decreases student educational expenses by awarding AmeriCorps education awards for student service. In return for education awards, students complete a 300-hour community-based learning experience through direct service and reflection. This year aims to be the largest year yet for engaging students in service through SIS.

OR Campus Compact = A great team!

I am happy to introduce a few new faces to our team. Their bios are below, but I wanted to add my welcome to Signe Bishop, Julia Sylla, and Megan Rosenberger. They are all three working diligently to bring our work to a new statewide scale, depth, and quality.

And what’s ahead this year?

This year OR Campus Compact will continue its work in the following areas: 1) decreasing student educational expenses through distribution of financial awards for student service; 2) increased placement of ORCC AmeriCorps*VISTA Members on campuses; 3) connecting campuses to local, national and international engagement resources and opportunities; and 4) delivering professional development convenings for students, faculty and staff.

OR Campus Compact will continue to communicate opportunities through our monthly ENews, website, as well as through our new Twitter feed (ORCompact). Please bookmark our website to keep the opportunity calendar on your radar! The opportunities will be abundant for our members.

In Service,
Emily

Announcing the 2009/10 Oregon Campus Compact Student Advisory Board!

2009-05-26T12:51:00.000-07:00

Representing service-minded students from across the state, the board will bring a strong student voice to the Compact, while playing a leading role in the development of our student engagement programs.

Please take a moment to read about this year’s board members:

Robert Bell

Rogue Community College - Grants Pass, OR / Northwest Christian University - Eugene, OR

Robert, currently attending RCC and then transferring to NCU in the fall, is the 2008/09 ASRCC President, has lobbied for Oregon students on a state-level, and is also a leader within multiple on-campus student clubs, including the Inter Club Council and Christ on Campus Club. Welcome, Robert!

Erick Castillo

Portland Community College - Portland, OR

Erick is a student coordinator and mentor for the ROOTS program, which supports the success of first-generation college students, as well as founder of the Peace Club and an advocate within the Student Parent Network and the Multicultural Center on his campus. Welcome, Erick!

Emily Johnson

Willamette University - Salem, OR

Emily is an active member of the Community Action and Awareness Team on her campus, a group dedicated to enhancing the visibility of social justice issues and community service opportunities, as well as president of the Best Buddies Club and an on-going volunteer with several community groups. Welcome Emily!

Colin Jones

Linfield College - McMinnville, OR

Colin, who led an alternative spring break team to New Orleans this past March, is an active member in the forensics (speech and debate) team and honor society (Pi Kappa Delta), as well as a leader within student government as an ASLC Senate Chairperson and Secretary of the Linfield Activities Board. Welcome Colin!

Amber Lang

Portland State University - Portland, OR

Amber, an active member of PSU's Student Leaders for Service group, which fosters relationships between service-minded students and community organizations, also runs an EDG:E after school program, and coordinates service events including a 2009 MLK Day event with 150 volunteers participating. Welcome, Amber!

This pilot year board will consist of five amazing members, each bringing their own unique perspective as a leader within their campus and community. Keep an eye out for their endeavors and accomplishments throughout the year!

Portland State University - Sustainability Updates

2009-05-05T16:34:00.000-07:00

Ivy in the City: Sustainability and Higher Education in the Pacific Northwest

By Becky Brun, Sustainable Industries

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Wim Wiewel is facing the same issues that most university presidents are facing today: increasing student enrollment at a time when in-kind giving is down and states are dealing with budget shortfalls; keeping up with master plans that include major renovations and construction projects; staying on top of faculty research as well as students’ needs—and that’s just skimming the surface.

Wiewel is also trying to make Portland State University (PSU) a national leader in sustainable higher education. Recipient of a $25 million grant from The James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation for sustainability education, PSU is gaining even more traction in the sustainability arena. But the current recession could force Wiewel and other university leaders to take fewer risks on things such as new courses and degrees in 2009.

A native of The Netherlands, Wiewel is known for his charismatic leadership and his ability to ignite success in those around him. While the dean of the business school at the University of Illinois, Chicago, Wiewel took the business college from 94th to 49th on the U.S. News & World Report’s national business school rankings. Sustainable Industries caught up with Wiewel on the downtown campus of the state’s largest university to talk about Portland State’s role in helping Oregon become a world leader in sustainability and how his approach to leadership has changed during the current recession.

SI: You’ve said that part of your attraction to Portland and Portland State was the opportunity to apply research to tangible projects in the city. Now that you’ve been at PSU for a year, where do you see the biggest opportunities?

Wiewel: One of the things I had not spent much time thinking about until I came here is the sustainable practices of the institution itself. We are a large corporation, so how we conduct our business obviously matters. Here 62 percent of the faculty, staff and students use transportation other than the automobile to get here. We make the place attractive to bicyclists. We are a co-investor on many projects with Tri-Met. On the facilities side, we go beyond state requirement for green building.

Our Green Building Research Lab, where we develop and test new green building technologies provides workforce training and facilitates the adoption of energy-efficient technologies throughout the building industry. We are working with Glumac, Interface Engineering, PAE Consultants, Gerding Edlen, David Evans and Associates and we will be involving others.

SI: How is PSU prepared to be a national leader in sustainable education?

Wiewel: It already is. I think that we clearly have a lot of people that are doing research in this area. It’s diffused through a lot of the curriculum, so we draw both faculty and researchers who want to teach here, which then makes us more attractive to people who want to get degrees related to this area. Then the students become the workforce and entrepreneurs and the civic leaders who will continue to promote sustainability and enhance Portland’s ability to make sustainability an economic, cultural and social niche for this region.

Read the entire Sustainable Industries interview with Wiewel, as well as interviews with the University of Washington's Dan Poston, and San Francisco State University's Nancy Hayes at http://www.sustainableindustries.com/sijprofile/42019422.html?page=1.

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PSU Studies Effects of Green Roofs, Solar Arrays

Daily Journal of Commerce

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Three faculty members at Portland State University have won a grant to help them pay for their research into the effects of combining green roofs with solar arrays. Carl Wamser, a member of the university’s chemistry faculty; David Sailor, a mechanical and materials engineering faculty member; and Todd Rosenstiel, of the school’s biology faculty, received the $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. The trio’s project also is being supported by Portland General Electric, the city of Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services and the Oregon Built Environmental and Sustainable Technologies Center.

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Turning off the Lights: Hiring an Energy Manager Could be Key to Saving Money, Environment

By Wolf Donat, The Daily Vanguard

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Noelle Studer-Spevak believes that Portland State University needs an energy manager. One has merely to walk by the Millar Library or ASPSU office at 3 a.m. and see that all of the lights are on in order to agree with her. Studer-Spevak, the sustainability manager in the Finance and Administration Office, has been working to figure out how to add a Certified Energy Manager to the staff at PSU.

Certified Energy Managers are becoming more popular worldwide, serving industry, business and government. CEMs are professionally certified by the Association of Energy Engineers. Their job duties normally entail analyzing and mitigating energy usage. They track usage an implement new technologies and design changes in order to increase the efficiency of energy system operations.

One of the CEM’s duties would be to help Portland State honor its signing of the American College and University President’s Climate Commitment. The commitment, involving more than 600 universities and signed by former Portland State President Daniel Bernstine, promises that the participating universities will make efforts to become climate-neutral as soon as possible.

Intermediate steps toward the climate-neutrality goal would include overhauling the energy plan currently in place and coming up with a series of long-range steps toward the goal of climate neutrality. One of the issues that Studer-Spevak is facing is that in the face of a budget shortfall, the university has instituted a hiring freeze, meaning that an energy manager could not be hired. However, the university has also cut the utility budget, “and I’m not sure how we can cut the utility budget without someone to manage those cuts,” Studer-Spevak said. She knows that there are a multitude of things that can be done to save money and energy.

“In the past year, there have been several large projects we’ve done to save energy,” she said. “One of them is to replace all of the broken steam traps on campus.” The steam loops, like those surrounding Cramer Hall, transport steam from different boilers around campus in order to heat the buildings. “It’s been years since they were maintained,” Studer-Spevak said. Another maintenance project currently underway is cleaning the coils used to transmit heat. Dirt and dust tend to build up around the coils, significantly decreasing their efficiency.

