Green Office Certification
The UWM Green Office Certification recognizes and tracks departments on campus that put forth the extra effort to have greener operations and lessen their environmental impact. The program identifies a set of conditions and actions – some optional and some required – that departments can take to obtain the green certification. Departments determine their level of “green” and are awarded 1, 2, 3, or 4 Panther “Paws” depending on how many credits they can achieve.
Categories for Consideration
- Energy
- IT
- Waste
- Transportation
- Purchasing
- Food & Dining
- Innovation
The Green Office Certification has been completed by several Divisions and Departments. Student Affairs, and all 23 of their departments, were the first to complete the Certification in 2014. They were soon followed by all 15 departments of the Finance and Administrative Affairs division who achieved 3 “paws”. Other departments include the School of Continuing Education, Center for International Education, and Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.
Finance and Administrative Affairs Green Team
Resources
Green Office Certification Resource Guide 2.0
Green Office Certification Checklist
LinkedIn Learning with Lynda
Sustainability-related professional development trainings are available through LinkedIn Learning with Lynda.com. Sustainability-related Learning Paths and Courses focus on a wide-range of topics such as water and energy use, learning design for sustainability, collective impact, climate change, and sustainability strategies. A keyword search for any of these terms on the website will bring up relevant courses. See here for more details.
UWM Food and Garden Club
Since 2010, the foundation of the UWM Food and Garden Club was strongly supported by the presence and engagement of faculty and staff. Students are always welcome too, but as they come and go, it is the staff that provide the long-term support for the campus gardens. Faculty and staff may opt to have their own plot in the campus gardens or provide support for the shared community gardens on campus. All are welcome to engage for a day, a year, or a tenure.
Email ask-sustainability@uwm.edu to get added to the Food & Garden Club list-serve, and start getting involved.