State University of New York at New Paltz
PA-1: Sustainability Coordination

SUNY New Paltz formed the Sustainability Committee in 2010 to assist with the coordination and fulfillment of the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment to become climate neutral. The Sustainability Committee: a. Assists with the coordination and fulfillment of the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment by helping to develop and implement an action plan for the College to become climate neutral. b. Educates faculty, staff, students, and College offices about sustainability issues and opportunities. c. Together with the Division of Student Affairs, encourages and supports student leadership on climate neutrality. d. Helps incorporate environmental issues into the College’s curriculum, research profile, and educational outreach. e. Promotes environmental stewardship as a hallmark of College operations, working with the appropriate administrative units. f. Acts as a resource for environmentally-affiliated student organizations and efforts campus wide. g. Makes recommendations/consider items related to administrative and general policy matters related to sustainability issues. h. Assists the co-chairs in specific sustainability endeavors (e.g., STARS). i. Reports annually to the Senate and to the President or designee.

Lisa Mitten, Co-Chair of the Sustainability Committee, Campus Sustainability Coordinator Michael Sheridan, Co-Chair of the Sustainability Committee, School of Business Megan Ferguson, Science and Engineering Jed Mayer, Liberal Arts and Sciences Joshua Korenblat, Fine and Performing Arts Kate McCoy, School of Education Megan Coder, Library Molly Karanikolas, Professional Faculty TBD, Student Representative, Residence Hall Student Association TBD, Student Representative, Residence Hall Student Association Billie Golan, Student Association Isabelle Hayes, Student Association Mike Malloy, Environmental Health and Safety John Shupe, Facilities Management David Farbaniec, Division of the VP for Administration and Finance Joel Oppenheimer, Division of the VP for Student Affairs

The Office of Campus Sustainability includes full-time Campus Sustainability Coordinator Lisa Mitten, part-time Energy Management Coordinator Brian Pine, and six part-time student workers. Kaitlyn Buckridge focuses on STARS and Recyclemania. Ryan O'Hara is conducting a campus-wide print management study looking at the economics and sustainability of our print fleet and look for opportunities. Holly Clark, Haleigh Reutershan, Isabelle Hayes, and Lyndsey Cooper focus on general sustainability student engagement including outreach campaigns and offering sustainability workshops in residence halls.

Recent achievements of the Office of Campus Sustainability include: * Launching the Sustainability Faculty Learning Community with faculty on the sustainability committee in which 15 faculty participate in professional development activities over one year and at the end modify one syllabus to include sustainability content. In its first year, Sustainability Faculty Fellows participate in 6 short workshops and one 2-day retreat called the January Institute. * Launching the Sustainability Network comprising of all the students, faculty and staff, student organizations, committees, offices, and academic programs who move forward sustainability on campus. * Developing a communications campaign using email and text messaging marketing services to connect students, especially incoming students, to the Sustainability Network. * Forming the Sustainability Ambassadors to educate incoming students about the Sustainability Network and lead student engagement programs around waste, food, and energy. * Adopting a campus definition of sustainable food and beverages and tracking the rate of sustainable food and beverage procurement by the dining services contractor from semester to semester. * Integrating sustainability programs into required Residence Assistant programs. * Upgrading all exterior trash/recycling bins in the central areas of campus. * Upgrading all interior trash/recycling bins in academic and administrative spaces to single stream recycling. * Hosting the State of New York Sustainability Conference in 2016. * Completing the Energy Master Plan. * Upgrading all exterior lights to LEDs. * Upgrading exterior lights in four buildings to LEDs. * Installing thermal insulating blankets on heating piping in mechanical rooms of all buildings. * Installing 217 KW of solar photovotaics at Elting Gym and Sojourner Truth Library, including a battery storage at Elting Gym. * Continuing a winter session set back program to save energy. * Smartly scheduling buildings for energy conservation, including working on a building by building basis to drive scheduling improvements. * Participating in demand response programs.