CARLSBAD – The University of the Pacific this week was named one of the “Sustainable 16” for its “excellence in environmental academics and sustainability practices.”
Pacific and the other 15 colleges and universities now are in contention to be named “National Champion” in the second annual Environmental March Madness Tournament, sponsored by Enviance Inc., in partnership with GreenBiz Group and Qualtrics.
“The judges chose the top ‘Sustainable 16’ schools from a competitive group of institutions, which all demonstrated commitment to the environment through both their environmental degree programs and on-campus initiatives," said Lawrence Goldenhersh, CEO and president of Enviance, and a tournament judge.
“All of the participating schools are grooming future environmental leaders who will oversee the environmental compliance, sustainability and corporate social responsibility programs of tomorrow for Fortune 500 companies, government agencies and other organizations,” said Goldenhersh. “We’ve already been very impressed with the level of enthusiasm from all those that submitted in the first round and are excited to see what the ‘Sustainable 16’ submit for further evaluation to determine the
The “Sustainable 16” are alphabetically:
Arizona State University
Colorado State University
Emory University
George Mason University
Michigan State University
Middlebury College
Montana State University
Ohio State University
Rochester Institute of Technology
University of California Santa Barbara
University of Florida
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
University of the Pacific
University of Virginia
University of Washington
University of Wisconsin, Madison
The Environmental March Madness Tournament was designed to evaluate colleges and universities on environmental degree programs and curriculum, environmental opportunities for students, and campus sustainability efforts. Each participating school completed a survey covering factors including internship opportunities, environmental awareness campaigns, clean energy implementations, and a variety of other considerations.
Each submission was then evaluated by a panel of judges. The combined recommendations of those judges then determined the “Sustainable 16.”
For “Sustainable 16” schools to move on to the “Environmental Eight,” “Finest Four,” and to the “National Champion” title, Enviance is encouraging faculty and students to support their entries with short essays, social media or video submissions on why they should be named “National Champion.” The submissions will be accepted now through March 8. The “Environmental Eight” will be announced on March 22.
The tournament will award $5,000 to the environmental and sustainability department of the “National Champion,” and send the department chair or member of the faculty on an all-expenses-paid trip to San Diego to attend the Enviance User Conference, April 22-26. While there, the winner will lead a panel on educating future environmental professionals.
Two students with the most compelling supporting materials and tournament participation will be awarded Google Nexus tablets. Any participating student from the “Finest Four” is eligible for this prize.
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or visit http://www.enviance.com/march-madness for more information on the Environmental March Madness Tournament, or on Twitter by @enviance and #EnviroU.
