Chatham University
Chatham Shadyside Campus Campus Category
Four year and graduate institutions under 5,000 student FTE
Contact Information
Mary Whitney
University Sustainability Coordinator
Sustainability Office
Education and Research
Chatham maintains a mission-driven focus on environmental issues across programs. We offer courses in environmental science, environmental studies and policy, and environmental citizenship in our core curriculum. In Fall 2009 we will offer an Environmental Biology track in the Master of Science in Biology program. Our Outreach Centers offer programs in environmental policy, sustainable business practices, and organic gardening; our health sciences programs examine women’s environmental health issues; and our education programs offer environmental science teacher certification.
Chatham this year established the School of Sustainability and the Environment. The new School will provide innovative, interdisciplinary education and research opportunities to better prepare undergraduate, graduate and professional students to identify and solve challenges related to the environment and sustainability. The University will draw upon its undergraduate and graduate faculty as well as its outreach centers – the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship, the Pennsylvania Center for Women, Politics, and Public Policy, and the Rachel Carson Institute – to develop academic and co-curricular programming. The first degree program offered through the School will be the Master of Arts in Food Studies, slated to begin spring 2010.
Chatham is home to one of the few programs certified by the Pennsylvania State Department of Education to offer teaching certificates in environmental education. This program prepares students for teaching in classrooms and settings such as nature centers, parks and nonprofit organizations.
Chatham is home to a unique Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing which focuses on nature, environment, poetry and travel writing. This graduate program is designed for writers interested in the environment and place-based writing.
The Master of Landscape Architecture emphasizes sustainability and environmental concerns, from the use of landscape architecture to restoring wetlands and brownfield sites, to sustainable site design corresponding with green building.
Continuing the legacy of Chatham’s most distinguished alumna, the Rachel Carson Institute works to advance the understanding that all living things are bound by systems and cycles that are both interdependent and at risk. RCI was founded in 1989 as Chatham’s environmental education and outreach arm to promote awareness and understanding of environmental issues through public symposia and educational programs. Programming includes women’s environmental concerns and leadership in environmental policy and science, environmental education programs for youth, and campus-based programs for environmental stewardship and campus sustainability.
Chatham is a supporting member of the Urban Ecology Collaborative, a multi-city network for urban ecosystem research and restoration working to develop healthy, sustainable cities. Chatham employees and graduate students co-chair the Education Working Group of the UEC. Chatham is also forming one of the first student chapters of the United States Green Building Council in the country.
The Chatham University Arboretum incorporates elements designed for the original Andrew Mellon estate by the renowned Olmsted Brothers. Designated an arboretum in 1998 by the American Public Garden Association, Chatham’s 39-acre Shadyside Campus features over 120 varieties of trees. The Arboretum provides an outdoor classroom for students in the Landscape Architecture and Landscape Studies programs, as well as a destination for campus visitors.
Campus Operations
As the alma mater of Rachel Carson, Chatham University seriously considers the challenges of sustainability. Chatham’s Rachel Carson Institute helped guide the University to more ecological decisions. For example, Chatham has been purchasing 15% wind power and has a standing campus-wide ban on pesticides since 2002.
We recognize the additional challenges of climate change as requiring even more effort and support, and so have wholeheartedly undertaken the challenges of the ACUPCC. As signatories of the commitment, we have completed our baseline greenhouse emissions audit and continue our work to fulfill the terms of the agreement. We are now in the process of drafting our climate neutrality plan. Our Campus Climate Committee has representatives from all aspects of campus life, including administration, staff, faculty and students.
Current practices include the use of green cleaning products. Chatham also specifies environmentally-friendly materials and practices for building upkeep, including the use of non-VOC, recycled materials for carpets, flooring, and roofing materials. The Office of Finance and Administration recently converted to a cloth towel program for its restrooms.
Chatham also purchased the first hybrid police car in the City of Pittsburgh last year. Campus police cars, of necessity, spend long hours idling. The use of a Toyota Prius as a police vehicle has drastically reduced gasoline use – using one third less fuel than the Ford LTD it replaced, and when the car is stopped it emits no carbon.
