Welcome to the first edition of my new quarterly blog series, Claudia's Corner!
This year has definitely begun on an active note. I just returned from the 12th International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability at Portland State and co-presented with our Associate Vice President, Ruth Johnston, on "Transforming the University through Strategic Sustainability Initiatives." I am holding on to the inspiration from the past few days and the take-aways of enrichment, optimism and insight.
As the year unfolds, the UW Sustainability office is preparing for many exciting projects for the coming year that will include consolidated sustainability reporting, more student development and learning opportunities with our programs and widening our partnership with campuses.
UW was an early adopter of campus sustainability practices and, as a two-time STARS gold-rated university, we will be selective with the sustainability rankings we participate in this year. As a result, we may not submit responses to as many ranking organizations as we have in the past. By being more selective in our reporting, we will have the opportunity to spend more time this year looking at our metrics, addressing where we can improve our sustainability performance and collaborate with other UW Planning & Management departments to integrate sustainability into our long-range planning. We will also be looking at where we can expand our Sustainability dashboard measures, to better serve the UW community.
I'm excited for another challenging journey ahead of us this coming year. If I could coin the best description of the day in the life of UW Sustainability, it would be "There is never a dull day."
Warm regards,
Claudia
Claudia's Corner is a quarterly blog series by UW Sustainability Director Claudia Frere-Anderson.