Tag Archive for: sustainability

IAS sustainability conference SOU Ashland

Sustainability conference at SOU builds regional collaboration

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(Ashland, Ore.) — The initial conference of Southern Oregon University’s Institute for Applied Sustainability attracted about 85 sustainability professionals from southern Oregon and northern California this month for two days of hands-on learning, actionable insights and connection-building in Ashland and nearby venues.

The invitation-only conference on Oct. 3 and 4 was open to those in agencies and organizations from the Pacific Coast to Klamath Falls, and from Roseburg to Redding, who are spearheading sustainability efforts in their areas. The event was intended to pull together those leaders to create a dynamic network of individuals and inspired organizations to advance sustainability initiatives throughout the region.

“This conference was valuable to those in attendance, and to those who live in southern Oregon and northern California,” said Vincent Smith, executive director of SOU’s Institute for Applied Sustainability and dean of the School of Science and Business. “A lot of ground-breaking knowledge was shared, and just as important, bonds and connections were created that will benefit us all as we work to promote sustainability efforts and mitigate the effects of a changing climate.”

Programs at the conference were meant to promote regional collaboration and support around existing and future sustainability projects. Participants gained practical knowledge, had opportunities to highlight success stories and promote innovation, and strengthened regionally-focused partnerships.

The first day centered on keynote speeches, workshops and networking opportunities, with topics ranging from funding to using artificial intelligence in climate-action planning, and from the effects of change management on the electrical grid to leveraging diversity to support sustainability. The keynote speaker was Auden Schendler, the senior vice president for sustainability at Aspen One in Colorado, who champions solutions to the climate crisis through activism, movement building and replicable projects. Another 14 presenters served as guest speakers on a variety of topics. Most of the day-one events were held on the SOU campus, other than an evening reception at the Ashland Hills Hotel.

Community outings and connection-building were the second-day focus, with opportunities for outdoor adventures, art and dining. Options included mountain biking with Ashland Mountain Adventures, rafting with Indigo Creek Outfitters, a food and wine tour with Rogue Trotter, and a tour and matinee with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. All of the day-two activities were organized and sponsored by Travel Southern Oregon, a local tourism marketing nonprofit.

The conference was hosted by SOU’s Institute for Applied Sustainability and a committee that included faculty members Dee Fretwell and Pavlina McGrady, IAS coordinator Kira Welch and student Jenny Chynoweth. Sponsors included Travel Southern Oregon, Motif Event Rentals, Shooting Star Nursery and BBG Creations.

The SOU Institute for Applied Sustainability was created in fall 2022 as part of an historic, $12 million gift to SOU from Lithia Motors and its GreenCars division. The two largest elements of the gift are a $5 million scholarship fund and $4 million that established the IAS – which collaborates with Lithia on projects including the sustainability conference, an academic credential in corporate sustainability and a national sustainability demonstration site.

The institute celebrated the start of its second year in January with the official launch of its IAS Innovation Fund, which provides micro-grants for forward-thinking projects by SOU faculty and staff. Those projects have included sustainable landscape upgrades on campus, regional partnerships, a global exchange program, faculty research and student internships.

Learn more about the Institute for Applied Sustainability and its Innovation Fund.

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The Farm at SOU prepares for CSA season

Cultivating community: The Farm at SOU

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The Farm at Southern Oregon University is currently growing a variety of crops including kale, radishes, potatoes, asparagus, garlic and onions, despite recent weather adversities – signaling a promising start to the upcoming Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) season.

The Farm at SOU prepares for CSA seasonRecent potato plantings marked a significant step toward fulfilling the summer 2024 CSA Program, a cornerstone initiative of the farm, with crops that have over-wintered now approaching harvest. The CSA program yields high-quality, pesticide-free produce and fosters community engagement by offering subscribing members weekly access to fresh fruits and vegetables grown on The Farm.

CSA shares are available for participants who wish to receive weekly produce boxes. The program is open to all community members, regardless of their relationship with SOU. More information regarding the 2024 CSA program is available on The Farm at SOU website.