To reduce our transportation impact, we now run 3 biodiesel shuttles between campuses and the nearby University of Pittsburgh/Carnegie Mellon University corridor so that students do not need to drive from one building to another to get to class. We are awaiting the opening of a planned biodiesel filling station now under construction near our Eastside campus. Once online, Chatham will install a conversion system to allow use of B85 or B100 fuel. Chatham converted the remainder of its fleet to higher efficiency vehicles over the last two years, including purchasing new vans for Admissions and Facilities use. The vans are the highest-rated “green car” available in their class.
We underwrite public transit for all employees and students, for $30 a semester for a two-zone fare. At the time of this writing, normal cost from the transit authority would be $90 for one month 2-zone fare.
We are proud of our partnership with Parkhurst Dining Services. Parkhurst also has a sustainability office, and our two offices have collaborated on a variety of sustainability initiatives on campus. With impetus from Parkhurst in 2008, both pre and post-consumer food and cardboard are composted. Beginning in 2006 and completed by 2008, all beverage and food containers on campus have been converted to fully-compostable wares. Chatham composted 44.75 pounds of food per person on campus, more than any other school participating in RecycleMania in 2009. Since fall 2008, previously recycled used cooking oil is now sent to a local biodiesel plant.
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Administration and Finance
In September of 2008, the university hired its first sustainability coordinator to provide expertise and oversight of the process, as well as to assist with infusing sustainability into our curriculum and our community life.
Chatham University’s newest Campus Master Plan incorporates planning for sustainability at many levels, from a geothermal system for the Shadyside Campus’ total energy needs; to combined heat and power systems for our newest campus facility, Chatham Eastside (which we expect to meet LEED Silver); to natural landscaping, stormwater management and green roofs at Eden Hall Farm Campus. Growth in undergraduate enrollment, the expansion of graduate and professional programs, and the University’s ongoing commitment to reduce the environmental impact of the campus community are all incorporated into the plan.
Chatham is also committed to gender equity as a crucial component of sustainability. Since our founding in 1869, we have worked to provide women with the education they need to achieve success in the world. Our admissions process is needs-blind, both nationally and internationally. We also work to increase scholarly opportunities for women around the world, and actively recruit internationally, especially in Africa and Asia to provide education opportunities for young women.
The Human Resources department conducts an orientation session for new hires each semester, and the Sustainability Coordinator incorporates a session on what sustainability means at Chatham as part of that program. The orientation includes explanations of sustainability itself, the campus systems, transit options, opportunities for participation in the Climate Committee and community-supported agriculture, and expectations for behavior related to energy and resource consumption, composting, recycling and waste minimization.
The university also supports and participates in regional initiatives such as Champions for Sustainability, a network that that encourages businesses and community leaders to share ideas for sustainability, and the Higher Education Climate Committee of the City of Pittsburgh. The HECC is an active participant in the City of Pittsburgh’s Climate Action Plan, and member schools have agreed to work toward a 20% real reduction in emissions by 2023.
Each year, in conjunction with local and national environmental groups, Chatham hosts a variety of educational programs for middle and high school students in our region to provide education on current environmental issues and to encourage students to become actively involved in the movement toward a healthier, more sustainable global environment. Rachel Carson Environmental Awareness Day has been held each spring for over sixteen years.
Chatham’s student environmental organization, Green Horizons, sponsors Green Week every year, designed to raise awareness on campus for issues such as composting, waste minimization, planet-friendly diets, bicycling, and green power. Green Horizons organized a Climate Change Teach-In this year, and sponsors community discussions for Focus the Nation each year.
Both the Rachel Carson Institute and the Sustainability Office provide training sessions for dislocated workers enrolled in a state green jobs program. Our community partnerships include the City of Pittsburgh, Phipps Conservatory, children’s groups such as Girl Scouts, and, new this year, Eco-Nature camp for children in the city and near Eden Hall Farm.