While she wasn’t sure of the precise amount of money saved by the maintenance work, she said it was substantial. Though she would like to see that money go toward other energy-saving projects, “the money will be swept into other areas that need money.” “Our hope is that someday we can get to what Harvard does, and have a revolving fund. If we have energy savings one year, a portion of those savings will be funneled back into other energy-saving projects,” she said.

Student Senator Pro-Tempore Heather Spalding - recipient of a 2009 Oregon Campus Compact Faith Gabelnick Student Leadership Award - works with Studer-Spevak. “It’s like getting an oil change in your car,” Spalding said. “Spending the money for maintenance … it’s like a royalty. Once you put these things in place, the benefits just last and last.”

Studer-Spevak estimated that the salary for a CEM would run from $80,000-$100,000 per year. But she stressed that “that person would pay back their salary at least three times over. It’s an investment.” Studer-Spevak and Spalding are in the midst of holding meetings with the Student Fee Committee, looking at the possibility of having student fees cover the cost of an energy manager’s salary, or at least help fund smaller projects often overlooked by funding committees.

“Students are interested in creating a fund that could fund energy retrofits, for example,” Studer-Spevak said. “It’s really cool, because students are saying, ‘What do we have the power to do?'"

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World Environmental Awards Recognize Portland Nonprofit, Efforts Staffed by PSU Students and Faculty

By Abby Haight, OregonLive

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Green Empowerment is a Portland-based nonprofit which has been recognized at the Energy Globe Awards in Prague for installing solar-powered water systems in remote communities in Nicaragua. The projects were staffed by specially trained students and faculty members from Portland State University.

The environmental awards, founded in 1999, reward projects that create economic use of resources and employ alternative energy sources. More than 800 projects from 111 nations vie for awards in five categories -- Earth, Fire, Water, Air and Youth. The awards opened a meeting of European Union environment ministers in Prague. Border Green Energy Team, a Thai partner of Green Empowerment, won first prize in the Fire category and the audience-elected overall Grand Prize for solar powered clinics in Eastern Myanmar.

Green Empowerment helped design and put in place the 35 remote clinics and two large hospitals, which serve 175,000 people and are designed to be disassembled if the Myanmar junta's military approaches. The clinics are scattered over 600 miles of jungle. Green Empowerment also was a finalist in the Water category for its work with partner Asofenix in Nicaraguan villages, installing solar-based water delivery systems. With access to clean water, communities improved their overall health, while adding latrines, showers, biogas digesters and home gardens. The Portland nonprofit also is involved in a project that brought electricity to remote Peruvian villages through wind turbines, micro-hydro and solar installations, providing power to four rural clinics, nine schools, four community centers and 40 family homes.

Green Empowerment was founded in 1997 with a focus on social justice, environmentalism and internationalism. One of its first projects was continuing the micro-hydro efforts in Nicaragua started by Ben Linder, a young Portland engineer who was killed by Contras. The organization has also projects in Borneo, Philippines, Ecuador, Guatemala and on the border of Myanmar/Thailand.

University of Oregon, Lane Community College Projects Receive Seed Grants

2009-05-04T13:15:00.000-07:00

Ashland Daily Tidings Online

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Six projects from the University of Oregon and Lane Community College have won grants for 2009 from the Meyer Fund for a Sustainable Environment. Meyer funds provide seed funding to UO and LCC faculty for research and teaching initiatives that are innovative, interdisciplinary and promote a sustainable society.

The UO received a $1 million grant in 2007 from the London-based T & J Meyer Family Foundation to establish the Meyer Fund for a Sustainable Environment. The UO fund is a five year program managed by a steering committee of UO and LCC faculty. Approximately $200,000 is distributed annually to projects led by faculty of the two institutions. The newly announced grants, totaling $200,119, are for the second year of the fund.

The largest 2009 grant, for $58,051, went to a solar energy project (Energizing the Next Generation with Photovoltaics) led by UO physics professor Frank Vignola. The project — a curriculum building approach designed to capture students' enthusiasm for science and to teach them about the basic principles of solar technology — includes faculty from UO physics department and LCC's Science Division. The project also supports the Electric Vehicle/Solar Challenge curricula sponsored by the Eugene Water and Electric Board in more than 60 area middle-school classrooms.

"It is one thing to develop a lab kit and curriculum," Vignola said. "It is another to test the curriculum and lab kit in the classroom. The Meyer Fund award enables us to do this and to improve the prototype and refine the curriculum. The improved curriculum and PV lab kit can then be used worldwide to help educate students about science with photovoltaics, an exciting renewable technology."

Vignola heads the UO's Solar Radiation Monitoring Laboratory, which promotes a sound solar energy future.

A $35,700 grant will support a curriculum-building project (Engaging Labor Efforts to Address Climate Change: An Educational Approach to Building Involvement) for union leaders and core activists, led by Barbara Byrd of the UO's Labor Education Research Center (LERC) in partnership with faculty from two UO departments: geography and planning, public policy & management. LERC's faculty and partners will develop a climate-change curriculum designed to help prepare union members to fill green collar jobs.

"The climate emergency caused by global warming, and the policy responses to this crisis, will fundamentally remake Oregon's economy," Byrd said. "In addition, the National Economic Recovery Act promises to generate millions of new green jobs. But while environmental advocates and representatives from business and regulated utilities engage in the debates, a critical partner is often missing: workers and the organizations that represent them."

Labor's participation in the design and implementation of the "green economy" is critical, she said.

"The single greatest barrier to labor involvement in climate-change discussion is the disconnect between labor's traditional focus on wages and working conditions and the seemingly abstract issue of global warming," she said. "This project aims at bridging that gap, relying on LERC's longstanding commitment to helping unions, their leaders and members to build their capacity to engage in policy-making. We will train our constituents in the science and technical aspects of global warming and climate change policy, and the implications of those issues for work, workers and unions. Our goal is to increase not only labor's ability but also its motivation to contribute to the state dialogue and assure that the 'triple bottom line' of environmental, economic and social sustainability is reached."

The four other grants are:

$35,694 for "Zero-Sum Gained: Moving Our Existing Building Stock Toward Net Energy Equilibrium," a project led by the UO's Donald Corner, department of architecture. The project will establish a case reference base that will guide the rehabilitation of existing buildings toward a balance of energy demand and production -- or net-zero-energy. An evaluative framework will be developed to guide reinvestment decisions.

$34,566 for "Spreading Sustainability: How Science-Based Solutions Move to Broad Practice" led by the Andrew Nelson of the UO's Lundquist College of Business in partnership with his colleague Jennifer Howard-Grenville and Julie Haack of the UO department of chemistry. They will develop a model for understanding the processes through which university-based sustainability research and education influences industry and policy. They also will create a replicable set of tools for visualizing and communicating the dissemination and impact of such research and education.

$22,000 for "Workforce Water Efficiency Training Teams," a project led by LCC's Tammie Stark, a water and sustainability instructor, and Roger Ebbage, energy management program manager. This project addresses the economic, social and environmental challenges of water scarcity and climate change through the creation and distribution of water auditing tools. Teachers and students would use the tools to increase water efficiency in residential and K-12 settings. Partners include the Lane Community College Water Conservation Technician degree program, the UO's Climate Master Program and Kennedy High School.

$14,108 for a "Junior Climate Initiative" led by Rob Ribe, UO department of landscape architecture, and Bob Doppelt of the UO's Institute for a Sustainable Environment. A youth program Junior Climate Stewards will be piloted in Lane County, building on the successes of the Climate Leadership Initiative’s Climate Master Program and the Oregon State University Extension’s Wildlife Stewards program. The partnership supports youth and adult community members in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing energy efficiency.