The Farm at SOU also partners with Aladdin, the campus catering service responsible for The Hawk dining commons. The Farm supplies fresh produce for a variety of dishes, enriching the dining experience while reinforcing The Farm’s commitment to sustainability, and compostable waste from the dining facility is used to enrich soil at the student-led and student-powered agricultural organization.

The Farm, located near the SOU campus on North Walker Street, has blossomed since its inception in 2013. It provides learning opportunities, embracing the principles of farming and sustainability, and serves as an educational hub open to students of all ages – from elementary to college.

As The Farm embraces the new growing season, its organizers extend gratitude to the individuals and businesses whose support sustains its mission.

SOU Institute for Applied Sustainability faculty and staff

SOU Institute for Applied Sustainability celebrates with Innovation Fund kickoff

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Southern Oregon University’s Institute for Applied Sustainability is stepping into its second year with the official launch of its IAS Innovation Fund and recognition of the institute’s many first-year accomplishments. The Innovation Fund, which provides micro-grants for forward-thinking projects by SOU faculty and staff, is an example of the IAS commitment to creative and collaborative solutions at SOU and within the community.

Innovation Fund micro-grants foster sustainability and serve as strategic investments, laying the groundwork for broader funding opportunities and supporting initiatives that contribute to the long-term success of SOU sustainability efforts.

The impact of the Innovation Fund is already evident in recent projects that have received funding:

  • Recology Artist in Residency p With the creative support of project lead Michael Parker, an SOU sculpture professor, this project helps students learn about transforming waste into art. The award-winning initiative encourages artists to use materials found at the dump, promoting sustainability and waste awareness. The resulting artworks enrich the community and shed light on hidden waste processes.
  • DMC lighting project. This project takes a holistic approach to sustainability in overhauling lighting in the Digital Media Center studio, offering efficiency gains and cost savings for the university. It also enhances student education by providing exposure to industry-standard technology. The effort was spearheaded by Brandon Givens with support from the DMC, Sustainability Office and Oregon Center for the Arts.
  • Carbon value research project. The project, led by Environmental Science, Policy and Sustainability professor John Gutrich, models the economic value of forest carbon for management strategies in the Pacific Northwest. It will foster collaboration between SOU’s ESPS program, the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest Long-Term Ecological Research Program and the Department of Forest, Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University.
  • Bee research. Joy McEwen, coauthor of “Raising Resilient Bees,” has joined the team at The Farm at SOU to pioneer research on the impact of bees on soil production and quality. The research project is kicking off just in time for the groundbreaking of The Farm’s pollinator gardens this winter.

The SOU Institute for Applied Sustainability was created in fall 2022 as part of an historic, $12 million gift to SOU from Lithia Motors and its GreenCars division. The two largest elements of the gift are a $5 million scholarship fund and $4 million to establish the Institute for Applied Sustainability, which collaborates with Lithia on projects including a sustainability conference, an academic credential in corporate sustainability and a national sustainability demonstration site.

Learn more about the Institute for Applied Sustainability and its Innovation Fund.

“The inaugural year of the IAS has further exemplified Southern Oregon University’s commitment to sustainability,” said Becs Walker, SOU’s director of sustainability and associate director of the Institute for Applied Sustainability. “The IAS is building capacity for projects, internships and collaboration with businesses and organizations to provide our students with experience and learning in an area that is critical for the future.”

The IAS is celebrating both the accomplishments of its first year and the dedication of its faculty fellows: Pavlina McGrady, an associate professor of business; Bret Anderson, an associate professor and chair of history, economics and politics; Jessica Piekielek, a professor and chair of sociology and anthropology; and Chris Lucas, an assistant professor of digital cinema. The faculty fellows have helped build the institute’s foundation while pursuing projects within the IAS such as Digital Leaders Active in Disaster, Sustainable Tourism Training and SOU Collaborative Sustainability Archives.

“Kira Welch, the new full-time coordinator, will enhance the IAS’s capacity to engage in leadership, scholarship and teaching in the broad field of sustainability, both on- and off-campus,” said Vincent Smith, director of SOU’s School of Science and Business, and director of the IAS. “Our 2023-24 projects include on-campus sustainable landscape upgrades, regional partnerships, a global exchange program, faculty research and student internships.”

