Bentley University
PRE-2: Points of Distinction

Student leadership is essential to making Bentley a sustainable university. As such, the Office of Sustainability has developed a robust Student Sustainability Leadership Program to provide students with hands-on learning opportunities and cultivate professional skills. This is a year-long paid internship program where students work as a team to support the operation and success of Bentley University’s Office of Sustainability.

When Bentley decided to build a new building – it’s first in 12 years, the university had a vision to make the building as energy efficient as possible. The Bentley Arena was designed to serve as “home ice” for the university’s D1 Men’s Ice Hockey team and a hub for major campus events from convocation to career fairs and student life shows. The Executive Director of Sustainability served as a member of the building committee, which set a goal of achieving LEED Silver certification. Due to the potential for an ice arena to be an “energy hog” the building committee focused on energy efficiency and renewable energy in the design of the building. The resulting product was Bentley’s first LEED certified building and the nation’s first LEED Platinum certified standalone ice arena. The building is now used to teach students about energy and climate change on campus.

Bentley has confirmed a new strategic plan and is in the process of revamping its undergraduate core curriculum. We are extremely excited to have Sustainability as one of the main student learning outcomes (SLO) in the future. All undergraduates will interact with a curriculum that has sustainability specific SLO's. A statement by the Undergraduate Curriculum Task Force #2 reads as follows:

“Bentley is a business university. In that spirit, we aim to deliver a fully integrated Bentley Core curriculum that highlights our distinctive value proposition: a world-class education in business, merged with the world-changing skills, knowledge, and perspectives afforded by liberal arts education and demanded by employers. Developed with guidance from members of the community, alumni, and corporate partners, and anticipating the demands on future business leaders in a rapidly changing global economy, our Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) are inter- and trans-disciplinary competencies for a business education that will prepare every student for the future.” The first SLO is to demonstrate an understanding of the importance of sustainability, ethics, and social and organizational responsibility.