While based in the United Kingdom, the T & J Meyer Family Foundation has ties to the UO by way of family members' earning their college degrees from the institution. The foundation is managed by Tim and Jane Meyer and their four children. In addition to foundation work, the Meyer family has sustainable projects, research and education centers in Oregon, Argentina and London.

Volunteer, Oregon State University Graduate Goes Where Scientists Typically Fear to Tread

2009-05-04T13:00:00.000-07:00

By Joanne Scharer, WillametteLive

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Melissa Austin, Salem born and bred, is passionate about, dedicated to, and busy creating community. Between working as an AmeriCorps volunteer with Marion County Public Works-Environmental Services and volunteering endless hours with various community organizations dedicated to sustainability, Austin has her hands full.

With a degree in forensic chemistry from Western Oregon University and a master’s in microbiology from Oregon State University, Austin’s curiosity about science goes back to 8th grade.

“Science is cool,” she says emphatically, “It’s fascinating to me.”

In high school and college, Austin joined all the clubs that students focusing on science typically joined, Sierra Club, World Wildlife Fund and others. However, being a member of organizations with commendable missions wasn't enough, she wanted to be doing something about it in her community.

After graduating from OSU, Austin worked as a microbiologist for a private engineering firm in Grants Pass until Salem called her back home. Since then she has been altering her career path, finding ways to merge her interest in community building and sustainability with her skills and knowledge as a scientist.

One of Austin’s first involvements upon her to return was with Marion-Polk Food Share community gardens. Before long she was so active in the community with volunteer work, it made sense to take an AmeriCorps position.

Before she began her 11-month position with Marion County, Austin worked with Oregon PeaceWorks to help develop its 5% Solution to the Climate Crisis project and at LifeSource Natural Foods.

Despite having an advanced degree and greater earning potential than an AmeriCorps position provides, Austin has enthusiastically embraced her work as a Multi-Family Waste Reduction Educator with Marion County, focusing on recycling for apartment complexes and other multi-family communities. The opportunity has taught her more about the diversity of people and neighborhoods in Salem and opened her heart in a way that science doesn’t necessarily allow for.

“Being a scientist,” Austin says, “emotions aren’t in that.”

Ultimately, her experiences volunteering have been guiding her to a career path focused on community service with a desire to, as she says, “make more of a difference.”

At this stage, Austin is intrigued with community outreach as it relates to community building and sustainable behaviors.

“I enjoy working with people to create a more connected self-sufficient community,” she explained.

It’s evident in her community action project, a requirement of the AmeriCorps program. Austin organized a course in Salem created by Northwest Earth Institute called “Menu for the Future.”

The course, held from January through March, was open to any one in Salem and provided an opportunity to learn about eating in modern industrial society, emerging food alternatives, and sustainable food systems.

Austin isn’t abandoning her scientific nature, but she’s learning how to use it differently. Austin brings her own perspective to sustainability issues that aren’t always clear cut or easy to understand for the layperson.

“I know science and I know what people are afraid of. I understand where both sides are coming from," she said.

Austin sees diversity and sharing as a key ingredient in real change and community.

“Interaction opens doors,” she said.

Even with a sincere concern for the environment, Austin’s goals go beyond the “greening” of Salem by including community networking.

“That’s what Salem needs,” Austin said. “What’s this network going to look like? I don’t know what it’s going to look like for us in Salem, but I want to be a part of it.”

Clackamas Community College Student Builds Houses During Spring Break

2009-05-04T12:54:00.000-07:00

Local student Elsa Moore, 17, spent spring break building a Habitat for Humanity home in Jacksonville, Fla., as part of Salem Habitat's Youth United group. Moore was one of nine participants selected from across the U.S. for the March 15-21 service trip.

"It was so much fun and I can't wait to sign up for next year's build," she said. "It's a great opportunity to help those in need (and) make awesome new friends all over the country."

This was Moore's first building project. "We painted a bunch and did some siding on a house," she said. "My favorite part was definitely siding. I was extremely good with the hammer."

Moore had been a South Salem High School student for three years and now will attend the Chemeketa Community College Early College High School program.

Through Youth United, students partner with their local Habitat affiliate and are responsible for raising 70 percent of the house sponsorship costs, and those older than 16 help with construction. Since its founding in 1976, Habitat has built more than 300,000 houses worldwide, providing simple, affordable shelter for more than 1.5 million people. For information, visit www.habitat.org.

Event: Clackamas Community College Sustainability Project in Full Swing, May Events

2009-05-04T12:44:00.000-07:00

The Clackamas Review Online

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Instructors at Clackamas Community College began the Sustainability Project in an effort to bring the most current information aroun sustainability to the community. The series has presented dozens of speakers to the college and the community since it began, along with films and events around sustainability. “The Sustainability Project provides some of the most current information available,” said Jeff McAlpine, who is coordinating this year’s series. “The conservation, efficiency, and long-term planning associated with sustainability not only can save people money, but help them feel better about the world we’re leaving our descendants.” This year’s series focuses on the Triple Bottom Line, looking at the social, economic and environmental components of sustainability. Events begin in April and conclude in June with the film festival. Events are free and take place in the McLoughlin Auditorium unless otherwise noted. A listing of this year’s May events follows:

• Tuesday, May 5, noon to 1 p.m. Ted Brekken of OSU and Wallace Energy Systems and Renewable Energy Facility talks about the potential of wave energy.

• Friday, May 8, noon to 5 p.m. CCC Horticulture Club Plant Sale. Vegetables, herbs, perennials, trees and shrubs, all grown by CCC horticulture students. Bring your own boxes.

• Tuesday, May 12, noon to 1 p.m. Eban Goodstein, Lewis & Clark Professor of Economics and National Teach-In organizer discusses the clean-energy economy and the role of the new generation in creating a just, sustainable and prosperous future.

• Tuesday, May 19, noon to 1 p.m. Bob Wise of Cogan Owens Cogan presents “Sustainable Development in China.”

• Thursday , May 21, 7 to 9 p.m. Localization: Sustainability from Global to Local, a panel presentation featuring CCC’s leaders in sustainability including Don Hartsock, social sciences; Jeff McAlpine, English; Elizabeth Howley, horticulture; Karen Halliday, reference librarian; and Terry Mackey, CCC librarian. Journalism instructor Melissa Jones will moderate.

• Tuesday, May 26, noon to 1 p.m. CCC horticulture instructors Elizabeth Howley and Renee Harber join Cieridwen Terrill in a forum on invasive species.

• Thursday, May 28, noon to 1 p.m. R.A. Brown, University of Washington professor emeritus, discusses “What makes a climate expert?”

• June 6, 7 and 8. The Clackamas Green Screen Film Festival debuts at various locations on the campus.

For more information about the Sustainability Project or the Green Screen Film Festival, please see www2.clackamas.edu/sustainability/ or call Jeff McAlpine at 503-657-6958, ext. 5240 or Janet Paulson at 503-657-6958, ext. 2307.

Central Oregonians are Lining Up to Volunteer

2009-05-04T12:39:00.000-07:00

By Erin Golden, The Bulletin

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Since January, Debbie Woodford has spent two days a week at the La Pine Community Kitchen doing something she loves: creating menus and preparing meals for large groups of people.

In the past, she’s done similar work as the owner of a restaurant and as a cook in a college dormitory, but those positions came with a paycheck. Now, six months after she moved to La Pine from Idaho and started looking for a job, Woodford, 55, still hasn’t had any luck, so she’s cooking for free at the Community Kitchen, which provides free meals to more than 300 people each week.

“It’s not so much about the money — it’s about filling my time,” she said.

And with local unemployment rates settled well into the double digits, Woodford isn’t alone. From soup kitchens to after-school programs, leaders of organizations around Central Oregon say they’re seeing a big increase in the number of people interested in volunteering their time — including many who say they’re out of work and need something that will keep them busy and allow them to network and develop new skills.

Christina Riggs, the La Pine Community Kitchen’s executive director, said she started getting more calls from people like Woodford a few months ago. Back then, the organization had about 30 regular volunteers, and now that number is closer to 50.