New solar arrays to be installed at SOU

SOU receives additional $1 million in state support for solar arrays

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Southern Oregon University continues to leverage state and federal support for renewable energy projects, with the Oregon Department of Energy announcing last week that the university will be awarded a $1 million grant for the second straight year to build solar arrays on campus. SOU also received a $2 million congressional appropriation in December to help pay for its bid to become the nation’s first public university to produce all of the daytime electricity used on its campus.

The energy department’s Community Renewable Energy Grant Program awarded a total of $12 million to 39 recipients – Tribes, public bodies and consumer-owned utilities – to support planning and construction of renewable energy or energy resilience projects. SOU’s is one of seven projects that were awarded grants in the neighborhood of $1 million each.

“This grant award speaks volumes about our identity as a public university,” President Rick Bailey said. “This is who we are – fiscally innovative, environmentally sensitive and always mindful of our students and their experiences on our campus.

“This grant and other current and future funding opportunities will allow us to reduce our dependence on tuition as a revenue source, and increase accessibility and affordability for students throughout our state and region.”

The most recent ODE grant will help pay for SOU’s first parking lot solar array, which will consist of solar panels on steel structures in a lot adjacent to The Hawk Dining Commons. The structures will provide shading in addition to power generation, and the project will also pay for eight new electric vehicle charging ports – expanding the university’s total number of EV ports to 20.

Last year’s first-round grant in ODE’s Community Renewable Energy Grant Program – along with federal funding and a contribution from the Student Green Fund – will pay for solar installations on The Hawk Dining Commons and the Lithia Motors Pavilion/Student Recreation Center complex, and a battery storage facility to enhance community resilience. The $2 million congressional allocation will help pay for additional solar arrays on SOU’s parking lots and rooftops.

“Our momentum toward energy independence is very exciting and will be a game-changer for our university,” SOU Sustainability Director Becs Walker said. “We plan to be producing all of our own electricity within about 10 years, and ultimately to become a carbon net zero campus . This progress demonstrates our leadership in sustainability and the transition of the energy infrastructure.

Energy self-sufficiency will save SOU at least $700,000 per year in utility costs and President Bailey plans to expand the program from there, with additional solar installations and partnerships to further build energy and community resilience. He achieved that on a smaller scale at Northern New Mexico College, where he served as president before being hired at SOU in January 2022.

The current solar projects will increase SOU’s generating capacity to about 16 percent of the electricity it uses on campus.

The university has nine solar arrays on its Ashland campus with a total output of 455 kilowatts, plus an array at the Higher Education Center in Medford and a pole-mounted array installed by a nonprofit on land leased from SOU. The two new arrays supported by the state grants will increase SOU’s solar capacity by a total of 359 kilowatts.

SOU will continue to implement energy conservation and energy efficiency measures as it increases its solar power production. SOU’s Hawk Dining Commons and McLoughlin Residence Hall each have solar hot water systems installed to augment their natural gas domestic water heating, and the campus has three net-zero buildings – they create as much or more energy than they use. The university is also a partner in the DOE’s Better Climate Challenge, which supports SOU’s 2033 goals to reduce Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent from a 2018 baseline, and to reduce energy intensity by 25 percent from a 2022 baseline.

Solar energy production is a key part of SOU’s plan to develop new, entrepreneurial revenue streams and reduce dependence on the two traditional funding sources for public higher education nationwide – tuition and state funding. The university has also begun a project to demolish the vacant Cascade housing complex and replace it with a senior living facility that produces partnerships between its residents and the university. Funding for the demolition has been approved by the state and is expected to begin in the next several months.

Other projects that will produce revenue or reduce expenses for SOU include the establishment of a University Business District in southeast Ashland – discussions are underway with the local business community – and replacement of its operational software with the cutting-edge Workday platform, which eventually will save the university about $750,000 per year in recurring costs.

