University of Connecticut
IN-1: Innovation 1

The purpose of the Green Campus Academic Network (GCAN) is to introduce relatively new faculty members to the engagement and collaboration opportunities available to advance sustainability at the University of Connecticut. The efforts pursued through GCAN will promote a more sustainable community by encouraging broader involvement and connectivity between sustainability, academics, research, and co-curricular programs. For more information: http://www.ecohusky.uconn.edu/engagement/COP21Hub.html

Since its inception roughly one year ago, several collaborative projects between the UConn Office of Environmental Policy (OEP) and the members of GCAN have been undertaken in an effort to improve the University's sustainability efforts.

One professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering collaborated with the OEP to display air quality data obtained regularly from sensors located throughout campus on the interactive Energy Dashboards stationed in two of UConn's buildings. Additionally, her students provided feedback on how to improve upon the Energy Dashboard displays to make them more appealing for students to use.

The OEP offered guidance to two professors, one in the Department of Geography and the other in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, on how to incorporate sustainability measures specific to UConn into their course curriculum. The OEP also facilitated tours to some of the green features on campus that were relevant to the course curriculum. Finally, the director of the OEP was invited to act as a guest lecture on the topic of sustainability for each class.

The instructor of a course in the ARE (Agricultural and Resource Economics) Department sought help from the interns and sustainability coordinators in evaluating the proposals her students brainstormed to resolve a variety of sustainability issues in and around campus. The OEP representatives were invited to the class presentations of the proposals and were able to provide insight on the feasibility and the progress of the projects they has suggested.

Finally, the OEP collaborated with several faculty members to secure funding and develop the educational programming required to send several students, faculty, and OEP representatives to Paris during the first week of the 21st annual Conference of the Parties. They organized a higher education networking event co-hosted by Second Nature, AASHE, and the Kedge Business School, that all of the constituents attended, and the faculty delivered morning lectures to the students involved that related to the COP21 proceedings.