Our Philosophy

Mission

The Environmental Council helps build the University’s capacity for leadership in environmental discovery, learning, and public engagement. The Council stimulates and promotes interdisciplinary research and instruction in an effort to prepare students for the world that awaits them, to address the challenges associated with sustainability, and to improve public policies regarding sustainability through engagement with citizens and public officials.

Vision

In five years (by 2011), the Environmental Council will be recognized as the entity that helped our campus become one of the top five globally preeminent universities advancing science, scholarship, and environmental design that promote sustainable societies.

Principles

To achieve this mission and vision, we will focus on the following six principles. To learn more, please review our strategic plan.

• Excellence. We will foster excellence in discovery, learning, and engagement related to environmental sustainability.
• Leverage. We will leverage the University’s unique strengths and geographic setting toward environmental scholarship that has global ramifications.
• Metrics. We will produce measurable, time-bound outcomes that advance the campus strategic plan.
• Campus as a Living-Learning Laboratory. We will stimulate the development, testing, implementation and demonstration of environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable practices and technologies. Learn more.
• Financial Health. We will develop long-term funding streams that will advance broad, campus spanning scholarly efforts related to environmental sustainability.
• Invest in Students. We will expand opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to engage in scholarship related to environmental sustainability.