“We’ve been getting mostly people that have been laid off, and they need something to do while they look for work,” she said.

Around the area, other groups have seen a similar trend.

Taffy Gleason, the executive director of Bend’s Community Center, said she used to get one or two calls a week at most from people interested in volunteering. These days, she hears from about a dozen people each week who want to pitch in. Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Oregon President Lisa Burbidge said her group now gets about 10 calls per week about volunteering, up from about two per week in the past.

And in Prineville, St. Vincent de Paul Society Executive Director Joe Edmonds said about five people contact his organization every week, looking to help out at one of the group’s thrift stores or in the donation center and food bank. That’s a big change from a year ago, when he said interest from new volunteers was “pretty much nonexistent.” “We are seeing walk-ins coming in on a regular basis because of the economy, saying they’re not working and they would like to volunteer,” Edmonds said. “They’re using it for résumé building and networking and to expand their skills.”

In some cases, new volunteers have offered their assistance with repair and maintenance projects that might have otherwise been out of an organization’s price range. At Bend’s Community Center, Gleason said companies facing smaller workloads because of the economy have sent over teams of employees to volunteer, rather than just writing a check.

“People are saying, ‘I can’t afford to donate cash at this point in time, but can I do something else for you, is there anything else you need? I do carpentry, whatever it is.’ … They’re putting their skills and their wisdom to use.”

Volunteers at the Boys & Girls Clubs have helped with painting and cleaning, repaired doors and electrical outlets, put up Sheetrock and even built a counter in the game room at one club facility. Burbidge said the help has made a big difference.

“We literally went through, room by room, in every club, and put a giant to-do list together and have been checking things off the list,” she said. “It has improved safety in the clubs, made them brighter and more kid-friendly. The kids can tell, and they love it.”

Leaders of many local organizations said they’re now hearing from interested volunteers with advanced degrees and often decades of experience in the work force. For some volunteers, working for free provides a chance to connect with potential employers while they wait for a paying position to open up.

Sandy Sawyer, 38, moved to Bend this winter from Las Vegas and hoped to land a job as a therapeutic recreation specialist. But even though she has a degree in recreation and years of experience — including a stint as a camp program director — Sawyer hasn’t been able to find work, so she’s volunteering with the Bend Park & Recreation District.

On Wednesdays, Sawyer works with elementary school students in a jewelry-making class, and on Saturdays, she helps with the district’s special recreation division, supervising group activities for adults with disabilities. Sawyer said she enjoys the work and hopes it might lead to something more permanent.

“I want to keep myself busy, keep networking and just kind of keep my foot in the door for when a position does open so people know I’m there and available,” she said. “My end goal is to eventually get a position.”

Others, like Liz Coleman, 48, of Bend, say they’re hoping to find a job in another field but want to help out while they have some free time. Coleman, who has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in math-related fields, worked for several years teaching and tutoring students at Central Oregon Community College before taking a similar job in Corvallis. Now back in Bend, Coleman said she’d like to return to teaching math but decided it could be a good time to share one of her other passions: the outdoors. She’s currently finishing required training and preparation to volunteer with some of the park district’s outdoor programs and help out in the Juniper Swim & Fitness Center’s weight room.

“It’s just nice to get out and meet people, that whole stuck home thing — you can only talk to your cats and dogs for so long before you go stir crazy,” she joked.

Though many new volunteers have called local organizations looking to fill the time as they search for jobs, some have also said they want to pitch in for other reasons.

Kathleen Joy, the executive director of the state’s Commission for Voluntary Action & Service, said the latest numbers on statewide volunteerism haven’t yet been released.

But she said she has been hearing from groups across the state that more people are helping out — including some who say they were inspired by President Barack Obama’s repeated mentions of the importance of getting involved in community service.

“I think it’s the Obama factor,” Joy said. “I think people have been reinvigorated, and I think the president’s constant call to service is having an impact on people.”

Others said they think people have become more open to helping out because of both political and economic changes taking place across the country.

Cheryl Howard, the chairwoman of the Orchard District Neighborhood Association, said about 250 people have signed up to join her group in the last few months, including many who say they want to know what they can do to help their neighbors.

She said that’s a change from the past, when many people wanted to be association members but weren’t interested in volunteering.

“I think that the era of consumerism and the ‘me’ mentality is really over,” she said. “People are realizing the important thing in a community is for us all to get together. … I think people are refocusing their priorities, and I think they’re better priorities.”

Gleason said many volunteers want to help because they’ve realized how easy it can be to fall on tough times.

“What I hear more than anything is, ‘I’m still in a good position, I still have a job, my friends, my family and my neighbors are having a tough time, and I want to help other people on some level,’” she said. “I think we’re seeing a lot of empathy, a lot of compassion, a lot of latent caring just coming up because people are saying, ‘Gosh, times are tough for a lot of people, and I could be next.’”

Mexico's Head of Science and Technology — a Southern Oregon University Grad — Proposes Closer Ties

2009-05-04T12:20:00.000-07:00

By John Darling, The Mail Tribune Online

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Mexico's top official for science and technology says his nation's worst problem is poverty and that the business, governmental and educational sectors of the United States need to step up to full partnership with Mexico to create a more stable and prosperous region.

Juan Carlos Romero Hicks, a graduate of Southern Oregon University, told an SOU audience Thursday that 40 million of Mexico's 105 million people don't have basic needs such as education, health care, clean water and employment, and that much of the solution lies in the areas of shared technology.

Romero Hicks, whose mother and wife immigrated to Mexico from the U.S., earned two degrees from SOU and became the governor of the state of Guanajuato. He is general director of the National Council for Science and Technology. Some of his 10 children attend school in Ashland.

Romero Hicks lauded SOU as a model of a university that works with Mexico and for decades has facilitated a strong flow of ideas, programs and people back and forth. Some 35 people traveled here this week from Guanajuato, Ashland's sister city in Mexico, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of ties between the two cities and between SOU and the University of Guanajuato.

However, Romero Hicks decried the persisting negative stereotypes of Mexicans in this country, and vice-versa, noting, "how little we know about each other."

North America should be a partnership of equals like the European Union, he said, adding that the NAFTA trade agreement of the 1990s "is a contradiction because it opened a free flow of merchandise but not of people "¦ in a free, orderly and safe migration."

Romero Hicks said Mexico and the U.S. have many links in history, culture and trade, and "you need a strong Mexico. We need to listen to each other."

Pointing to problems in trade, migration, drug trafficking, public safety and the rule of law, Romero Hicks said all need a vision grounded in new technology, with university researchers able to get their advances readily commercialized.

"It's a huge contradiction. We've never known so much yet never had so many people in poverty," said Romero Hicks, noting that Mexico devotes .05 percent of its gross domestic product to science and technology, compared to 2.6 percent in the U.S. In addition, Mexico graduates 2,500 doctorate students a year compared to 50,000 in the U.S., he said.

Romero Hicks' candid assessment of Mexico drew support and suggestions from the audience, which included four past and present SOU presidents.

Stephen Reno, now chancellor of the University System of New Hampshire, lauded growing regional partnerships between businesses, governments and universities and pointed to a new $235 million system piping methane from a landfill 13 miles to the University of New Hampshire, supplying 90 percent of its energy.

"It took seven years to do it — the first four years convincing people it was worth exploring," said Reno.

Romero Hicks responded with tales of his own — families responding "like it was a funeral" when a child planned to go into science, and professors who said that channeling their research to commercial applications would be "like prostitution."

To much laughter, he responded, "Well, you need more prostitutes."

As part of the shared vision sought by Mexico, Romero Hicks said his nation is seeking international partners and shared degree programs with universities.

'Civic Generation' Rolls up Sleeves in Record Numbers

2009-05-04T12:15:00.000-07:00

By Andrea Stone, USA Today Online

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Jobs are scarce. Money is tight. A speedy economic recovery seems unlikely. Yet none of that has stopped the Millennial Generation from helping others.

