IU Office of Sustainability

Sustainability Task Force

Background

The Indiana University Task Force on Campus Sustainability (STF) was the product of a grassroots effort by several dozen Indiana University faculty, staff, and students who advocated, over several years, for a comprehensive institutional plan to address issues of environmental sustainability. The STF initiative was catalyzed by a letter, submitted in October 2006, to then-Provost Michael McRobbie by 26 IUB faculty, staff, and students. Following a series of meetings with Provost McRobbie and Vice President Terry Clapacs, the Indiana University Task Force on Campus Sustainability was established by Vice President Clapacs on March 7, 2007.

In his charge to the 16-member task force of IU Bloomington faculty, students, and staff, Vice President Clapacs asked the group to develop a set of sustainability indicators for the university, to assess the current sustainability status of the Bloomington campus, to identify key areas of concern, and to establish a framework for a long-term sustainability plan.  Over six months time, the STF compiled their findings into the Campus Sustainability Report.  The group also developed the Indiana University Internship Program in Sustainability, which has employed over eighty undergraduate and graduate student interns working on a wide variety of sustainability-r

Sustainability” was defined broadly by the task force as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It could be taken to encompass issues of local and global environmental quality, resource use, environmental literacy, and societal equity. In effect, the STF viewed the initiative as an opportunity for Indiana University to take a leadership role, not only in incorporating concepts of sustainability into University practice, but also in the creation, dissemination, and application of new areas of academic scholarship in this emerging field.

Sustainability before the Task Force

The STF was not the first initiative related to environmental sustainability. As early as 1997, Indiana University, under the leadership of IU President Myles Brand, agreed to promote a stewardship initiative that included formation of a council of faculty, staff and students representing academic and administrative departments and other organizations. The IUB Council for Environmental Stewardship (CFES) was established in 1998, and was funded by the IUB Chancellor’s office for a period of seven years, during which time the group addressed a number of academic and operational issues closely related to the current sustainability initiative, e.g., energy, campus food, education, land use, etc.

A major academic initiative, the “Environmental Literacy and Sustainability Initiative” (ELSI) was developed in 2001 by an interdisciplinary group of faculty, staff, and students as an outgrowth of the Environmental Literacy Working Group of CFES. The group took on a comprehensive review of IUB environmental course offerings and focused its efforts on the development and promotion of coordinated interdisciplinary education programs for IUB. The group convened an interdisciplinary seminar series, featuring participants from a variety of schools and departments, and two off-campus speakers: David Orr (Oberlin) and Christopher Uhl (Penn State). The group helped develop a core strategy for promoting environmental literacy on the IUB campus, entitled "A Pedagogical Approach to Greening IU", and subsequently extended into a number of more focused interdisciplinary efforts, including (a) the “Food for Thought” project, which focuses on food literacy as a key component of environmental literacy that cuts

across multiple social, economic and environmental issues at local to global scales; (b) a curriculum development effort that has led to a new interdisciplinary curriculum in Human Environment and Ecology for the new Indiana University Human Biology Program (HUBI); and (c) development of an edited volume of writings on environmental literacy and pedagogy connected with IU’s Scholarship of Teaching and Learning program.

Original IU STF

Membership

The original Sustainability Task Force was comprised of 16 student, faculty, staff and administrators.  Over 100 additional working group members supported the STF. 

• Michael Hamburger (co-chair), Associate Dean of the Faculties and Professor, Department of Geological Sciences
• Paul Sullivan (co-chair), Deputy Vice President for Administration
• Steve Akers, Associate Director of Environmental Operations, Residential Programs and Services
• Matt Auer, Director of Undergraduate Programs and Professor, School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA)
• Joseph DeJean, undergraduate student, Indiana University Student Association
• Dan Derheimer, Environmental Manager, Environmental Health and Safety
• Rob Fischman, Professor, School of Law
• Elliot Hayden, undergraduate student, Indiana Public Interest Research Group (INPIRG)
• Jeff Kaden, Director, Engineering Services
• Lisa Pratt, Professor, Department of Geological Sciences
• Tim Rice, Purchasing Director of Administration, University Purchasing
• Steve Riggins, Property Manager, IU Real Estate
• Nicole Schönemann, Director, Office of Service-Learning
• Benjamin Schultz, Lecturer, Marketing Department and Business Communication Department
• Jenny Sumner, graduate student, School of Public and Environmental Affairs
• Mia Williams, Director, Landscape Architecture, University Architect’s Office

Transition into the Office of Sustainability

Among the STF’s core recommendations was the creation of an IU Bloomington Office of Sustainability (IUOS), which would provide administrative leadership and coordination for campus-wide programs on sustainability. In the Campus Sustainability Report, the group suggested IUOS would serve as “…a central administration and advocacy unit with sufficient resources to help catalyze and coordinate the large-scale university changes in academic programs and operations that are proposed in the Campus Sustainability Report” (ii, 2008).

