11.12.04

Once again, Ball State University has received a National Wildlife Federation's Campus Ecology "Green Campus Recognition" award.  This recognition was granted to seven colleges and universities with measurable positive achievements and commitment to sustainability during the 2003-2004 academic year.  Three campus projects were cited in the granting of the award.  Click here to view the NWF Campus Ecology website for more specific information.

04.22.04
At BSU Earthweek activities COTE announced the receipients of its second annual awards program.  The awards fall into two categories:
COTE Exemplar Awards recognize individuals or groups with significant accomplishments promoting the sustainable use of natural resources or the protection of ecological systems.  This year's receipients are:
Diana Shaffer, Wildlife Resqu Haus  (Lifetime Achievement Award)
Sheryl Myers, Highland High School
Doug Spence, Spence Restoration Nursery

COTE Green Initiative Awards recognize everyday activites, decisions or contributions that help to move Ball State University toward sustainability.  Their purpose is to reward discrete contributions rather than a history of multiple accomplishments.  This years receipients are:
Gayla Brasher, Purchasing
Dan Byrnes and Gonzales Barajas, Athletic Facilities
Chelsea Cohen, Undergraduate Student
Jon Creek, Muncie Community, Sierra Club
Melinda Messineo, Department of Sociology
Mike Planton, Facilities Planning and Management
Jan Segedy, Burris Laboratory School
Paula Suda, Undergraduate Student
Gwendolyn White, Department of Accounting
Jack Willis, Facilities Planning and Management
Advancement Services, Departmental Award
Natural Resources Club, Organizational Award
Students for a Sustainable Campus, Organizational Award

Finally, in recognition of his outstanding and continued contributions to promoting sustainability and protection of the environment and for his continued service to COTE, Undergraduate Student, Nat Baker was honored with the award of a special COTE Presidential Liason's Award.

11.11.03

Ball State University has received a National Wildlife Federation's Campus Ecology "Green Campus Recognition" award.  This recognition was granted to 13 colleges and universities with measurable positive achievements and commitment to sustainability during the 2002-2003 academic year.  Four campus projects were cited in the granting of the award.  Click here to view the NWF Campus Ecology website for more specific information.

10.10.03

COTE sponsored Ball State University's registration as a participant in the national telecast of,
"Got Sustainability? Plan for it! :
Making Sustainability a Foundation of Higher Education Learning and Practice."

The free, on-campus telecast was held Thursday, 9 October 2003, 11am to 1pm EST on the BSU VIS system.

This two-hour event for senior academic, operations and facilities administrators, planners, faculty, and students was designed to assist leaders in understanding:

• What sustainability is and its importance for a secure and civil society;
• The critical role of higher education in creating a sustainable world;
• Strategies for making sustainability a foundation of higher education learning and practice; and
• Their role in creating the transformative changes needed in higher education.

More details are available on the SCUP website here.

10.03.03
The work of COTE members was published in the following paper:

Beyond Discipline: Integrating Academia, Operations, and Community for Campus-wide Sustainable Development

Proceedings, 7th Annual ‘Education for Sustainable Development' Conference
University of Massachussetts, Lowell, MA October 2003   
     (Co-authors Robert Koester, James Eflin, and John Vann)
A MS Powerpoint file from the presentation of the paper can be downloaded by clicking here  (5.1 MB .ppt file).

05.05.03
COTE member Sue Aiezza produced a short video about recycling on the BSU campus.  The video titled, "Ball State Recycles!" can be viewed by clicking here (5.3 MB .mov file).

04.22.03
At BSU Earthweek activities COTE announced the inaugural receipients of its COTE Exemplar Awards.  The awards recognize individuals or groups with significant accomplishments promoting the sustainable use of natural resources or the protection of ecological systems.  This year's receipients are:
Frank Bracken, Bingham Summers Welsh & Spillman  (Lifetime Achievement Award)
Jim Davis, Paws Inc.
Seth Slaybaugh, The Star Press

04.09.03
COTE Member Sue Aiezza has been named a 2002-2003 National Wildlife Foundation, Campus Ecology Fellow.  Her project for the fellowship involves the production of a video segment on sustainability for a weekly magazine program called Indiana Outdoors. For more information about Sue's fellowship and the Campus Ecology program visit:  http://www.nwf.org/campusecology/fellowprofile.cfm?fid=44

11.21.02
The Sustainable Buildings Industry Council (SBIC) announced the winning entries in its 2002 "Best Practice" Sustainability Awards program. "Best Practice" Sustainability Awards recognize innovation and excellence in market-ready green building and building product design. Ball State was awarded the "Best Practice" award for 2002 in Category 5, "Sustainable Design Curriculum" for its Clustered Minors Program.
Click here for the complete SBIC press release. (Adobe .pdf file, 256 k)  
Click here for more information about the Clustered Minors Program.

09.03.02
Natural Resources and Environmental Management graduate student Sue Aiezza has been named a National Wildlife Federation "Campus Ecology Fellow" for the 2002-03 academic year.  She will be working on a sustainability video for Indiana Outdoors with COTE member Nancy Carlson.