Young adults who grew up in the shadow of the 9/11 attacks and saw the wreckage of Hurricane Katrina are volunteering at home and abroad in record numbers. The generation that learned in school to serve as well as to read and write, the Millennials were the first global Internet explorers even as they pioneered social networking for favorite causes at home.

"Community service is part of their DNA. It's part of this generation to care about something larger than themselves," says Michael Brown, co-founder and CEO of City Year, which places young mentors in urban schools. "It's no longer keeping up with the Joneses. It's helping the Joneses."

Surveys show people born between 1982 and 2000 are the most civic-minded since the generation of the 1930s and 1940s, say Morley Winograd and Michael Hais, co-authors of Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube, and the Future of American Politics.

Unlike culturally polarized Baby Boomers or cynical Gen-Xers, this is "a generation of activist doers," they write.

"Other generations were reared to be more individualistic," Hais says. "This civic generation has a willingness to put aside some of their own personal advancement to improve society."

Michelle Trahey, a Penn State marketing major, has turned down three job offers so she can work for two years in a New York City elementary school as a Teach for America corps member. Trahey, 22, says friends thought she was "crazy" since many college graduates can't find jobs. Her parents weren't pleased, either.

"My passion is helping people and making a difference," she says. "This is the perfect time for me not to focus on business. … If I don't do this now, I may never have this opportunity again."

Trahey is among 3,700 college graduates who will join Teach for America next fall. Nearly 25,000 applied, a 37% increase over 2007 and the most since the program began in 1990, says spokeswoman Amy Rabinowitz. Nearly every government-funded service program has seen applications spike.

City Year, where monthly stipends are about $1,000, saw applications triple last year. Applications to the Peace Corps, which sends volunteers to work in other countries, are up 16%. AmeriCorps, which sends young adults into schools, health clinics, parks and other local organizations, has three applicants for every slot.

The Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency that oversees Ameri Corps and other programs, says volunteer rates for ages 16-24 nearly doubled from 1989 through 2005, from 12.3% to 23%.

Winograd says those are the peak formative years for Gen-Xers and Millennials. He says it was rare for those now in their 30s and 40s to perform community service in high school. More than 80% of Millennials did it, often because it was required.

Although the volunteer rate for young adults declined to 21.9% in 2008, nearly three in five 18- to 24-year-olds surveyed by the Harvard University Institute of Politics said they were interested in public service. Statistics compiled by the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversee AmeriCorps and other programs, show that college towns such as Provo, Utah; Iowa City and Madison, Wis., have among the country's highest volunteer rates.

The United Way, which was founded in 1887 to raise money for charities, opened campus chapters in 2008. It hopes to have 50 by next year, many of them offshoots of spring break programs in which students give up the beach for projects helping others.

Kathryn Yaros, a student at University of Michigan-Dearborn who is a United Way team leader, spent freshman spring break helping build a wheelchair ramp so a paralyzed man could leave his Detroit home. This spring she worked at a residential treatment center for troubled girls.

"Volunteering is not such a casual thing anymore. It's part of our lifestyle," says Yaros, 19. "Giving back is our own way of being empowered to create a positive change within the community."

Analysts cite several reasons Millennials are stepping up:

•The times. Just as the Great Depression and World War II shaped their grandparents' generation, Millennials view the world through the lens of 9/11, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the economic meltdown.

"The events you grow up with have a lot to do with what a generation focuses on," says Alan Solomont, chairman of the Corporation for National and Community Service. "This generation grew up at a time when there was a need to pull together."

Hard times, says City Year's Michael Brown, produce "values clarification."

• Global connections. Because of the Internet, social networking sites such as Facebook, the growth of study-abroad programs and ethnic diversity, the Millennials are closely attached to the world and want to make it a better place.

Whether it's teaching English in China or building a well in Africa, Millennials are "in tune" with global needs, says Philip Gardner of the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University. He says many who study abroad — 70% of students at four-year colleges have traveled outside the United States — "get the bug to go back internationally, and one of the fastest ways … is to do volunteer projects."

Amanda MacGurn studied in Belgium, taught English in Chile and interned with Doctors Without Borders. Now 26, the Southern Oregon University graduate leaves next month for Romania to work for the Peace Corps.

"I want to devote my life to international service work," says MacGurn, who lives in Eugene, Ore. "This is a great opportunity to serve both my country as an ambassador and also the international community."

•Practicality. Required to volunteer in high school and encouraged by colleges to keep it up, Millennials responded to Hurricane Katrina with outcomes they could see.

Thousands spent their college spring breaks on the Gulf Coast where they helped clear debris, patch roofs and rebuild homes after the 2005 storm.

Millennials don't want to send money and forget it, Solomont says. "They want to get things done, to fix things," he says. Unlike Baby Boomers, "They're not into chasing their own ideologies as much as rolling up their sleeves and improving things."

Emory University student Maria Town, 21, who has cerebral palsy, started Alternative Life Cycles, an organization to provide retrofitted bicycles for disabled people, because she knew how expensive her own adapted recumbent tricycle was. "I've learned it's a full life commitment that can be more than just a hobby," says the Hammond, La., native. "It can be a career."

•The Obama effect. Millennial voters last year preferred Barack Obama 2 to 1. Many embraced the former community organizer's call to service.

Online applications to the Peace Corps spiked 175% in the days surrounding his inauguration, says spokeswoman Laura Lartigue.

"We are seeing a rebirth of the kind of idealism that we saw during the Kennedy era" of the 1960s, when the Peace Corps was founded, she says, noting that the average age of Peace Corps volunteers is 27.

Obama's election was "a signal that young people really do matter," says Roger Gu, 21, who will work for Teach for America in Los Angeles after graduating from Princeton University this spring. "I don't want to sound corny or lame, but I believe individuals can make a difference," he says.

• Economic woes. A miserable job market is an added reason to volunteer.

"When the economy is downsizing full-pay job opportunities, many are looking at these stipend and volunteer opportunities as a good alternative," says Patrick Rooney of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. He says recent graduates are more likely than older adults to work for little or no pay because they have yet to start families or take on mortgages.

Rabinowitz of Teach for America has sees a change at student job fairs. "We were going head-to-head" with Wall Street firms, she says. Lately, "There's been much less competition."

At 20, Colorado College sophomore Eleanor Mulshine hasn't chosen a career, but she has traveled to the Gulf Coast twice to help with hurricane recovery, trekked to a village in India to build compost pits and worked on a New Mexico farm that promotes sustainable agriculture. Between classes in Colorado Springs, she helps refugees adapt to their new home.

Mulshine says she learned the value of helping others from her parents, who are "heavily involved" in their Washington, D.C., neighborhood.

"I'm trying to give back," she says. "What else would I do with my spare time?"

RecycleMania Winners Announced - 510 Institutions Compete

2009-05-04T12:11:00.000-07:00

RecycleMania has announced the winners of its 2009 competition in which 510 institutions in the United States and Canada competed to reduce, reuse, and recycle the most campus waste.

California State University, San Marcos is the 2009 Grand Champion. In addition, North Lake College (TX) won the Waste Minimization contest, McNeese State University (LA) won the Stephen K Gaski Per Capita Classic and for Corrugated Cardboard, Rutgers University (NJ) won the Gorilla Prize, Stephens College (MO) won for Paper, Kalamazoo College (MI) won for Bottles & Cans, and Bard College (NY) won for Food Service Organics.

In all, 4.7 million students and 1.1 million faculty and staff collectively recycled or composted just over 69.4 million pounds of waste over ten weeks.

ARAMARK Higher Education Raises the Green Stakes on Campuses Nationwide

2009-05-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

Business Wire Online

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To celebrate Earth Day 2009, ARAMARK Higher Education, a world leader in providing professional services to more than 600 colleges and universities throughout North America, has committed to implement Green Stakes, five key sustainable practices across all of its operations by 2010. The Company has also partnered with Clean Air - Cool Planet (CA-CP), an independent, non-profit organization, to create a calculator tool that more accurately assesses the carbon footprint or “foodprint” of foods served on campus by quantifying the environmental impact of growing, producing, transporting and disposing of food. Once developed, the new tool will help students make more responsible decisions about the foods they choose.

