Florida Gulf Coast University
EN-14: Participation in Public Policy

During the 2015-16 school year, Public Administration faculty and students collaborated with Civil Engineering and Social Work faculty and students to conduct an infrastructure assessment requested and funded by the Village of Estero. The project resulted in a report that recommended completing gaps in the biking and pedestrian facility network, options for safe multi-modal design, and decreased heat islands through the enhanced use of landscaping and vegetative cover. During the 2016-2017 academic year, Public Administration faculty received a grant to develop a vision for redeveloping Bonita Beach Road. These FGCU faculty also worked with the City of Bonita Springs to update their Comprehensive Plan to include a multi-modal future for Bonita Beach Rd. and other corridors of the city. Recommendations from these reports were adopted and implemented by city council people and have supported the adoption of sustainable land use policies in southwest Florida.

Every year, representatives of our university travel to Tallahassee for FGCU Day to meet with legislative delegation members of Florida to advance the goals of the university. With 2017 marking FGCU's 20th anniversary, FGCU representatives Heather Fitzenhagen, Dance Eagle, Michael Grant, Ray Wesley Rodrigues, and Bob Rommel presented House Resolution 8023 which was resolved by House Speaker Richard Corcoran and Clerk Portia Palmer. This resolution highlights FGCU's commitment to sustainability, service-learning, and student success. A copy of the resolution is attached as documentation to support the submission of this credit. At FGCU Day 2017, students, faculty, staff, and administration also spoke to Florida legislators about the importance of water resources in southwest Florida and attempted to secure state funds for a new academic building and institute that will focus on sustaining water resources in our region. During the Spring 2017 semester, Dr. Nora Demers organized a service-learning project to raise awareness about the importance of gopher tortoises. Gopher tortoises are an endangered, endemic species native to southwest Florida. Her students sought resolutions from nearby municipalities in honor of Florida’s Gopher Tortoise Awareness Day. 5 out of the 12 municipalities in SWFL resolved to participate in Gopher Tortoise Awareness Day. Students argued on behalf of the tortoises to show the importance they provide ecosystems and other organisms. Lee County, the Village of Estero, and the City of Punta Gorda read the proclamation at their respective commission meetings and the students had the privilege to accept and thank those communities for acknowledging the importance of the gopher tortoises. Please see the following link for more info on Gopher Tortoise Day: http://gophertortoisedayfl.com/. A copy of the resolutions is attached as documentation to support the submission of this credit.

AMERICAN CAMPUS CLIMATE PLEDGE (https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/12/11/american-campuses-act-climate) On December 9, 2015, FGCU's President signed the American Campus Climate Pledge as follows: Florida Gulf Coast University will continue to progress on our path of carbon neutrality by 2050 and emphasize innovative, student-centered teaching and learning that promotes environmental sustainability. Florida Gulf Coast University pledges to: • Increase curricular offerings that expand students’ understanding of climate change and sustainability. • Leverage the resources of our new Emergent Technologies Institute (ETI) to prepare the next generation of green economy leaders. • Complete energy audits that will guide us in minimizing the carbon footprint of every academic building on campus. Florida Gulf Coast University looks forward to continuing its contribution in educating the Southwest Florida community to the issues surrounding environmental sustainability. Sincerely, Wilson G. Bradshaw, Ph.D. President Florida Gulf Coast University LOW CARBON USA PARTNERSHIP FOR CLIMATE ACTION (http://secondnature.org/higher-education-climate-action-letter/ & http://lowcarbonusa.org/highered) FGCU sent a letter to the new Congressional delegation and incoming Presidential transition on January 17, 2017.This letter asked the Trump administration to support the following: 1. Participation in the Paris Agreement, with the resulting national carbon reduction and clean energy targets, to protect the health of our current communities and our future generations. 2. Research in our academic institutions and in federal agencies to ensure that our national climate, energy, and security policies are based on leading scientific and technical knowledge. 3. Investments in the low carbon economy as part of a resilient infrastructure to ensure the country can adapt to changing climate hazards. These investments will also help grow American jobs and businesses. LIVABLE TRANSIT CORRIDORS From 2014-2016 Dr. Margaret Banyan of FGCU's Public Administration department sat on a National Academy of Science federal panel for livable transit corridors through the transportation cooperative research program. Their work focused on developing policies and best practices for better-integrated transit corridors that improve transit access for diverse populations and increase health and wellness. Please see the final report for more details: https://www.nap.edu/catalog/23630/livable-transit-corridors-methods-metrics-and-strategies

None that the Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) department is currently aware of at this time.

This is not a comprehensive overview of all the institution's efforts, but are those that the EH&S department completing this report are aware of.