Overall Rating Reporter - expired
Overall Score
Liaison Tavey Capps
Submission Date Feb. 25, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Duke University
EN-4: Outreach Materials and Publications

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete Reporter Tavey Capps
Environmental Sustainability Director
Office of the Executive Vice President
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution produce the following outreach materials and/or publications that foster sustainability learning and knowledge? :
Yes or No
A central sustainability website that consolidates information about the institution’s sustainability efforts Yes
A sustainability newsletter Yes
Social media platforms that focus specifically on campus sustainability Yes
A vehicle to publish and disseminate student research on sustainability Yes
Building signage that highlights green building features Yes
Food service area signage and/or brochures that include information about sustainable food systems Yes
Signage on the grounds about sustainable groundskeeping and/or landscaping strategies employed No
A sustainability walking map or tour Yes
A guide for commuters about how to use alternative methods of transportation Yes
Navigation and educational tools for bicyclists and pedestrians Yes
A guide for green living and incorporating sustainability into the residential experience Yes
Regular coverage of sustainability in the main student newspaper, either through a regular column or a reporter assigned to the sustainability beat Yes
Other sustainability publications or outreach materials not covered above Yes

A brief description of the central sustainability website:

Duke’s Office of Sustainability maintains and regularly updates a public website that consolidates all information regarding sustainability efforts on campus.


The website URL for the central sustainability website:
A brief description of the sustainability newsletter:

Duke’s Office of Sustainability publishes a twice monthly newsletter with updates regarding sustainability efforts and events on campus and in the Durham community. This newsletter is sent to an email listserv that reaches over seven thousand Duke students, staff members, and faculty.


The website URL for the sustainability newsletter:
A brief description of the social media platforms that focus specifically on campus sustainability:

Duke's Office of Sustainability manages a Facebook page and YouTube account focused on campus sustainability news and sustainable living tips. The Facebook page is updated several times a week and currently has 1,277 likes. The Sustainable Duke YouTube offers 44 videos and has over 1,000 views. Community members also tag @sustainableduke on Twitter.


The website URL of the primary social media platform that focuses on sustainability:
A brief description of the vehicle to publish and disseminate student research on sustainability:

Sustainable Duke tracks and shares research from Nicholas School Masters Projects related to campus sustainability on the sustainability website. The list of projects is updated on the website each year.


The website URL for the vehicle to publish and disseminate student research on sustainability:
A brief description of building signage that highlights green building features :

Buildings on campus with LEED certification are marked. Additionally, small signs throughout most buildings on campus encourage use of sustainable features such as water-filling stations, and stairs instead of elevators.


The website URL for building signage that highlights green building features :
A brief description of food service area signage and/or brochures that include information about sustainable food systems:

Signs in the two main campus eateries highlight the sustainability efforts of Duke Dining and Bon Appétit, the company that services these dining halls, including use of local ingredients and efforts to reduce waste. Signs above waste stations in the campus eateries remind students to leave all food waste on their trays so that the kitchen staff can compost it. Many other campus eateries at Duke incorporate sustainable efforts and advertize these on menus and through other signage in the eatery.


The website URL for food service area signage and/or brochures that include information about sustainable food systems:
A brief description of signage on the grounds about sustainable groundskeeping and/or landscaping strategies:

Sustainable groundskeeping and landscaping strategies are highlighted in signage in several ways across campus. For instance, in the Sarah P. Duke Gardens, native North Carolina plants are highlighted with educational signage. Additionally, a recent effort to widen and restore a stream that runs through campus included signage explaining the focus of the project on restoring the natural stream habitat.


The website URL for signage on the grounds about sustainable groundskeeping and/or landscaping strategies:
A brief description of the sustainability walking map or tour:

The Duke Campus Tree Tour was created by Duke Facilities Management Department (FMD) Grounds Maintenance Office to highlight a few of the trees that inhabit the Duke University and Duke Medical Center campuses. An online version of the tour is located at the URL below, and paper copies are available in the Admissions Building. Presently an additional sustainability pocket map of campus is under design, and additional sustainability-related locations are being added to Duke's online campus map in a comprehensive sustainability layer.


The website URL of the sustainability walking map or tour:
A brief description of the guide for commuters about how to use alternative methods of transportation:

Duke’s Parking & Transportation Services maintains a web guide to alternative transportation options including information about Duke buses and vans, carpool, vanpool, bicycling, carshare, and walking.


