Salisbury University
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Education and Research:
When John Burroughs Award-winning author and longtime Baltimore Sun columnist Tom Horton teaches his environmental studies class at Salisbury University, some of the most important lessons take place outside the classroom—where students may view migratory birds or take canoe trips to see marine life up close in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
For years Salisbury University has promoted sustainability through its thriving Environmental Issues course. The institution’s dedication to sustainability in the classroom, however, does not end there; it carries throughout the curriculum.
Students studying the interaction of mankind with nature philosophy classes, for example, have planted wildlife, rain and vegetable gardens on campus while collecting vegetable garbage from their homes and residence halls to compost. The Theatre and Dance Department has joined the Philosophy Department in creating compost bins, using scrap lumber from its prop department.
In SU’s Perdue School of Business, management and marketing students developed a baseline carbon footprint for the campus to comply with a University System of Maryland requirement that campuses present such studies. SU was the only campus in the system to charge its own students with the study, which is being used as University officials determine how best to reduce the institution’s carbon footprint. Business students have visited alternative energy companies to learn how power sources such as wind may have an impact in the future. The Perdue School is also home to ShoreEnergy, an SU-founded organization that allows academics to work with area power suppliers to make recommendations for better energy use and production on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
In other areas, such as biology, students have presented ideas for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s “P3: People, Prosperity and the Planet” grant competition and used AASHE’s STAR system to study sustainability measures within SU’s operations. In the past year biology and business faculty and students also have studied forest growth both locally and in the Amazon thanks to more than $1 million in competitive grants from such institutions as the National Science Foundation and The Nature Conservancy. Other students have conducted sustainable research in countries including Honduras and India, with an environmental partnership program in Mexico slated to begin in 2010.
In addition, the State of Maryland has turned to SU’s faculty to help identify pollution problems statewide. The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE), for example, hired Salisbury’s Eastern Shore Regional GIS Cooperative to identify septic systems that may be leaking toxic chemicals into the state’s waterways. MDE also works closely with SU’s Bacterial Source Tracking Laboratory, which determines the source of certain contaminants within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The lab also has been contacted to perform work in other states, including Delaware and Michigan.
Campus Operations:
Salisbury University took its first steps into sustainable practices in 1990, when its recycling program was founded. In 2008 the campus recycled some six million pounds of materials including more than 334 tons of mixed paper (up from just over 244 tons in 2007), more than two tons of aluminum cans (up from not quite 1.5 the year before) and 1.4 tons of motor oil.
In 2008 SU became the first university in the United States to install high-efficiency PrecisionWash laundry units campuswide and was one of the first three inducted into Mac-Gray Corp.’s “Lighten the Load” carbon neutral footprint program. The new washers use just 12.2 gallons of water per wash—a savings of three gallons from previous machines—and feature an auto-injection system for high-efficiency detergent to eliminate the need for plastic detergent bottles.
Pilot programs have also led to significant new sustainability policies. Starting with a recent project at the campus library, the recycling of existing carpet is standard in all campus carpeting Requests For Proposals, resulting in the recycling of some 194 tons so far. During a recent renovation project in its liberal arts building, SU piloted a program using non-volatile organic compound paint, which enhances air quality.
When the University’s new Teacher Education and Technology Center opened in fall 2008, it did so with a sustainable flourish. Nearly all flooring was made from recyclable materials, including bamboo. Energy-efficient glass and glazing was used throughout the building, and task lights were installed in more than 90 percent of all work stations so larger area ceiling lights could remain off during the day. A former parking lot was reconverted to green space for the building’s “commons” area, and the new parking lot includes spaces for carpool and hybrid vehicles, complete with charging stations.
Sustainable programs are also in place for new construction at SU. LED-type lights and a daylight harvesting system that should reduce lighting energy by 60 percent are planned for the campus’ first parking garage. All waste concrete created during construction is being recycled, and 100 percent of all concrete (over 1,085 tons) and metal (over 62 tons) from buildings demolished for the project was recycled. A new building for SU’s business school, scheduled to break ground in fall 2009, will include a 15-ton geothermal heat pump and carbon dioxide sensors that should help reduce heating and cooling energy by some 24 percent, as well as daylight harvesting. All of SU’s new buildings are designed according to U.S. Green Building Council LEED specifications.
Even the way the University runs its motor pool may soon get a new green spin. SU currently gives its used cooking oil to a local processor for use in making chicken feed. The University is investigating the feasibility of a campus biodiesel production facility that would instead transform the used oil into fuel for University vehicles and lawnmowe
Administration and Finance:
By signing the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment in 2007, Salisbury University President Janet Dudley-Eshbach joined more than 400 other college and university presidents nationwide in the fight against global warming by pledging to move SU toward climate neutrality.
That, however, was just the beginning of the administration’s commitment to sustainability. That same year, SU entered a 15-year facilities upgrade partnership with Pepco Energy Services, Inc. and the Maryland Department of General Services to save water equal to the annual consumption of 473 family homes, electricity sufficient to power 1,600 homes and reduce emissions equal to removing 1,571 cars from the road or planting 2,145 acres of trees, all while saving SU an estimated $6 million. The University saw a $331,378 savings the first year alone.
Highlights of the agreement included:
• Installing more efficient mechanical equipment in 14 campus buildings;
• Installing tens of thousands more energy efficient bulbs and lighting fixtures;
• Upgrading some 1,700 plumbing fixtures to conserve 11 million gallons of water annually; and
• Using renewable energy sources to supply at least 5 percent of SU’s power.
In 2008, SU’s administration also got serious about a project with a silly name: RecycleMania. Students in SU’s residence halls participated in the national contest, joining more than 400 colleges and universities throughout the United States in competing to see who could produce the most recycling. Students recycled 4.3 tons of material including glass, aluminum, plastic, paper and cardboard, repeating the process with similar results in 2009.
That summer, the University’s Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art followed the students’ sustainable lead in a slightly different way, battling high energy use by implementing a program through which energy cost savings were transferred into shared bonuses for staff members. Overall, energy use decreased by one-third. Thanks to a private donation, carbon offsets now neutralize the museum’s impact on the environment through power use.
Based on these and other initiatives, the Newton Marasco Foundation, a Virginia-based non-profit environmental organization, honored Salisbury University President Janet Dudley-Eshbach with its first annual award for Leading Environmental Stewardship (LES) in 2009. Since 2005, the foundation has partnered with SU to host the Green Earth Book Awards—the nation’s first and only prize to laud “green-minded” authors and illustrators for encouraging sustainability in literature for children and young adults.
In 2009 SU also received the highest sustainability award given by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Forest Service and Forestry Council, the PLANT Green Award, recertifying SU as a “People Loving And Nurturing Trees” (PLANT) Community. The University earned the designation for its sustainability efforts and tree-friendly campus, which is a nationally accredited arboretum.
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