Summer 2002 

COTE  sponsored the participation of Rodolpho H. Ramina as a guest speaker in the "Celebration of Community as Sustainability" symposium at the "UniverCity 2002" campus event.  Ramina, an engineer instrumental in the work of Curitiba, Brazil, a city regarded by many as the most sustainable city in the world, discussed campus greening, sustainability, community outreach, and collaboration across disciplines. The symposium was from 10 a.m until 4 p.m. on Tuesday, September 24 in the Architecture Building, Room 100. The presentation, like all UniverCity 2002 activities, was free and open to the public.

04.29.02
Congratulations are offered to COTE member, Barry Banks for receiving the "VIVA" award.

Robert J. Koester and B. Thomas Lowe developed an article recently published in the Muncie Star chronicling Ball State University's commitment to environmental issues.

The "Ball State University Sustainability Statement", drafted and adopted by COTE has been endorsed by the Senior Staff, Academic Deans and the University Senate.  Endorsement was unanimous by each body. 
Click here to read the text of the statement.

03.25.02
A number of COTE members attended and presented papers at the International Think Thank on Education for Sustainability scheduled for 12 March 2002 at the Castleview Conference Center at the Earth Center in Doncaster England.

During the March meeting a COTE mission statement was adopted by unanimous vote of the council membership. 
Click here to read the text of the statement.

During BSU's celebration of Earth Week, COTE sponsored a presentation on Indiana Landscapes by Dr. Nancy Carlson, Dr. Barb Stedman and Professor Martha Hunt.  In addition, COTE mounted an exhibit from the membership wherein each COTE member cited a favorite quote or graphic on the topic of sustainability. The exhibit was designed to give the university community a sense of the thinking and concerns of the representatives that serve on the council.

02.25.02
Within the publication of his 2001 Annual Report, Eye on Excellence: Becoming a National Model,  BSU President Blaine Brownell reinforced the university's stated committment to environmental sustainability.  Brownell cited, "...ten years of strategies to foster environmental sensitivity and education..." as one of several illustrations of Ball State serving as a national and international model (see page 3 of the printed report).  Further into the report, Brownell recounted some of this "green" history in describing Ball State's response to Goal 2 of the newly adopted University Strategic Plan which addresses the creation of a "Rich Learning Environment" (see insert on page 7 of the printed report).

01.22.02
The International Encyclopedia of Environmental Politics has been published by the Routledge publishing house.  The work was co-edited by Gene Frankland, BSU Professor of Political Science and contains the contributions of several BSU / COTE participants.  Frankland and his editing partner, Irish scholar John Barry, coordinated input from 162 contributors representing every continent except Antarctica.  Ten others associated with Ball State contributed to the encyclopedia.   BSU / COTE members that contributed include:  Warren Vander Hill, James Eflin, Stanley Keil, Robert Koester, David LeBlanc and Thomas Lowe. Click here for a BSU news article about the publication.

12.04.01
At the monthly meeting of the BSU Council on the Environment, Jim Lowe, Director of Facilities Assessment and Engineering provided a presentation on the history of energy management at Ball State University.   During the presentation, he noted that the BSU Facilities Management staff received national recognition for this work in the following publications:

"Variable Speed Pump Packages Slash Costs, Improve Performance at Ball State University",
ITT Fluid Handling, Volume 10, Issue 3.  December 1995

"A Constant Flow of Energy Savings", 
Engineered Systems, December 1995

11.01.01
The Great Lakes Radio Consortium interviews Ball State personnel as it reports on the recently released State of the Campus Environment Report commissioned by the National Wildlife Federation/Campus Ecology program.
http://www.glrc.org/story_archives/search.php3?date=2001-10-15

10.30.01
In a recent publication of the Campus Environmental Report Card prepared by Princeton Survey Research Associates under contract to Campus Ecology at the National Wildlife Federation, Ball State was cited as a Best Practices institution in the categories of "Doing More with Recycling, Solid Waste and Materials Flow", and "Leading Schools for Recycling 60% or more of total waste".

09.30.01
In a paper presented at the Greening of the Campus 4 conference, Harold Glasser and other researchers reported on "Campus Sustainability Assessment Review Project" conducted by the Environmental Studies Program and Environmental Institute at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo.  This comprehensive review of campus sustainability assessments indexed universities around the country engaged in best practices.  In this report, Ball State ranked 4th in a listing of some 55 institutions surveyed.  In the particular category of Focused Campus Sustainability Assessments, Ball State ranked 2nd among13 institutions.  With regard to specific categories of assessment, Ball State ranked 1st under Rationale for Recommendations, Specific Recommended Actions, Recommendation Implementation Strategies, Academic Analyses of Recommendations, Prioritization of Recommendations and Education.  These assessments were based on the 1991 Green Report.

08.30.01
In the recent publication of the Campus Ecology Yearbook, Ball State was featured as a Best Practices Institution (see web site addresses above) in recognition of its effort as campus-wide management initiatives  recommended in the 2001 Green-2 Report.

07.30.01
In a recent regional workshop sponsored by Second Nature, Boston MA, Ball State University was featured as a "Best Practices" institution for its Green-2 Committee implementation of the Talloires Declaration.  The creation of the BSU Council on the Environment is one measure of success in this initiative.