Seattle Pacific University
Contact Information
Education and Research:
Over the past several years, sustainability has become a much bigger part of campus culture at Seattle Pacific University, both in and out of the classroom.
Seattle Pacific’s emphasis on community service begins at orientation with CityQuest, in which freshmen spend a day volunteering at various community nonprofits, doing everything from sorting food at a food bank to wetlands restoration.
Students who choose to do so may participate in Residence Life’s Bridges program, which occupies two floors of Emerson Hall. As an intentional living community, Bridges offers students the opportunity to engage in conversations around challenging topics that broaden understanding of cultural competency, social justice, and how these issues intersect with faith, politics, identity, and the global community.
Every year, the Office of Student Life, Career Development Center, and School of Business and Economics host the Social Venture Plan Competition, designed to encourage SPU students to develop projects that can make a difference in the world. Students work in teams to create plans for organizations that help to solve a social (or environmental) problem, and winning teams receive seed money to implement their plan. While judging criteria focus on social and financial bottom lines, teams addressing environmental issues have received top awards in recent years.
Seattle Pacific has two student groups specifically dedicated to sustainability issues, SPACE (Seattle Pacific Agriculture for the Community and Environment) and SPEN (Seattle Pacific Environmental Network). Founded this past year, Seattle Pacific Agriculture for the Community and Environment is a student club dedicated to providing opportunities to learn about vegetable cultivation and stewardship in an urban environment. They maintain an organic garden on campus. Another recently formed student group, SPEN, is dedicated to interdisciplinary collaboration to advance sustainability issues on campus and in the local community.
SPU offers a wide variety of concentrations dealing with sustainability issues, such as:
- Global Development Studies—An interdisciplinary degree program that aims to prepare students for social venture or nonprofit work by combining political science, economics, theology, and health sciences.
- Global Urban Ministry—A theology minor integrated with courses in community economic development and cross-cultural communication.
- Sustainable and Appropriate Technology—This concentration within the engineering degree combines a focus on sustainable technology with cultural competence. “More than just a growing and popular field of study, sustainability in engineering also reflects a call to justice for the poor and stewardship of resources.” –Professor John Lindberg
Seattle Pacific is currently working to increase opportunities for student projects to have on-campus applications. Most recently, a senior engineering student helped design a solar photovoltaic system for her honors project. Part of a suggested “green portfolio” for SPU, the solar installation will replenish the electric grid with the amount of electricity consumed by our electric fleet. This project is scheduled for completion in summer of 2009.
Campus Operations:
Seattle Pacific demonstrates sustainability leadership in campus operations by:
- Setting a LEED Silver minimum standard for all new construction
- A remarkably low carbon footprint. SPU’s 2008 greenhouse gas inventory estimated emissions at about 1.6 MTCO2e per student FTE, significantly lower than the ACUPCC average for Masters Institutions, 16.4 MTCO2e per student FTE.
- Decreasing natural gas consumption/square foot by nearly 10% in the past five years.
- Decreasing water use/square foot by approximately 25% over the past five years.
- Continually upgrading to more efficient lighting. Currently, all of the main campus is retrofitted with T8 and T5 fluorescent lights and LED exit signs.
- A commitment to ENERGY STAR purchasing
- Selecting computer models with EPEAT Silver or better ratings
- Implementing campus-wide power management settings for desktop PCs
- Integrating electric trucks into our maintenance fleet. Currently, we have five electric utility trucks and plan to add more. SPU’s fleet decreased gasoline consumption by 22% from 2006 to 2008.
- Offering a comprehensive alternative transportation program that includes:
- Flexpasses good for bus, light rail, and commuter rail use with four local transit systems. Last year, these were given free of charge to faculty and staff members who committed to using alternative transportation three or more times per week.
- Subsidies for vanpools and transit options not covered by the Flexpass (WA state ferry system)
- Free or discounted parking for carpools
- Two on-campus Flexcars, available for free to employees who commit to using alternative modes of transportation.
- Guaranteed ride home program
- Free lockers and shower access for bicycle commuters
- Discounted transit passes for students (30% off)
- Pacific Collegium: a home-away-from-home for commuter students with kitchen, study, and gathering space
- Exodus: a student government campaign aimed at increasing student community involvement. The Exodus website contains real time data on the three bus routes serving campus.
- Achieving a 52% recycling rate while participating in Recyclemania 2009, up from a 17% baseline recycling rate in 1999.
- Recycling or donating all computers, printer cartridges, batteries, scrap metal, appliances, and fluorescent light bulbs replaced by SPU staff
- Composting all yard waste as well as food waste from the main dining hall
- Expanding recycling and reuse infrastructure during move out. Move out stations are set up at each dorm room as well as central locations serving campus apartments. Each station accepts recyclable materials as well as donations of food, clothing, and household items, which go to local nonprofits.
Administration and Finance:
Seattle Pacific University’s Strategic Plan contains a high level commitment to graduating students of competence and character who know what is going on in the world and are equipped to do something about it. We as a university recognize that sustainability is integral to the current big picture.
Most specifically, social sustainability is addressed in Seattle Pacific’s Signature Commitment to Reconciliation:
“Seattle Pacific University will be a place that models grace-filled community and practices radical reconciliation. … we are committed to reaching across barriers of race and ethnicity; we are determined to address the fierce battles among ideologies, separation by class, and stratification by education.”
To support this commitment, SPU founded the John Perkins Center for Reconciliation, Leadership Training, and Community Development in 2004. Named for Dr. John Perkins, one of the leading evangelical voices of the American civil rights movement, the Perkins Center seeks to:
- Build bridges, partnerships, and collaborative programs to serve the urban community in Seattle and beyond
- Engage and train Christian leaders in the work of reconciliation and community development
- Facilitate thoughtful reflection and scholarship nationally on reconciliation and community development
- Recruit more students, faculty, and staff of color for the SPU community and continue to shape our own campus culture to model racial and ethnic reconciliation and community health and wholeness
The Perkins Center manages several programs that support the above goals, including:
- Latreia, which means “worship,” or “service,” connects campus community members to community service events via a volunteer opportunities database. Latreia also organizes Days of Service.
- Seattle Pacific Reachout International, or SPRINT, provides students with the opportunity to engage in community development and service in other countries over the course of a two to six week trip.
- Urban Involvement builds on community partnerships by pairing students with regular volunteer opportunities.
- Urban Youth Leadership Academy: In partnership with local churches, organizations, and schools, UYLA provides leadership development and training encouraging multicultural youth and young adults to engage in their communities, pursue higher education, and serve in the global urban context perpetuating the cycle of community development.
As a premier Christian university, Seattle Pacific recognizes its responsibility to be a good steward of the planet. Environmental stewardship is specifically addressed as a goal in our Master Plan: “… support and enhance campus environmental quality and sustainable development and operations.”
On March 26, 2008, Seattle Pacific President Phil Eaton signed the Presidents’ Climate Commitment. Since then, SPU has remained in good standing with the timely submissions of a two-month report and baseline greenhouse gas inventory.
SPU’s Sustainability Committee is currently working to develop a Sustainability Plan, which will among other things describe how the University intends to achieve carbon neutrality. The Sustainability Committee is co-chaired by the Facilities Director and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and facilitated by the Sustainability Coordinator. Faculty, staff, and students comprise the rest of this nearly twenty-person group.
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