ODE’s Community Renewable Energy Grant Program was created by the 2021 Legislature, which set aside $50 million for projects throughout the state over three years – with $12 million available in the current funding cycle. The program is intended to build energy and community resilience in rural, underserved areas, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help to rewire America through the expansion of solar energy generation and electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

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Celebrate Earth Day at The Farm at SOU

Earth Day to be celebrated April 21 at The Farm at SOU

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Earth Day to be celebrated April 21 at The Farm at SOU

Southern Oregon University and community partners will celebrate Earth Day at The Farm at SOU from 3:30 to 7 p.m. on Friday, April 21, by offering exhibits, live performances, an electric vehicle showcase, bike rodeo, art, food trucks and more.

Earth Day has been celebrated annually each April 22 in the U.S. since 1970, and globally since 1990; it is being observed a day early this year at SOU because the actual holiday lands on a weekend. The SOU Student Sustainability Team (formerly ECOS) has hosted a local version of the event for more than 20 years – historically, in the Stevenson Union courtyard. The Student Sustainability Team moved the event to The Farm at SOU last year to help fill a void that was left when the Rogue Valley Earth Day event – traditionally held at the neighboring ScienceWorks – was discontinued.

Partners in hosting this year’s Earth Day celebration are Sustainability at SOU, the Ashland Food Co-op, the ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum and Southern Oregon Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Association (SOHEVA).

Live entertainment will be featured throughout the event on The Farm’s Thalden Pavilion stage, and Ashland Food Co-op will host a “Play Zone” in the ScienceWorks plaza, where there will be activities for all ages – chalk art, games and more. ScienceWorks – The Farm’s next-door neighbor – is offering extended hours (open until 7 p.m.) and free afternoon admission on the day of the event. A “quiet zone” for those needing a break from the action will be located in the ScienceWorks geodesic dome, with earplugs, snacks, seating and quiet activities.

SOHEVA members will display their EV’s at the electric vehicle showcase, and answer questions on their electric driving experiences. Lithia Motors Green Cars will offer test drives or rides for a true EV experience for those who register to participate.

Kids of all ages who bring their bikes to the event can take a spin around the “Bike Rodeo,” hosted by Rogue Valley Transportation District, to learn and practice bike safety.

More than 30 community organizations and sustainability minded businesses will host educational exhibits and opportunities for action. Many will also participate in the “Earth Day Ecoquest,” to win prizes for completing activities at designated booths. Those who walk, bike or carpool to the event can stop by the RVTD exhibit and get two bonus Ecoquest tokens to be used toward Ecoquest prizes.

Participants at the Earth Day celebration can also sign up with The Farm at SOU to help with planting and weeding spring crops.

The Farm at SOU is located at 155 Walker Avenue, Ashland Oregon. Attendees are being asked to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by walking, biking, skateboarding or taking transit to the event. On-site parking for people with disabilities or limited mobility will be available, as well as on-site “bike valets” offering secure bicycle parking.

To learn more about the event, visit sou.edu/earthday.

Sustainability Collective at SOU

New Sustainability Collective serves fun, sustainability and SOUPS

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A new group of passionate activists is meeting weekly at SOU to create sustainability initiatives, write magazines, bond over shared interests, listen to music, and make friends over soup and banter. The Sustainability Collective gets together at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesdays in the Stevenson Union’s Social Justice & Equity Center.

The Sustainability Collective’s aims are to create a culture of empowerment and start projects on campus with the help of the SOU Green Fund. The collective may be a good fit for students who have an interest in connecting with campus resources, and would like to seek internship or volunteer opportunities.

The group encourages interested students to participate in its workshops – including but not limited to radical sexual liberation, foraging and disaster preparedness.

The collective will be publishing a magazine titled SOUPS (Southern Oregon University Peoples’ Sustainability). It will have a monthly edition, featuring art, poetry, essays and testimonials from Sustainability Collective attendees. SOUPS will include a list of contacts for local organizations that students may want to get in touch with, relevant upcoming events, and both local and international projects.

Finally, SOUPS magazine will include recipes for soup! The magazine will be featured at the Oregon Fringe Festival on April 26. Those interested in submitting material to the magazine should contact Liz Adkisson (adkissone@sou.edu), who started the group in September.