With the opening of IUOS in March 2009, the STF transitioned into the Campus Sustainability Advisory Board with the mission of advising the Office of Sustainability on budgetary issues, campus policy, strategic planning and office programming. 

The Original Working Groups

Education, Outreach, and Student Engagement

• Nicole Schönemann (chair), Office of Service-Learning
• Eli Blevis, Informatics
• Eduardo Brondizio, Anthropology
• James Capshew, History and Philosophy of Science
• Michael Hamburger, Dean of the Faculties and Geological Sciences
• Diane Henshel, SPEA
• John Maxwell, Kelly School of Business
• Joe McGibbon, undergraduate student
• Jeff Miller, Caldwell Center for Culture and Ecology
• Lisa-Marie Napoli, Indiana Conflict Resolution Institute
• Phaedra Pezzulo, Communication and Culture
• Heather Reynolds, Biology
• Scott Robeson, Geography
• Scott Sanders, English
• Paul Schneller, SPEA, Adjunct Professor
• Michael Steinhoff, SPEA graduate student
• Darrell Ann Stone, Student Activities Office
• Anna Tosick, School of Education graduate student
• Steve Wolter, HPER

Resource Use and Recycling

• Steve Akers (chair), Residential Programs and Services
• Dan Gajus, Manager of Hoosier Disposal and Recycling
• Joe DeJean, IU Student Association
• Tom Fallwell, Coordinator, Building Services
• Greg Fichter, Assistant Director, Building Services
• Tim Rice, IU Purchasing
• Steve Riggins, IU Real Estate
• Jason Vassilicos, SPEA graduate student, IU Purchasing intern

Energy

• Jeff Kaden (chair), Engineering Services
• Ben Brabson, Physics
• David Fuente, SPEA graduate student
• Elliot Hayden, undergraduate student, INPIRG
• Susan Johnson, SPEA
• Charlie Matson, Physical Plant
• Mark Menefee, Physical Plant
• Sara Pryor, Geography
• Abigail Schwimmer, SPEA graduate student
• Mia Williams, University Architect’s Office

Built Environment

• Jeff Kaden (chair), Engineering Services
• Dan Derheimer, Environmental Health and Safety
• Melissa Enoch, SPEA graduate student
• David Fuente, SPEA graduate student
• Tom Gieryn, Sociology
• Laura Kunz, student
• Bob Meadows, University Architect’s Office
• Lisa Pratt, Geological Sciences

Environmental Quality

• Dan Derheimer (chair), Environmental Health and Safety
• Matt Auer, SPEA
• Mark Davis, SPEA
• Michael Dorsett, Environmental Health and Safety
• Brent Emerick, Athletics
• Burney Fischer, SPEA
• Diane Henshel, SPEA
• Rex Howard, Environmental Health and Safety
• Bill Jones, SPEA
• Chris Kohler, Environmental Health and Safety
• Marc Lame, SPEA
• Heather Reynolds, Biology
• Mike Schrader, Physical Plant
• Abigail Schwimmer, SPEA undergraduate student
• Mia Williams, University Architect’s Office

Transportation

• Rob Fischman (chair), School of Law
• Buff Brown, BTOP, INDOT
• Keith Clay, Professor of Biology
• Lew May, Manager Bloomington Transit
• Kent McDaniel, Assistant Director, IU Transportation
• Services
• Doug Porter, Director, IU Parking Operations
• Jim Rosenbarger, Bloomington Bike and Pedestrian
• Commission
• Al Ruesink, Professor of Biology, and Bloomington Bicycle
• Club
• Paul Sullivan, Associate Vice President for Administration
• Jenny Sumner, SPEA graduate student

Food

• Benjamin Schultz (chair), Kelley School of Business
• Bobbi Boos, Local Growers Guild
• Gina Brooks, Gresham/Collins LLC dining halls
• Ashley Buono, student
• Vanessa Caruso, SPROUTS student
• Emily Cheney, Leadership, Ethics, and Social Action
• Natalie DeWitt, HPER student
• Heather Dowding, SPEA graduate student
• Ancil Drake, Residential Programs and Services
• Kera Foote, Biology student
• Sandra Fowler, Residential Programs and Services
• Dorey Fox, Fine Arts student
• Vicky Getty, Applied Health Science
• Cheryl Gucinski, Collins LLC dining hall
• Jessica Johnson, student
• Heather Reynolds, Biology
• Rhonda Rieseberg, Kelley School of Business
• Ruben Ryan, SPROUTS student
• Andrew Shelby, SPEA graduate student
• Maggie Sullivan, Local Growers Guild
• Megan Tsupros, Biology student
• Taylor Wahlig, student
• Jana Wilson, SPEA
• Jeff Wuslich, Chancellor’s Office