As part of Green Stakes, ARAMARK Higher Education strives to implement the following sustainable and environmental practices by 2010:

Implement an Energy and Water Conservation program at every partner campus;
Only purchase paper products made with recycled content;
Utilize daily green cleaning products at all locations;
Divert 100 percent of fryer oil waste;
Increase the level of sustainable food offerings served by at least 5 percent per year.

“The issues of climate change, energy conservation and the over-utilization of natural resources continue to impact everyone,” said Chris Stemen, Senior Director of Sustainability and Environmental Stewardship, ARAMARK Higher Education. “Through Green Stakes, our partnership with CA-CP, and our environmental stewardship program, we hope to effect positive, sustainable change at all of our partner campuses nationwide.”

“Our new ‘FoodPrint’ tool will help the food service industry calculate and strategically reduce its greenhouse gas impact,” said Adam Markham, CEO of Clean Air - Cool Planet (CA-CP). “It will work in tandem with our Campus Carbon Calculator^TM or as a separate means to aid in business analysis and planning.”

CA-CP’s Campus Carbon Calculator^TM, a greenhouse gas calculator used at over 1,500 educational institutions across North America, is the inventory tool of record for the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC).

“Working with CA-CP and future partners of the program, we will all better understand the environmental impact of our food choices, and make both personal and environmentally responsible decisions about the foods we choose,” Stemen added.

ARAMARK Higher Education develops and implements long-term environmental stewardship programs and policies within the pillars of sustainable food; green buildings; responsible procurement; energy and water conservation; transportation; and waste management.

Following are a few examples of successful environmental stewardship programs across ARAMARK partner campuses:

Striving for Zero Waste

Zero Waste is the process of safely recycling all materials back into nature or the marketplace in a manner that protects human health and the environment.

Portland State University (OR) is striving to become a zero waste institution by eliminating waste that goes to the landfill. ARAMARK and Portland State University Dining Services are recycling all cans, glass bottles, plastic containers, cardboard boxes and paper. They are also composting all food waste (last year totaling 41.8 tons), and recycling used cooking oil for conversion into eco-friendly biodiesel.

Several campuses, including University of Florida, Baylor University (TX), University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Peace College (NC) and Salem College (NC), are now offering reusable to-go food containers that are dishwasher-safe and made to be reused over and over again, helping reduce the amount of waste produced from their traditional disposable counterparts.

Trayless Dining, removing trays from the dining venue, has immediate and tangible environmental, social, and economic benefits. On average, elimination of trays reduces food waste by 25-30 percent per person, while also reducing the cost of energy, water, cleaning agents and waste removal. More than 50 percent of ARAMARK's campus partners removed trays from dining halls during the 2008-2009 school year.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), food waste is the number one least recycled material in the United States. Studies by the U.S. Department of Agriculture have shown that every year Americans throw away 96 billion pounds of food, which is equivalent to 3,044 pounds per second.

Sustainable Food

Arizona State University, New York University and University of Virginia have opened eco-friendly restaurants and dining halls, featuring locally grown, sustainable food and environmentally friendly practices.

Through a partnership with the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s SEAFOOD WATCH® program, all ARAMARK partner campuses have committed to preserve our oceans and fisheries for future generations by encouraging the use of sustainable seafood.

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About ARAMARK Higher Education

ARAMARK Higher Education is dedicated to excellence in dining, facility, conference center, and stadium and arena services. ARAMARK enhances the living and learning experience and environment for more than 600 colleges and universities throughout North America. For more information and a list of our services, visit www.aramarkhighered.com.

About ARAMARK

ARAMARK is a leader in professional services, providing award-winning food services, facilities management, and uniform and career apparel to health care institutions, universities and school districts, stadiums and arenas, and businesses around the world. In FORTUNE magazine's 2009 list of "World's Most Admired Companies," ARAMARK was ranked number one in its industry, consistently ranking since 1998 as one of the top three most admired companies in its industry as evaluated by peers and analysts. ARAMARK seeks to responsibly address issues that matter to its clients, customers, employees and communities by focusing on employee advocacy, environmental stewardship, health and wellness, and community involvement. Headquartered in Philadelphia, ARAMARK has approximately 260,000 employees serving clients in 22 countries. Learn more at the company's Web site,www.aramark.com.

MENTOR Releases Toolkit on Mentoring Immigrant Youth

2009-05-04T11:54:00.000-07:00

MENTOR is offering a new resource titled Mentoring Immigrant Youth: A Toolkit for Program Coordinators to help mentoring organizations better understand and serve America's growing immigrant and refugee youth population.

A projected 30 percent of all U.S. children will be immigrants or children of immigrants by 2015. And, according to mentoring expert Dr. Jean Rhodes, these youth are more likely to face stress related to exclusion, poverty and separation from family. Strain is placed on the parent-child relationship during assimilation, as well - creating an important need for caring adults and mentors to advocate for and foster resiliency in this population.

Developed with funding from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the toolkit has 10 modules addressing topics such as population characteristics, an immigrant youth needs assessment, recommendations for working with these populations, defining program parameters, cultural competence tips and matching mentors with immigrant youth. The kit should be used as part of the larger How to Build a Successful Mentoring Program Using the Elements of Effective Practice.

To download this free resource, go to mentoring.org/immigrantyouth/.

Student Leadership Opportunity: Hesselbein Global Academy for Student Leadership and Civic Engagement

2009-05-04T11:50:00.001-07:00

The University of Pittsburgh has launched a new initiative called the Hesselbein Global Academy for Student Leadership and Civic Engagement. While the academy is housed at the University of Pittsburgh, it is open to students throughout the world.

The academy aims to inspire, develop, and reward accomplished student leaders to meet the challenges of tomorrow. A core program of the academy is the Hesselbein Student Leadership Summit. Fifty students are selected to receive advanced leadership training from professional mentors who have expertise in various fields. Another noteworthy feature of this program is that there is little expense to the student and/or the university. The academy covers the cost of room, board, registration, and provides $200 in travel assistance.

Students are encouraged to apply online now at hesselbein.pitt.edu for the 2009 student leadership summit: July 11-14th. Contact Angela Miller McGraw at angelamm@pitt.edu or 412-624-5203 if you have any other questions.

VALUE Initiative Seeks Feedback on Draft Rubrics

2009-05-04T11:44:00.000-07:00

AAC&U's VALUE Initiative (Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education) is in the final stages of developing a rubric on "civic knowledge and engagement--local and global" as part of a set of 15 rubrics that campuses can use in assessing student e-portfolios, as well as other work.

Many of the other rubrics also relate to learning outcomes associated with high-quality academic civic engagement, such as "problem solving" and "intercultural knowledge and competence." AAC&U and Campus Compact invite interested campuses or departments to test the civic engagement (and other) rubrics between May 1 and June 15, 2009, in order to help shape the final versions of these rubrics, which will be publicly available -- at no charge -- in August 2009.

If you would like to have your faculty, staff, or students give feedback on the rubrics, please email Wende Morgaine, VALUE Initiative Manager, at wendemm@gmail.com. For more information about the initiative, see http://www.aacu.org/value/index.cfm.

Scholarship Opportunity: Platinum Torch National Service Honorary

2009-05-04T11:38:00.000-07:00

Platinum Torch National Service Honorary, a national non-profit organization that recognizes high school and college students' community service involvement, announces the availability of at least three $500 scholarships for the 2009-2010 academic year.

Platinum Torch is the only national non-profit organization that honors students solely based on outstanding community service involvement. Platinum Torch awards scholarships to students who perform the most verified community service hours each academic year. High school seniors and college students applying for the scholarships must first register as a member with Platinum Torch by logging on to the Web site at www.platinumtorch.org. New high school chapters require a minimum of five members and college chapters must have at least 10 members. All chapters require a designated faculty or staff advisor.

For more information about Platinum Torch please visit platinumtorch.org or call our Executive Director, Susan Puder, at (866) 841-9134, ext. 1016.