Adkisson is a sustainability major and serves as Events and Student Outreach Coordinator for the SOU Sustainability Office. She felt there was a space for students of different skills and passions to get together to discuss sustainability and create projects, and she wanted to find a way to meet people and have fun while discussing sustainability in a relaxed environment. Her vision was to create tangible change and a better quality of life for future generations.

Adkisson’s main focus is activism. She intermixed concepts of mindfulness and self-care, and has worked to encourage Sustainability Collective participants to connect with their community.

The collective encourages students to tell their friends and bring their most “grounded” selves!

Story by Angelina Caldera, SOU Marketing and Communications student writer

SOU will reduce greenhouse gas emissions as a participant in the Better Climate Challenge

SOU joins DOE program, commits to greenhouse gas reductions

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Southern Oregon University has taken a bold step toward sustainability by joining the Better Climate Challenge – a public-private partnership, led by the U.S. Department of Energy, to encourage organizations to decarbonize and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The university has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 50% within the next 10 years and decreasing its energy intensity by 25%. The reductions will be measured from a 2018 baseline.

“This commitment is consistent with our university’s goal to produce 100% of its own electricity within 12 years through an aggressive build-out of solar arrays throughout campus,” said Becs Walker, SOU’s sustainability director. “By making conscious efforts to operate sustainably, we can also achieve fiscal responsibility and efficiency.

“We can – and will – serve as a leader in conservation and environmental stewardship while at the same time expanding students’ access to our programs by carefully managing our costs.”

SOU is already known for its commitment to sustainability, with initiatives including solar power generation; reduce, reuse and recycling programs; energy efficiency; water conservation; Bee Campus and Tree Campus certifications; and sustainable food production at The Farm at SOU. The university is also a GOLD-rated institution in the Sustainability Tracking Assessment & Rating System (STARS) from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

SOU is one of at least nine colleges or universities across the country that have committed to the DOE’s Better Climate Challenge, which was launched last March and now has a total of more than 120 partner organizations. Other Oregon entities that have signed on to the challenge include the city of Hillsboro and Bend’s Deschutes Brewery.

Participants in the challenge will help lead the way to a clean energy economy and a better future, according to the program’s website.

As a partner in the challenge, SOU will share its progress and strategies with others to help promote sustainability. The university will work with the DOE and its peer organizations to turn the threat of climate change into an opportunity to innovate and create a better planet.

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pre-consumer waste is composted at The Farm at SOU

“Pre-consumer” composting closes loop at SOU dining operations

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(Ashland, Ore.) — The Hawk dining commons at Southern Oregon University is now addressing the issue of potential food waste at both ends of the food service stream, after beginning a new program this month to collect and compost scraps generated in the preparation of student meals. The composted “pre-consumer” waste is used to enrich soil at The Farm at SOU – and grow more produce for the dining commons.

The dining facility – operated by Aladdin Campus Dining and used primarily by students in SOU residence halls – tackled the issue of post-consumer waste three years ago by using a small grant from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to replace 10.5-inch plates with nine-inch plates. The larger plates tended to encourage diners to take more food than they could consume in one sitting.

“This composting program is just another step in our efforts to create a more sustainable dining operation on campus,” said Daniel Kelly, marketing and sustainability coordinator for Aladdin’s SOU operations. “Switching to a smaller plate size a few years ago was an effort to generate less post-consumer waste. This is just another avenue for us to tackle the same issue of reducing waste … but this time it’s in the area of pre-consumer waste.”

The new program will result in the composting of about 400 pounds of food preparation waste each week – materials such as egg shells and scraps from fruits, vegetables and bread. The two-step collection process begins with compostable waste being deposited in specially marked green bins adjacent to the Hawk’s kitchen prep tables; that waste is moved to larger, secondary containers when the smaller bins fill, and the larger containers are transported by truck on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to The Farm, a few blocks to the northeast.

Aladdin plans to expand the composting program to all other dining locations on campus – Elmo’s and Einstein Bros. Bagels in the Stevenson Union, Southern Grounds at the Hannon Library and the Landing at Raider Village.

