The staff of the College of the Environment’s dean’s office are inspired by the work in the College and across campus to understand and address the environmental challenges of our time. This past year, following sustainability efforts of many students, faculty, and staff in the college and beyond, the dean’s office worked with the Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability Office to identify and align our practices and policies with the goals of sustainable resource use.

With the help of two students in the Program on the Environment who were working on capstone projects through the Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability Office, the dean’s office formed a “green team” to bring awareness to and improve key metrics for office sustainability. Most recently, the dean’s office elected to join a campus-wide initiative to start composting paper towels in our building’s bathrooms. Dean’s office members are excited to have achieved gold-level Green Office Certification, and are looking for more ways to improve. The team distributes bimonthly emails with ideas for environmentally responsible office supplies and other ways to reduce our impact on the planet. We invite you to send your ideas for on-campus sustainability to the “captain” of the dean’s office green team, Suzanne Zitzer.  We plan to share ideas with the college community in future newsletters.