UMaine on Princeton Review’s List of ‘Green Colleges’ for Fifth Consecutive Year

For the fifth consecutive year, the University of Maine has been named a “green college” by Princeton Review for its exemplary commitment to sustainability in academics, campus infrastructure and programming.

The Princeton Review’s Guide to 332 Green Colleges: 2014 Edition profiles 330 schools in the United States and two in Canada that are the most environmentally responsible. Other universities that have made the guide for the past five years include Georgia Tech, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Oregon.

The annual guide is produced by Princeton Review in collaboration with the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council. Four-year colleges are surveyed to measure their commitment to the environment and sustainability. The free 216-page guide is online.

“The University of Maine’s sustainability focus is comprehensive and impactful,” says UMaine President Paul Ferguson, who this month was elected vice chair of the Steering Committee of the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). “Maine’s flagship campus has a national leadership role in sustainability and a statewide stewardship responsibility in keeping with the university’s five-year Blue Sky strategic plan. At UMaine, sustainability helps define the institution.”

UMaine’s sustainability initiatives cited in the guide include the Blue Bike program and the Black Bear Orono Express shuttle, providing free transportation on and around campus in an effort to reduce vehicle traffic. One of the overarching goals of UMaine’s full-time Sustainability Coordinator and the President’s Council on Sustainability, made up of students, faculty and staff, is to achieve carbon neutrality on campus by 2040.

Initiatives in UMaine dining and housing programs are key to promoting green living on campus. They include the student-run UMaine Greens project, which supplies salad greens to the Bear’s Den dining facility. Compost for the salad greens project and landscaping campuswide comes from UMaine’s advanced composting facility, which has the potential to convert more than 1 ton of organic waste per day from campus dining facilities into a rich soil amendment.

Also noted was UMaine sustainability leadership in its student organizations, curricula and research. The university has five LEED-certified buildings, including three silver and one gold, and a comprehensive Zero-Sort recycling program. It also participates in STARS — the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System.

Among UMaine’s other recent honors and distinctions recognizing its national leadership as a green campus:

  • In 2007, UMaine became a charter signatory of ACUPCC.

  • In 2009, UMaine developed an award-winning Campus Master Plan focused on sustainability.

  • In 2010, UMaine received a Special Recognition Award from the U.S. Green Building Council.

  • In 2011, UMaine received a Second Nature Climate Leadership Award representing doctoral institutions.

  • In 2012, UMaine was featured on the Princeton Review’s Green Honor Roll for the second consecutive year.

Contact: Margaret Nagle, 207.581.3745