Kelly acknowledged the unanswered question: why not compost post-consumer food scraps? That’s a bit more complicated, he said, because scraps from diners’ food plates are often mixed with materials such as meat that typically can’t be composed due to health and safety concerns. But potential solutions that may allow some form of post-consumer composting will continue to be explored.

In the meantime, all partners in the new pre-consumer composting operation – SOU Dining, The Farm at SOU, and Facilities Management and Planning – are pleased that the “closed loop” program will support the university’s sustainability goals while improving productivity.

“As we get more and more produce from The Farm in our dining operations, being able to take some waste back to The Farm to turn it into compost creates a circular aspect, as that compost later gets used to support the crops at The Farm to generate more produce,” Kelly said. “It’s a win for plants, the environment and all the people who interact with food on campus – students, staff and community members.”

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Solar power production to be supported by state grant

SOU to expand solar power, move toward energy independence

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Southern Oregon University has been awarded a $1 million grant from the Oregon Department of Energy to expand solar power production on campus, in the next step toward its ambitious goal of becoming the first college or university in the U.S. to generate 100 percent of the electricity used on campus.

The award from ODE’s Community Renewable Energy Grant Program will add solar arrays to The Hawk Dining Commons and the Lithia Motors Pavilion/Student Recreation Center complex, and will pay for the installation of battery storage at the Hawk to support students, first responders and the broader community, if needed.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for SOU, and for our students and the Ashland community,” SOU President Rick Bailey said. “This grant supports our campus-wide efforts to expand sustainability as an integral part of our everyday operations. It also is a significant milestone in our entrepreneurial mission to reduce costs and broaden revenue, easing the financial burden on students and their families.”

Solar energy production is a key element of SOU’s innovative plan to develop new revenue streams and reduce dependence on the two traditional funding sources for public higher education nationwide – tuition and state funding. The proportions of funding from those two sources has flipped over the past 25 years in Oregon, from two-thirds state money and one-third tuition, to exactly the opposite.

Energy self-sufficiency will save SOU at least $700,000 per year in utility costs and President Bailey plans to expand the program from there, with additional solar installations that will enable the university to generate income by selling electricity to local utilities. He achieved that on a smaller scale at Northern New Mexico College, where he served as president before being hired at SOU in January.

SOU is also awaiting confirmation of a $2 million federal grant for its campus-wide solar build-out. Oregon’s U.S. senators, Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, have placed SOU’s request in the senate’s draft appropriations bill for the 2023 fiscal year, which is currently in a process known as “Congressionally Directed Spending.” The federal grant, if awarded, will pay for additional solar arrays on SOU’s parking lots and rooftops.

For the state grant that was awarded this week, SOU submitted its application in July for $1 million toward a project that will cost a total of $1.34 million. It is considered both a community renewable energy project and a community energy resilience project, under the definitions of ODE’s Community Renewable Energy Grant Program.

The program was created by the 2021 Legislature, which set aside $50 million for projects throughout the state over the next three years – with $12 million available in the 2022 funding cycle. The program – open to Oregon tribes, public bodies and consumer-owned utilities – drew a total of 56 applicants who submitted 68 applications, with 20 projects awarded grants in the program’s first round.

“These new solar projects at SOU will take our efforts to the next level,” SOU Sustainability Director Becs Walker said. “We are pursuing all viable opportunities to generate renewable energy on campus. This will help us financially as well as set us on the pathway to achieve carbon neutrality.  Our university is helping to lead the way for our community, region and the state of Oregon.”

SOU chose the Hawk Dining Commons and Lithia Motors Pavilion/Student Recreation Center projects for this year’s state funding based on site readiness, community resiliency and public welfare factors. SOU will continue to implement energy conservation and energy efficiency measures as it increases its solar.

The university currently has nine solar arrays on its Ashland campus with a total output of 455 kilowatts, plus an array at the Higher Education Center in Medford and a pole-mounted array installed last year by a nonprofit on land leased from SOU. The two new arrays supported by the state grant will increase SOU’s solar capacity by a total of 359 kilowatts.

