UWM earning attention for sustainability efforts
University earns gold from ratings organization
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is gaining national attention for continuing to step up its game in sustainability efforts.
The university has earned a gold rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education — the fifth Wisconsin school to get the top rating. The UW-Stevens Point, UW-Oshkosh, UW-River Falls and Northland College also have won gold ratings in the last five years. Seven schools have earned silver ratings.
This is the second gold rating UWM has received and its third high rating overall, with a gold rating in 2016 and a silver in 2013. No other Wisconsin school matches that record.
The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System — known as STARS — is the most widely recognized yardstick for measuring a college or university’s sustainability performance.
“We participate in the STARS program because it is the benchmark for sustainability efforts,” said Katherine Nelson, chief sustainability officer at UWM.
Over the last 10 years, more than 20 higher education institutions in Wisconsin have participated in the STARS program. Almost 1,000 institutions worldwide participate. The idea is to become more environmentally friendly — taking actions like adding a Bublr Bikes station or using stormwater to nourish campus gardens, as UWM has done.
In order to achieve the STARS gold rating, UWM scored consistently high across four main categories: Academics, Engagement, Operations and Planning & Administration.
Renee Scampini, a graduate student who volunteers in sustainability efforts on campus, pointed to bike week, a recycling day event and the university’s composting efforts as the kind of steps that most caught her eye.
“I volunteered for this event where they gathered all these things that students would throw away and gave it away for free,“said Scampini. “People were able to safely get rid of things they would normally dump, like mattresses and couches, and get nice things for free like dividers and even a television.”
Nelson identified several other achievements:
❚ A 35% emission reduction on campus.
❚ More than two-thirds of academic departments including sustainability in their curriculum
❚ Becoming the first university in the world training students in the practical application of water stewardship planning. (Which means they offer the first university-level water stewardship planning course that applies the rigorous Alliance for Water Stewardship standards to a university building).
❚ Partnering with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee on the Learn, Earn and Grow program, which provides summer urban agricultural jobs to high school students.
Nelson said the Learn, Earn and Grow program is a workforce development program in which teens are recruited from Washington, Vincent and Milwaukee Academy of Science high schools. They grow food on the UWM campus and at the Mary Ryan Boys & Girls Club.
For the future, Nelson said, the university hopes to achieve 100% renewable energy, with energy collected from renewable resources such as sunlight and wind, and continue to grow and maintain the sustainability programs it has already started.
Nelson advises other universities looking to advance sustainability efforts to build trust with the community. She said UWM sustainability programs only got stronger when community members got involved.