NKU featured in 'Guide to 322 Green Colleges'
News from NKU...
Tuesday - May 29, 2012
For immediate release...
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - Northern Kentucky University is one of 322 colleges and universities nationwide to be recognized by The Princeton Review and the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council as the greenest higher education institutions in America and Canada. NKU joins the University of Louisville and Western Kentucky University as the only Kentucky schools included in the guide.
"It is a tremendous honor to be included among those institutions nationally who share our commitment to sustainability," said NKU President James Votruba. "Many on our campus have stepped forward and taken leadership roles through academic programming, extracurricular projects and infrastructure planning. We can all take pride in the fact that our hard work to make the university more environmentally friendly has been effective and is now being recognized nationally."
The 232-page Guide to 322 Green Colleges offers students insights into which universities are most committed to sustainability and environmental stewardship. It is the only free, comprehensive, annually updated guide to green colleges. The guide is based on scores from surveys of administrators from hundreds of colleges in the United States and Canada. Fewer than half of the schools surveyed scored high enough to make the guide.
Like The Princeton Review's popular Best Colleges guide, it aims at providing students with information to help them select a college. It includes institutional profiles with application, admission, financial aid and enrollment information; green highlights and facts; and a glossary of green terms.
NKU was Kentucky's first public institution to be a part of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, an organization that helps campuses implement sustainable practices in hopes of climate neutrality. Along with being active in the ACUPCC, NKU has expanded its recycling program; implemented a U-PASS program that allows faculty, staff and students to ride TANK buses free; and invested in energy-efficient infrastructure such as lighting, HVAC and water use systems in campus facilities.
NKU students have also taken an active role through a group called Environmentally Concerned Organization of Students (ECOS). The university's Center for Applied Ecology partners with government agencies, non-profits and private landowners to improve environmental stewardship in the region while providing professional training and work experience to students.
The complete guide can be downloaded at http://www.centerforgreenschools.org/greenguide. It was developed with support from United Technologies Corp.
About The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review (http://www.princetonreview.com) has been a pioneer and leader in helping students achieve their higher education goals for 30 years through college and graduate school test preparation, private tutoring, and more than 150 print and digital publications. The team includes over 5,000 teachers and tutors in the U.S. and Canada, and a network of international franchisees. The Princeton Review provides students and their parents with the resources to research, apply to, prepare for, and learn how to pay for higher education. The company also partners with schools and guidance counselors worldwide to assist in college readiness, test preparation and career planning services, helping more students pursue postsecondary education.
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