SOU’s first solar array – a 6 kilowatt project with 24 solar panels – was installed on the Hannon Library in 2000. A total of five new arrays have been added in just the past three years, in projects funded through a combination of private investors, grants, the student body and the university. SOU’s Hawk Dining Hall & McLoughlin Residence Hall each have solar hot water systems installed to augment the natural gas domestic water heating, and the campus also has three net-zero buildings – they create as much or more energy than they use.

Solar energy production is one of four opportunities that SOU is currently pursuing in its effort to be more entrepreneurial in its approach to revenue generation. The university has also initiated a project to raze its vacant Cascade housing complex, which was completed in the early 1960s, and replace it with an innovative senior living facility that produces synergy between its residents and the university. Funding for the demolition has been approved by the state and is expected to begin in the next few months.

Other projects that will produce revenue or reduce expenses for SOU include the establishment of a University Business District in southeast Ashland – discussions are underway with the local business community – and replacement of its operational software with the cutting-edge Workday platform, which eventually will save the university about $750,000 per year in recurring costs.

The projects are part of an effort to “re-engineer” SOU’s financial structure, reducing expenses to better reflect current enrollment and academic interests, expanding revenue sources and positioning the university for strategic growth into the future.

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Rating system give SOU gold

SOU achieves “Gold” in prestigious sustainability rating

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Southern Oregon University has jumped from a “Silver” to a “Gold” rating for campus-wide sustainability achievements, as measured by an evaluation system developed by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) and used to grade colleges and universities worldwide.

Gold rating from AASHE“It is an honor for SOU to be recognized for its contributions to heal and preserve our environment,” SOU President Rick Bailey said. “Achieving the ‘Gold’ level is a huge accomplishment that reflects our commitment to sustainability.

“We still have several projects in the works or in development that I am convinced will make our university even more of a national model – and will lift us to this rating system’s very highest level,” Bailey said. “We are very grateful to Becs Walker and all of the staff members and students who lead us in these important efforts.”

Participants in AASHE’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) can be recognized simply for reporting their sustainability achievements, or for rating at the organization’s bronze, silver, gold and platinum levels. STARS is used by more than 900 participating institutions in 40 countries, rating their sustainability efforts in five categories: academics, engagement, operations, planning and administration, and innovation and leadership.

SOU first achieved the system’s silver level in 2017, and that rating was reaffirmed in 2019. The new gold rating takes into account the university’s ongoing efforts to attain its sustainability goals. STARS assesses environmental factors, along with social and economic considerations. SOU has demonstrated progress in many areas related to sustainability in achieving the gold rating, including governance of sustainability, health and wellbeing, protecting the environment, equity, social justice and community engagement.

SOU has completed eight new green building projects over the past three years, for instance, with four of them including new solar arrays. Three buildings on campus currently fall under the “net-zero” category, meaning they create more energy than they spend. President Bailey and the SOU team are also working to secure funding for solar projects that would eventually enable SOU to produce all of its own electricity, and potentially to sell excess power production.

“SOU’s gold STARS rating demonstrates leadership in sustainability across the SOU community,” said Becs Walker, SOU’s sustainability and recycling manager. “Sustainability is not just about doing something that has a positive impact – or negates an adverse impact – on the environment. It is about system change for the economy, society and the environment. We are continuing to challenge ourselves in building a better way of doing things here at SOU.”

The upgraded STARS rating from AASHE is the latest of many recognitions of the university’s sustainability efforts in recent years. The American Association of State Colleges and Universities recognized SOU in 2019 as the organization’s Excellence and Innovation Award recipient for comprehensive sustainability and sustainable development. The university also received an honorable mention that year at the Presidential Climate Leadership Summit.

SOU was the nation’s first certified Bee Campus USA and has maintained that certification, has been named a Tree Campus USA for five consecutive years and has been recognized for the ninth year in a row as one of the nation’s top 30, “Best of the Best” LGBTQ-friendly colleges and universities by Campus Pride – a nonprofit that supports and improves campus life for LGBTQ people on campuses nationwide.

AASHE is a nonprofit organization that helps colleges and universities work together to create and lead the way to a sustainable future. Its STARS program is the most widely recognized framework in the world for publicly reporting comprehensive information related to a college or university’s sustainability performance.

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