The website URL for the guide for commuters about how to use alternative methods of transportation:
A brief description of the navigation and educational tools for bicyclists and pedestrians:

The Parking & Transportation Services website offers navigational and safety resources for bicyclists and pedestrians, including a reminder to wear a helmet and links to more information on NC laws and best practices for bikers. Bike and hike navigational maps are provided as well.


The website URL for navigation and educational tools for bicyclists and pedestrians:
A brief description of the guide for green living and incorporating sustainability into the residential experience:

First-year students receive information each year about how to live green on campus before they even arrive. All first-year students have receive a link to the Green Book, a guide to eco-friendly living at Duke. Students discover information about dining, recycling, alternative transportation, getting involved in sustainability, and other aspects of green living. The Green Book also provides information that is useful to students before they arrive on campus, such as a shopping list for a green dorm room and ways to get around Duke and Durham without bringing a car to campus. A second version of the Green Book also highlights resources specific to graduate and professional students.


The website URL for the guide for green living and incorporating sustainability into the residential experience:
A brief description of regular coverage of sustainability in the main student newspaper, either through a regular column or a reporter assigned to the sustainability beat:

Environmental Alliance, the primary undergraduate environmental group currently publishes a twice monthly environmental column in the student newspaper, The Chronicle.


The website URL for regular coverage of sustainability in the main student newspaper, either through a regular column or a reporter assigned to the sustainability beat:
A brief description of another sustainability publication or outreach material not covered above (1st material):

Sustainable Duke and Students for Sustainable Living have placed signs around dormitories and academic buildings to remind students, staff, and faculty to observe particular environmentally-friendly practices ranging from reducing their shower time to taking the stairs instead of the elevator. The signs themselves are sustainable, printed on recyclable plastic with eco-solvent ink. Funded by Sustainable Duke and Housing, Dining & Residence Life, these signs have been placed in all dorms on campus and the majority of academic buildings.


The website URL for this material (1st material):
Does the institution produce another sustainability publication or outreach material not covered above? (2nd material):
Yes

A brief description of this material (2nd material):

Working@Duke is the primary print publication for Duke University faculty and staff. Each month, a page of this newsletter is dedicated to sustainability news. Stories from June 2011 to August 2014 are compiled at the link below.


The website URL for this material (2nd material):
Does the institution produce another sustainability publication or outreach material not covered above? (3rd material):
Yes

A brief description of this material (3rd material):

Dukenvironment Magazine is published by the Nicholas School of the Environment twice per year.


The website URL for this material (3rd material):
Does the institution produce another sustainability publication or outreach material not covered above? (4th material):
Yes

A brief description of this material (4th material):

The ENO magazine was created by a group of students at faculty at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke in 2011 in order "to create and sustain a literary journal that serves the Nicholas School community by publishing works of creative non-fiction, fiction, poetry, mixed-genre writing, photography, and visual art, encouraging submissions from Nicholas school students, staff, and faculty, alumni, and other relations, and creating a sustainably printed magazine that is distributing widely within the Nicholas School and Duke University."


The website URL for this material (4th material):
Does the institution produce another sustainability publication or outreach material not covered above? (5th material):
Yes

A brief description of this material (5th material):

The Nicholas Institute at Duke University has an online collection of publications written by Nicholas Institute staff and Duke professors and researchers.

"The Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University improves environmental policymaking worldwide through objective, fact-based research in the areas of climate change, the economics of limiting carbon pollution, emerging environmental markets, oceans governance and coastal management and freshwater concerns at home and abroad. The Nicholas Institute is part of Duke University and its wider community of world-class scholars."


The website URL for this material (5th material):
Does the institution produce another sustainability publication or outreach material not covered above? (6th material):
Yes

A brief description of this material (6th material):

Sustainable Duke produces an annual progress report to Duke's Sustainability Strategic Plan, including updates on Duke's carbon neutrality goal and many other areas of campus sustainability. The report is primarily distributed electronically, with a few hard copies printed as necessary.


The website URL for this material (6th material):
Does the institution produce another sustainability publication or outreach material not covered above? (7th material):
Yes

A brief description of this material (7th material):

The Duke Campus Farm publishes an annual report.


The website URL for this material (7th material):
Does the institution produce another sustainability publication or outreach material not covered above? (8th material):
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A brief description of this material (8th material):
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The website URL for this material (8th material):
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