Q & A with Briana Orr, 2009 Civic Engagement Award Recipient

2009-05-04T11:28:00.000-07:00

By Emily Smith, Daily Emerald Online

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Oregon Campus Compact, composed of presidents from universities and colleges around the state, will recognize Briana Orr, an environmental studies and planning, public policy and management major with the 2009 Faith Gabelnick Student Leadership Award at the Oregon Civic Engagement Awards next week in Portland. Nominated by University sustainability director Steve Mital, Orr coordinates the Outdoor Program's Bike Loan Program that began in the fall.

ODE: How did the program get started, and how has it evolved?

Orr: We just launched the program in fall, and all of last summer was preparing for the program and putting down the structure for the entire program. Since summer, it's been kind of a constant learning from mistakes that we've made and improving what we're doing to serve students better. The basics of the Bike Loan Program is that we are providing students with bicycles for loan and also educational resources and information on bicycling in the area as kind of a holistic picture.

Right now, we have about 65 to 70 bikes out to students and by next December, we're hoping for about 100. Our goal was to put out 20 bikes and we've put out 70. It's more than I envisioned, for sure.

ODE: Where do the bikes come from?

The bikes come from the Department of Public Safety. They impound bikes that are abandoned on campus or they also get bikes that have been reported stolen and no one comes to claim them. Literally for the past couple of years, they have just been keeping them in storage. When we contacted them last summer, we heard numbers of 300 or 400 bikes. We were able to look through them and find the ones that were easy to work on, and we took those ones out of the piles and started getting them out to students. We'll probably get 15 or 20 more over the summer, but the real limiting factor is that we don't have the space for the bikes. We have a couple of storage facilities that DPS has given us, but we really need a better site to crank out more bikes. If the campus wanted to see a full-scale program, then they would need to put resources into that to support it.

ODE: How does the program work?

Orr: A student can check out a bike for a term, but students can keep it for the entire year if they want. They just pay a $65 deposit and with that they get a lock, a light, front and rear lights, fenders, basket and everything a student needs to ride around comfortably in Eugene's weather. The idea with that is that by making this a communal resource, we can just reuse it instead of having students needing to find some way to sell it or eventually throw it away when they don't need to use it. When they bring the bike back at the end of the term, they get their $65 deposit back, so essentially it's free.

ODE: What environmental impact has the program had?

Orr: Essentially, having 70 students that don't need to rely on a car or even rely on LTD to get to campus or wherever they need to get in the community, that's a fairly substantial impact when you're accruing it over the year. I'd also say that even if these students were buying their own bikes and riding them, simply because we are reusing these bikes and reusing resources and keeping the bikes out of the landfill, that also helps create the sustainability loop of reusing things instead of buying things and consuming more. Being able to provide options to students and staff and faculty really opens minds, opens doors to where we can go next, and instead of planning for building more parking lots when we feel like there aren't any alternatives, this is really providing an alternative and saying, 'Hey, we don't need more parking lots ... because look at what we can do, we can give them something else.' Even though it's small right now, it's going to have a really big impact in the future.

ODE: What does this award recognition mean to you?

Orr: It is recognizing the accomplishment, but I see it as - the simple fact that I was nominated and awarded - as more substantial to the shifting values in our culture, and I don't think that 10 years ago even that a bicycling advocate would be on the list. The fact that the Oregon Campus Compact is focusing on sustainability for this civic engagement award is really telling of what we are starting to value and for what we want to see in our generation and in the following generations. Maybe it's not so important that I, specifically, received it, but that they are starting to recognize it.

Event: Effective Strategies for Connecting Schools with Families & Community

2009-05-04T11:26:00.001-07:00

Learn and discuss effective strategies for connecting schools to families and the community with educator Karen Mapp. Mapp is a lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Education and former deputy superintendent of family and community engagement at Boston Public Schools. She specializes in educational leadership and partnerships and co-authored "Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to Family-School Partnerships."

All parents, school staff and community members are welcome. This FREE event is Wednesday, May 6, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at PCC Cascade Campus, 705 N. Killingsworth, in the Moriarty Arts and Humanities Building, Room 104. Lunch will be provided. THis event is sponsored by PPS and Portland Community College.

To RSVP, contact Candice Ysasaga, 503-916-2000 x71582 or email cysasaga@pps.k12.or.us.

Green Energy Boom Spreads to Oregon Community Colleges

2009-05-04T11:11:00.000-07:00

By Abby Haight, The Oregonian

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The growth of green energy businesses in Bend spurred another kind of boom -- in college classrooms.

One example: Kathy Walsh, vice president for instruction at Central Oregon Community College in Bend, helped launch programs to train students in weatherization and solar photovoltaics. The classes quickly filled. But the programs were just a first step. Central Oregon hopes to win federal stimulus dollars to introduce a degree program in resource management technology by 2010 and expand its technology center.

"The aim in the training is to match growth and need in local industry and take workers, in the short term, to match industry," Walsh said. "It's not an easy time to make changes, but obviously this has to have a high priority, both in terms of industry change, in joblessness and in diminishing resources."

Statewide, the economy has shaken the job market in more ways than one. Laid-off workers are looking for retraining in family-wage jobs. High school graduates seek careers in healthy, growing industries.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski believes Oregon's future is tied to renewable energy industries, saying wind, solar and other renewables are the "entrance to a new economy." The Obama administration wants to create 5 million "green collar" jobs in the next decade.

Oregon's other two- and four-year colleges and universities, both public and private, have responded with program decisions that could prepare Oregonians for careers in sustainable energy and green technology. They've increased courses and programs to cover a gamut of green careers, from researching wave energy to sustainable forestry to public policy.

Responding to industry
The state's community colleges, where tuitions run about $70 per credit for residents, have rushed in response to industry demand.

"The key thing for us is trying to implement a vision to match up the needs of employers, who are already here, with the talent pool development we offer," said Greg Harris, associate dean of public information, marketing and student recruitment at Chemeketa Community College in Salem.

Chemeketa recently partnered with Wildwood Inc. and Pacific Biodiesel Technologies Inc. to seek $10 million in federal funds for a biofuels research and processing plant in Salem. The proposed facility could produce as much as 432,000 gallons of biofuels from algae, woody waste and agricultural waste. It also would be a training ground for about 60 students and could create 450 new jobs in construction and biofuels processing and distribution.

The college estimates there are 1,300 jobs available now in its district for workers with process technology skills.

"They've invested in an industry that they see has potential and they need workers," Harris said. "We're interested in following the market, not just the ivory tower."

PCC's partnerships
Portland Community College has developed similar industry partnerships with its solar and wind energy programs.

SolarWorld AG, with operations in Hillsboro, asked the college to develop a train-the-trainer program for maintenance technicians. The school, in turn, has developed an associate's degree program in solar voltaic technology, with graduates moving into positions at SolarWorld, Intel, SpectraWatt, Enxco, XsunX and Solaicx. The school also regularly places students from its manufacturing foundations course with Solaicx's manufacturing plant.

"Classes are almost full every term and prospective students keep calling the microelectronics technology department showing an interest in the field," said Dorina Cornea-Hasegan, the department chairwoman.

PCC's electronic engineering technology program has added an associate's degree in renewable energy systems. The program, which has 40 students, receives advice from the wind energy firm Vestas.

Department Chairwoman Sanda Williams said the school is prepared for a flood of students enrolling in the renewable energy systems course next fall.

The renewable energy technology program at Columbia Gorge Community College in The Dalles set the tone for community colleges with its response to the growth of wind farms on the rolling hills of Oregon and Washington above the Columbia River Gorge. The school expects 500 to 600 technicians will be needed by 2011 to tend to the electronic and mechanical systems on the 400-foot-tall structures.

Oregon Health & Sciences University & NE Oregon Area Health Education Center Partner to create Rural Rotation for Dental Students

2009-05-04T10:50:00.000-07:00

By Mike Ferguson, Baker City Herald Online
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Just weeks away from his graduation from the dental school at Oregon Health & Sciences University, Ryan LeMert is getting a close-up look at a real rural dental practice, the kind Baker City dentist Sean Benson practices. Beyond just observing, LeMert, 27, has seen between eight and 10 patients every day during his rural rotation, where he’s done everything from fillings to root canals.

