Category

Community Colleges & Other Two Year Institutions

Walla Walla Community College's William A. Grant Water & Environmental Center openned in October of 2007. Photographer: David Walk, WWCC

Contact

Jaime Clarke
Education Coordinator
William A. Grant Water & Environmental Center
Walla Walla Community College
Walla Walla, WA
(509) 524-5192
jaime.clarke@wwcc.edu

Governance & Administration

Sustainability at Walla Walla Community College (WWCC), encourages staff and students to think green.  WWCC has targeted the environment and education as two focus areas for a more sustainable campus.  The WWCC campus believes that the environment, economy, and human health must be part of a long-term plan for the sustainable growth of the college and its students. 

WWCC is walking the talk, taking action to create a place of best management practices.  Over the past three years WWCC has constructed the William A. Grant Water & Environmental Center (Center), which opened in October of 2007.  The Center stands as an example of the College's commitment of restoring, protecting, and enhancing the Walla Walla Watershed.  The building itself is evidence of a milestone in progress towards sustainable actions; it is the first building constructed in the area in accordance the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards.

The construction of the Center sparked a desire for the campus to become more sustainable, as well as innovative.  The importance of sustainability has been stressed by a top-down approach, with the President and Vice Presidents leading the effort for faculty, staff, and students to access their individual actions in accordance with sustainable practices.   

Governance & Administration

In January of 2008, the College administration shared a desire to refocus the efforts of the recently completed Center.  The new focus for the Center would incorporate sustainability.  With the new direction the College was excited to join other educational institutions as a member of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), in February of 2008.  The importance of sustainability has been directed by the President and Vice Presidents who hosted two community and campus wide events during the spring of 2008 to discuss sustainable practices at WWCC.  The desire of the WWCC staff and students expressed during these events has initiated a discussion to modify the College's value statement to include sustainability as well as dedicate a staff position to oversee campus actions.  Throughout the summer months administration and staff have met to discuss upcoming sustainability efforts and are the process of creating a sustainability taskforce.   

Operations

The Center was the first LEED building constructed on campus; however, it will not be the last.  WWCC is committed to building according to LEED silver standards.  With a commitment to LEED, WWCC is taking an innovative approach towards facilities and grounds maintenance.  The College has initiated a green cleaning program to use less harmful chemicals for the environment and staff exposed to the cleaning products.  Of course, energy and waste reduction are important to the operations of the College too.  The College has initiated an in-house energy audit to determine which buildings could be areas of potential energy savings.  Waste is being reduced by increased recycling facilities along with better signage for recycling locations.  Water at WWCC is one of the most precious resources.  WWCC was certified as a Salmon Safe campus in March of 2008.  Salmon Safe is a third-party certification process that evaluates water consumption, waste, and the quality of water on campus.  In an effort to be more environmentally friendly WWCC will implement a water conservation plan and modify the campus landscape by reducing the turf by 10% in the next five years.  To ensure water quality storm water will be collected in a bioswale and restoration projects are underway along the creek which flows through campus.  This restoration project will improve 1800 feet of stream channel, abandon a concrete pond, and enhance fish passage to the larger adjacent stream.

Curriculum & Research

Restoration projects like that through the WWCC campus allow students in academic transfer and technical-professional programs to apply classroom knowledge to hands-on experience.  The academic transfer students attending WWCC have a wide variety of ecology, psychology, geology, sociology, and additional science courses that are founded in a background of sustainability.  The professional-technical programs within the College also provide a variety of environmental conservation courses.  WWCC currently offers two green collar degrees in Water Management.  The Water Management Program provides degrees in Irrigation Technology and Water Resources Technology.  Many of the courses for the degree options are under redesign on campus and online.  In addition to existing degrees, new green collar programs are under investigation including renewable energy technicians, watershed ecology, and sustainability technicians.  These programs are currently under investigation and if determined viable will move forward.  WWCC reaches beyond the traditional college students, serving the local school districts and schools through environmental education events at the Center.

Campus Culture

In April of 2008 following community and campus wide events fostering a discussion about sustainability students at WWCC formed a club.  The club, Go Green, was formally recognized by the Associated Student Body and has quickly become the fastest growing club on campus.  The club caters to students; however, does provide non-voting membership to WWCC staff.  Go Green's activities are paperless; there is an online social network, and upcoming events to raise awareness about sustainable actions on and off campus.  This fall the club plans to host a Transportation Fair to encourage carpooling and alternative fuels.

Community Service and Outreach

Students involved in the Go Green club in conjunction with other campus organizations will be organizing a recycling schedule for the campus community.  The schedule will determine which organizations and/or individuals during the fall quarter will collect the recycling materials from all over campus.  This is an effort to not only serve but to educate about the benefits of recycling.  In addition to student led efforts, WWCC is motivated to provide accessible service and education to the local communities.  The Center offers public workshops and seminars related to water, environment, and other natural resource issues.  For example, workshops have included climate change, built green, water rights, and water quality. In addition to hosting education events for the local community, the Center hosed a national water conference in the fall of 2006.