USF to receive sustainability award today

USF, along with Arizona State University, was chosen by the 2012 Second Nature Climate Leadership Award board for showing the top innovation and climate leadership at the doctoral level.
USF Provost Ralph Wilcox will receive the award today in Washington D.C.
Awards were given at the undergraduate, graduate and doctoral levels, and USF is being recognized as one of 10 universities overall leading a national transition to a clean and sustainable future.
Vickie Chachere, USF News manager, said a total of 700 institutions endorse the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), which partnered with Second Nature to announce the award winners in May.
“For us to be honored alongside Arizona State University is actually quite telling,” she said. “Because this is a university that has been doing it longer than anyone else -they do it bigger-and Arizona State is considered the gold standard of sustainability in higher education.”
She said there were 20 finalists for the award, each of which participated in a video contest to show sustainability efforts on campus.
“As USF has not only taken steps to make the campus more sustainable to embrace green buildings (and) to look at ways to reduce the campus impact on the environment, we’re also doing part of it around education and sustainability – and preparing students for green jobs,” she said.

– Staff Report