In a way, Baker County patients have opened their mouths, but it’s been LeMert who has said, “awe.” “Sean has taken good care of me. He’s a fun guy and we’ve got a lot of the same ideas about playing and working,” LeMert said in between seeing patients during his last day at the Baker City practice Thursday. “He should be given a lot of credit for making this happen. He’s been a good guy to work with, and the people are really friendly here.”

It’s good to get out of the classroom for a time and into a thriving, busy dental office, LeMert said.

“Portland just doesn’t suit me,” he said. LeMert grew up in Roseburg, and his first rural rotation at dental school was at a health clinic there. He said he’s open to operating a private practice in rural Oregon, but in the down economy more and more older dentists are holding on to their practices, and he’s had a hard time purchasing one. He said he might fall back on working for the National Health Service for a while.

“I’m still,” he said, just weeks from completing four hard years of study, “trying to figure out what I’m going to do.”

LeMert’s two-week stay is an effort by OHSU and the Northeast Oregon Area Health Education Center to convince health science students that practicing medicine in a rural setting is an option that can be both fun and rewarding, said Michael Plunkett, the OHSU School of Dentistry’s director of community outreach and a faculty member in the university’s Department of Community Dentistry. Plunkett was in Baker City Thursday both to visit LeMert and Benson and to enjoy a brief vacation in Northeastern Oregon.

LeMert is one of three of the school’s current crop of 75 dentists in training to undertake a rural rotation, Plunkett said. Most students opt instead for an urban health-care center setting.

Eventually, Plunkett said, he’d like up to two-thirds of his students to try their practi-cum in a place Baker City- sized or smaller. “This is a more realistic representation of how dentistry is practiced,” Plunkett said, gesturing to a small cluster of exam rooms where Baker City’s Mike Long is having a checkup while Benson is filling a cavity in a nearby room.

“Our goal is to make the educational process mirror what’s really going on.”

The La Grande-based Northeast Oregon Area Health Education Center plays a role in the rural rotations, not only for dentists but for physicians and nurses as well, Plunkett said. It’s provided LeMert free housing in Baker City for two weeks, and enough gas money to power him to and from Portland and around Baker County while he was here.

According to the La Grande AHEC office, many communities in Eastern Oregon, including Halfway, Richland, North Powder, Union and John Day, are short of enough health professionals to care for their residents. The organization is working to help meet that need, with the idea that the more young health care providers are exposed to rural settings, the more likely they are to establish their practices in one.

And for the record, Plunkett wants to dispel the myth that rural dentists have to take a pay cut compared with their brothers and sisters in urban settings. “It’s a misnomer that it’s not financially rewarding to practice in rural areas,” he said.

NEOAHEC, together with Eastern Oregon University, also tries to help ease the rural health-care provider shortage by getting children interested in science, health and literacy through curriculum called Great Discoveries and a Girls in Science project. It also puts on a career choice camp called MedQuest.

The nonprofit group coordinates 80 educational rotations every year for OHSU and Pacific University students.

Once he’d seen his last patient Thursday, LeMert was already waxing a little nostalgic for his stay. “This has been an intermediate step” between dental school and his new life outside school, he said. “I’ve treated it like an apprenticeship, and it’s been a rewarding one.”

Oregon Community Colleges Receive Two out of 20 National Grants for Military Veterans

2009-05-01T13:07:00.000-07:00

NewsBlaze Online

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"The Wal-Mart Foundation and the American Council on Education today identified 20 colleges as recipients of Success for Vets Grants, meant to help them develop innovative ways to help veterans make the transition from military service to college," The Chronicle of Higher Education reports. "Each winner can use its $100,000 award to 'accelerate the development of programs they already had in place,' said James Selbe, assistant vice president for lifelong learning at the council.

Many of the winning proposals include plans to enhance veteran-support services, train faculty members to be aware of veterans' needs, and create orientation programs about useful resources on and near the campus. Oregon's Clackamas Community College, for example, plans to 'develop standards for awarding credit for military training and experience,' an issue that has long been raised by veterans seeking college degrees. Colorado State University plans to establish a national honor society for student veterans."

Success for Veterans Grant Recipients

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona - Create interactive online veterans-specific orientation program, including faculty advising option and networking opportunities.

California State University Sacramento - Create a Veterans Education Transition Success Program, including college assimilation summer program, academic advising, and fall orientation.

Clackamas Community College - Expand outreach to veterans and develop standards for awarding credit for military training and experience.

Colorado State University - Develop faculty training program, establish a national veterans student honor society, expand outreach efforts, and develop a more comprehensive student orientation program.

Empire State College - Expand and enhance educational support services and improve training of faculty, mentors and staff to create awareness of challenges to the student veteran population.

Fairleigh Dickinson University - Develop and implement an integrated veterans' services model to enhance one-stop support and expand capacity to provide psychological services.

Fresno City College - Expand partnership with PG&E to train veterans for employment, including preparation for pre-employment testing and access to counseling.

George Mason University - Enhance comprehensive, coordinated one-stop resource and support center to ensure academic support and psychological/transition support.

Hunter College School of Social Work - Expand existing Project for Return and Opportunity in Veterans Education (PROVE), which provides peer mentoring and counseling services, to two additional CUNY campuses.

Lane Community College - Expand Lane Integration of Vets in Education (LIVE) program to deliver first-year experience, including learning communities, advising, supplemental instruction and early intervention systems.

Los Angeles City College - Create formal mentoring program, publish veterans handbook, train faculty and staff to increase awareness of the challenges to the student veteran population.

Madison Area Technical College - Create Project Success and Access for Veterans Education (SAVE), which will provide streamlined veterans services, veteran student orientation, and expansion of programs and services to veteran families.

Onondaga Community College - Establish visible presence to welcome veterans; increase awareness and knowledge of unique veterans' issues by faculty and staff; expand and enhance services to current and prospective veteran students; and communicate best practices to other campuses.

Park University - Develop online transition courses for veterans, train faculty and staff on veterans issues, develop best practices for serving veterans in online learning environments.

Ramapo College Foundation, NJASCU - Create Operation College Promise to collect best practices from nine state institutions and disseminate to all 52 New Jersey institutions of higher education through seminars, web site, and advisory group.

Southwestern College - Establish a Veterans Welcome Center to provide more comprehensive counseling, support services, job placement and faculty development.

Trident Technical College - Create Project VETS (Veterans' Educational Transition Services) to provide a continuum of services from pre-college through graduation, including veterans-specific orientation program, faculty and staff development, veterans task force creation, and veterans student club.

University of California, Santa Cruz - Expand Veterans Education Teams Support (VETS) and Services for Transfer and Re-entry Students (STARS) to provide expanded peer mentorship, as well as transition services, and increased outreach to local community college.

University of Maine at Augusta - Develop deliberate approach to veterans services that will create social, classroom, and professional networks for veterans through peer mentors, student veteran organization, online social network.

University of Maryland University College - Develop, implement, evaluate and disseminate a veterans service model that integrates comprehensive services into a web-based platform.

Oregon State University Purchases the Most Green Power in the Pac-10

2009-05-01T13:03:00.000-07:00

Daily Journal of Commerce

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced that Oregon State University is the top purchaser of green power in the Pacific-10 Conference, with 67 million kilowatt-hours.

The EPA’s Green Power Partnership recognizes collegiate athletic conferences with the most combined green power purchases in the U.S. Oregon State will receive the Individual Conference Champion Award for 2008-09, which recognizes the school with the highest green power purchase.

OSU has launched many sustainability initiatives in the past year, including the installation in its gym of 22 retrofitted elliptical machines that transfer energy generated by students into the power grid. Also, the university later this year will open its new $55 million energy center, which will be capable of burning renewable fuels like methane and diesel.