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Unity College

Unity College
Campus Category: 
Four year and graduate institutions under 5,000 student FTE

Contact Information

Jesse
Pyles
Sustainability Coordinator
President's Office
Education and Research:

Unity College in Maine is organizing its institutional efforts according to President Mitchell Thomashow’s Nine Elements of a Sustainable Campus. These elements are grouped under three categories, or “challenges,” that correspond with the AASHE Award criteria. The Learning challenge (or Education and Research) involves Curriculum, Interpretation, and Aesthetics.

Curriculum

  • The Environmental Stewardship Core Curriculum focuses every student on the theory and practice of sustainability through the following courses: The Unity Experience, The Environmental Citizen, Environmental Sustainability, and Environmental Challenge.
  • Unity offers environmental degree programs that fall under five new Academic Centers of Excellence: the Center for Biodiversity, the Center for Environmental Arts & Humanities, the Center for Environmental & Experiential Education, the Center for Natural Resource Management & Protection, and the Center for Sustainability & Global Change.
  • In 2008, we added two new sustainability degree programs to our already intensely hands-on, interdisciplinary offerings: a BS in Agriculture, Food, and Sustainability, and BS in Sustainable Design and Technology. The latter equips students to become sustainability and environmental compliance officers in government agencies, industry, nonprofits, and education institutions.

Interpretation

  • Completed in 2008, the Unity House is a LEED Platinum residence for the College president. Frequent tours of the Unity House offer campus community members and visitors an up-close look at sustainable design and performance (see Campus Operations). This net zero carbon home also hosts campus events and classes, and has become an icon of our sustainability outreach efforts.
  • Unity College is the proud steward of the “Jimmy Carter” solar panels – 32 solar thermal panels that once graced the roof of the White House. The College is preserving these 30 year-old panels as historic artifacts after using half of them to provide hot water to our cafeteria for twelve years. One panel on loan to Google was displayed as part of President Obama’s inauguration activities.
  • The College’s comprehensive master plan, Unity 2020, shapes all building and campus development projects based on sustainability values. This plan is prominently displayed throughout campus offices in an effort to promote our campus vision for a sustainable future.

Aesthetics

  • Based at Unity College, Hawk and Handsaw: The Journal of Creative Sustainability publishes thought-provoking written and visual art that interprets and redefines notions of sustainability. The journal includes works from established and emerging artists, including Unity College students.
  • Unity annually hosts the Art of Stewardship and Orion’s Education for a Changing Climate conferences, utilizing the campus grounds as a canvas for creative visual and literary responses to environmental issues.
Campus Operations:

Unity College has among the lowest emissions of any college in the country – 2 metric tons CO2e per FTE in 2008 (average emissions for 100 self-reporting baccalaureate colleges is 9.17 metric tons CO2e per FTE according to the ACUPCC online reporting system). As a small school of approximately 530 students, we’ve made operations improvements with limited resources – our endowment of less than $3 million is about 25% of our annual operating budget. According to the Nine Elements of a Sustainable Campus, the Infrastructure challenge (or Campus Operations) involves Energy, Food, and Materials.

Energy

  • The 1,937-square-foot Unity House is expected to produce more electricity than it uses every year, and is complete with a 5.4 KW photovoltaic system, solar hot water, and a cold climate heat pump. The LEED Platinum home uses passive solar design and high-efficiency thermal insulation to decrease the need for fossil fuel inputs.
  • Unity College pays a premium rate for purchased electricity – 100% comes from Maine-made renewable sources including hydropower and biomass.
  • Greenhouse gas emissions from campus energy use have decreased nearly 20% from 2001 levels despite adding new buildings and record enrollments. Reductions are attributed to efficiency upgrades in older buildings, and efficiency focus in new construction.
  • As a part of Rocky Mountain Institute’s Accelerating Campus Climate-Change Initiatives program, Unity College is proposing the appointment of a Sustainability Fellow to assess and prioritize emissions and cost savings from future improvements to multiple buildings.

Food

  • 18% of the meat, fish, and produce at the College came from local sources last year. All community and catered events place a primary emphasis on the use of local and seasonal foods.
  • Organic produce from our campus garden is used in the College cafeteria and at the local emergency food pantry. The garden staff works closely with dining services to grow and process food that will be useful for summer conference programs as well as school-year meals.
  • This summer, Unity appointed a Farm & Grounds Manager and two half-time Sustainable Food Production Assistants to manage food growing programs on campus.

Materials

  • Unity College is committed to LEED building standards and environmentally friendly building materials. Recent construction of Maplewood, a residence hall, and the Health Center feature super-insulated ceilings and walls, low-e windows, and low VOC paints, glues, and adhesives. We source Maine products in construction and renovation projects whenever possible.
  • The College uses 100% post-consumer recycled fiber, FSC-certified paper in all campus printers and copiers.
  • Unity’s custodial services team has implemented a comprehensive green cleaning program that incorporates Green Seal certified cleaning products, Andersen door mats, and a team cleaning approach. The program has attracted attention from other institutions and serves as a model in the field.
Administration and Finance:

Unity’s tangible commitment to sustainability is pervasive: emissions data charts are prominently displayed in the facilities director’s office, business office staff routinely track energy consumption, dining services staff demand proper composting bins, everywhere students are engaging the campus as a sustainability laboratory. Unity is at a tipping point, with meaningful efforts emerging from every corner of campus. This commitment is championed by our president, a charter signatory to the ACUPCC, who has made it clear that sustainability is everyone’s job. The Community challenge (or Administration and Finance) of his Nine Elements includes Governance, Investment, and Wellness.

Governance

  • Unity’s full-time sustainability coordinator reports directly to the president and serves on the Master Planning Committee.
  • Sustainability factors into every employee job description, and is a key component of annual performance reviews.
  • All department heads on campus are responsible for the development of a sustainability plan for their areas, linking departmental efforts to the climate action plan and other sustainability commitments.
  • President Thomashow established the Leadership Council(pdf) for purposes of transparent and deliberative decision-making. This Council sets the agenda for the College based on sustainability criteria.
  • As chief catalysts for sustainability initiatives on campus, students serve on the Master Planning Committee and the Leadership Council. Additionally, twelve work-study students report to the sustainability coordinator in recycling, farm, and office support positions.

Investment

  • Unity College has partnered with Maine State Housing Authority to purchase carbon offsets. In 2008, the College purchased 250 Verified Emission Reductions to fund energy efficiency programs in low-income housing.
  • Through Unity’s Community Wind Assessment Program students and faculty employ the latest technology to assess feasibility of wind power projects for often under-resourced Maine communities.
  • Last October more than 20 campus participants weatherized dozens of area homes with financial support and training from the college, state, and local agencies.
  • Unity College has played a key role in the development of the Mid-Maine Sustainability Coalition, which convened in January with 60 business and organization leaders to define a “2020 Vision” for a sustainable region.

Wellness

  • Unity recognizes that a healthy campus is a more interesting and vital learning community. Employee wellness programs such as Sustainable U encourage lunchtime hiking, walking, yoga, and meditation activities for college staff.
  • The Dean’s Cup – a year-long competition among residence halls – emphasizes cooperation and teambuilding through friendly physical, educational, environmental, and purely silly contests. The recent decline in incident rates on campus has been linked to the successful implementation of this community building program.

Please email resources@aashe.org with any suggestions, additions or updates.