Creighton University
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Energy Innovation students held an energy reduction competition within the residence halls, which utilized campus energy monitors that fed our campus digital dashboard system. Digital signage included carbon offset equivalencies and daily guides to reducing energy footprint, with signage developed by Creighton students. The success of this event drove the university to invest in a proprietary and much more robust energy dashboard system being implemented now. || Student interns and volunteers aided in communicating waste diversion strategies, including composting throughout campus and within the dining facility, and promoting low waste events (including "Green Games").

Students designed a solar array and supported a giving campaign through Omaha Gives! to raise over $50k for No More Empty Pots to acquire energy auditing equipment and to design and build a solar array. || Members of our Center for Service and Justice worked directly with local advocacy groups and stakeholders on environmental justice issues in our Environmental Justice Community Orientation programs. || Faculty and students within our Community and Public Health Program regularly engage with underserved populations.

A coalition of students, faculty and staff reviewed and formulated the metrics that became the basis for the new Sustainable Creighton Initiative, which was recently launched. There are a variety of updated climate goals. || The Institute for Population Health is utilizing our urban campus to train medical students about the connection of air quality with population health.

Sustainable Energy Science students worked directly with Optimized Systems to audit and maintain Steam/Chilled Water lines and associated HVAC across multiple campus buildings. This led to improved building efficiency and prepared students for careers in building management.

As a part of the Energy Technology majors, sophomore students take a Design and Rapid Prototyping class, in which they spend a year on a project on campus.

Students work on, install, maintain, Students were directly involved in the decommission of an 85 kW solar array on our campus (formerly the largest array in the state), working directly with Miller Electric, and designed a recommissioning for our retreat center. This was later approved by Alvine Engineering and was built and recommissioned by Miller Electric.
and monitor the on-campus solar and wind power systems. For example: Students in the Energy Technology Program's Energy 131 course focus on installing and maintaining photovoltaic systems called EnergiPlants. The EnergiPlant resembles a roughly 12-foot tall metal flower with a bloom doubling as a wind turbine and four metal leaves embedded with solar panels, all producing about 300 watts of power.

Energy 131 is a retreat course, starting with a weeklong session at the Creighton Retreat Center in Griswold, Iowa. From there, the students meet on weekends for instruction on photovoltaic cells and to begin the construction of the EnergiPlant, a project that comes with a sponsorship from the Omaha Public Power District, a steady partner with Creighton's Energy Technology Program.

Dr. Andrew Baruth tasked students in ERG520 to consult with The Office of Sustainability Programs as client. The office asked students to explore solar designs and make recommendations for how to become an EPA Green Partner through grid-tied solar installations on campus buildings

"Students engage with our food and dining daily and signage helps them be aware of the many sustainability initiatives. We actively compost all foodwaste, supported by student education initiatives. We purchase all our Milk & Dairy products from Hiland Dairy, a locally family & farmer owned company in Omaha, NE
Creighton Dining currently sources produce from Loffredo; a local company here in Omaha
We purchase Nebraska beef when available from Farmland in Lincoln, NE and Omaha Steaks
We eliminated individual bottles of condiments from each dining table, and now use bulk dispensers to significantly reduce plastic waste
We have gone tray-less throughout campus, which has reduced energy, water, and chemical usage
Xpressnap Dispensers are used throughout campus. These dispensers meet Green product requirements, are natural, third party certified, and the napkins are 100% unbleached and recycled paper
We implemented the Ecolab Apex Dishwashing System which combines technology and products designed to save water and energy, and minimize the impact of products on the environment
Ecolab Green Products are used all over campus in the dining, retail, and catering facilities.
We recycle cardboard, cans, and bottles
We make use of natural light in all of our resident dining facilities
Vegan and vegetarian dishes are served daily on campus which cuts back on water usage
Reusable dishware and utensils are used in all of our resident dining facilities
Reusable bags and mugs/cups are encouraged on campus
We use LeanPath to track and reduce our kitchen food waste || A community garden sits on Creighton's campus that allows students, along with faculty and staff, an opportunity to grow food that is often donated to a local refugee community."

A student, along with faculty and staff, is a member of the Tree Advisory committee, which provides guidance on the planting and maintenance of trees on campus. Because of the work of this committee, Creighton has been awarded the Tree Campus USA designation each year since 2008. || Campus runs an active Greenhouse that is utilized for on-site education. || Campus has a small native, pollinator garden near the Greenhouse to showcase Nebraska ecology for on-site instruction (classes also go to remote locations, however this was useful during Covid restrictions).

As part of the "Transportation and Environmental Justice in Omaha" project, students, with faculty oversight, collected and reviewed transportation data (stripped from cell phone data) for Creighton students/faculty/staff to review transportation habits. As part of SOC420, the students developed a blog and a story map in ArcGIS to share with the campus community and Omaha residents.

Student groups were directly involved in the creation of a campus-wide composting program, including the transportation of compost from various campus sites to a central location for pick-up. || Members of Nu Rho Psi, the neuroscience honor's society initiated and hosted a campus move-out event to collect unwanted residence hall items (furniture, etc).

The "ILAC Water Quality Program: Building Bridges to More Purposeful Lives in the Dominican Republic" leverages our campus presence in the Domincan Republic at the Institute for Latin American Concern. Every May, undergraduate participants have assisted in educating and testing over 1500 functional filters for use by the communities surrounding the ILAC, providing potable water for over 7000 people.

A coalition of students, faculty and staff reviewed and formulated the metrics that became the basis for the new Sustainable Creighton Initiative, which was recently launched. There are a variety of planning and coordination goals included around transportation, academics, operations, waste, engagement and other key areas

All first year students are now required to visit our Creighton Intercultural Center in their second semester to meet a diversity of people and discuss issues of equity and inclusion, implicit privelage with the ability to afford our instution, and other areas of highlighting equity. || The Health Sciences Multicultural and Community Affairs Department at Creighton University is dedicated to developing culturally aware healthcare professionals and eliminating health disparities in underserved and diverse communities. We do this by bringing together education, community advocacy and research.

Starting in 2012, a dedicated team of occupational therapy students have developed the space which is called the Remember your Roots Sensory garden (RyRSG). This area is used as an extension of the class room to: (a) further develop themes in the doctor of Occupational Therapy curriculum, (b) provide an opportunity for students to directly experience how a sensory garden can be utilized clinically with barrier free gardening, and (c) as an inviting area for interdisciplinary interaction, reflection, and rejuvenation. RyRSG has added to the aesthetics of the west side of the Creighton University campus and has provided an outdoor environment that is used by faculty and students, visitors, prospective students and community members as a place of beauty and rejuvenation.