Overall Rating	Gold
Overall Score	72.78
Liaison	Troy Goodnough
Submission Date	Feb. 10, 2022

STARS v2.2

University of Minnesota, Morris
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Status	Score	Responsible Party
	4.00 / 4.00	Troy Goodnough Sustainability Director Office of Sustainability

"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Campus Engagement

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Campus Engagement?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Campus Engagement:

UMN Morris students and faculty develop theater performances and creative works on campus that increase sustainability literacy for students and the public. UMN Morris faculty develop green theatre productions (using recyclables from campus) and publish on this topic. Fashion Trashion is a recurring course and fashion show that uses reused/recycled and repurposed items.

https://academics.morris.umn.edu/theatre-arts/theatre-arts-research-opportunities-collaborations

Public Engagement

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Public Engagement?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Public Engagement:

UMN Morris students are engaged in public engagement efforts that highlight UMN Morris as a living laboratory. Students work with statewide partners to conduct community-meetings around climate adaptation and energy planning in rural Morris. Students have leadership roles in that organize public engagement events focused on climate education. Morris students work with local schools on a variety of sustainability-related engagement work, including water and waste reduction work.

https://www.morrismodel.org/

Air & Climate

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Air & Climate?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Air & Climate:

UMN Morris students work to educate the campus and public about climate change. Working together with campus and community partners, they bring people together to plan for community resilience. Students assembled a Morris Community Resilience Plan and continue to make improvements. Morris is part of the climate protection agreement signed with Saerbeck, Germany and students directly participate in this international partnership. Students also help prepare information about the campus carbon footprint and present this information to campus audiences.

https://www.climatesmart-mn.org/

Buildings

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Buildings?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Buildings:

UMN Morris student partner with Facilities Management to reduce energy usage in campus buildings. Students work with FM to improve and understand air-handling-unit (AHU) scheduling to decrease energy consumption. Students present results of their building studies to FM staff and administrators. Students also take a leadership role in providing information into the State of Minnesota B3 Benchmarking system for buildings.

https://news.morris.umn.edu/news/ever-green-plan

Energy

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Energy?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Energy:

UMN Morris students worked to develop our most recent carbon neutrality thermal master plan. Students in Computer Science courses extract data from the solar PV systems at Morris. Students work with Facilities Management on peak demand reduction strategies. Students produce reports from FM staff to help them better understand the energy usage patterns on campus over the year.

https://news.morris.umn.edu/news/ever-green-plan

Food & Dining

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Food & Dining?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Food & Dining:

UMN Morris student work in the on-campus student organic garden (called Crocus Valley), the Native American garden. Food produced in the gardens is purchased by food services. Students work to improve food procurement policies at Morris. The program Live to Garden provides an opportunity for students to spend the summer at Morris working in the garden and engaging with the public to build local food infrastructure.

Grounds

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Grounds?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Grounds:

UMN Morris students are engaged in grounds and landscaping efforts at Morris. Students participate in ongoing campus tree planting and tree survey initiatives. Students support implementation of edible landscaping installations at Morris, including fruit trees outside of the Green Prairie Community residence hall and AeroGarden installations inside of GPC. Students prepare Tree Campus USA and coordinate activities related to these submissions. Students work at the Morris Ecostation and pursue independent research projects (in consultation) with UMN Morris faculty.

Purchasing

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Purchasing?:

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Purchasing:

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Transportation

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Transportation?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Transportation:

UMN Morris students work on transportation and mobility issues opportunities at UMN Morris. Students work on the campus electric-bike program. Morris utilized one of the first fully-electric cars in west-central Minnesota. Students coordinate educational outreach activities to teach residents about electric vehicles.

https://news.morris.umn.edu/news/e-bikes

Waste

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Waste?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Waste:

UMN Morris students work with the city of Morris, county, local schools and community partners to grow zero-waste initiatives. Students document the campus composting process and share information in written reports and presentations with the community partners. Each year, students organize a Zero-Waste Summit to bring together campus and community partners. Presentations are shared about advancements made in our zero-waste efforts.

Water

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Water?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Water:

UMN Morris students are engaged in water stewardship education at Morris. Students supported the We Are Water Initiative an run an ongoing Water Ethic campaign on-campus. Students work with community and campus partners to bring water education to K-12 schools in the city of Morris.

https://www.wearewaterwcmn.com/

Coordination & Planning

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Coordination & Planning?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Coordination & Planning:

UMN Morris students are engaged in campus sustainability planning efforts. Morris students participate on the Morris Green Team. Morris also has shared government, so students participate actively on campus planning committees. Students led the planning effort for the Morris Sustainability Snapshot, which outlines some of Morris's goals for sustainability progress. The Snapshot was modeled on the Bioregional Planning Principles. Students met with campus stakeholders and assembled the document into a coherent whole, including conceptualizing the document design. Students participate in the development of our climate action and resilience plans. Students are engaged in our strategic planning work.

https://morris.umn.edu/about/organizational-structure-and-campus-governance/chancellor/initiatives/strategic-visioning-and

Diversity & Affordability

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Diversity & Affordability?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Diversity & Affordability:

UMN Morris students are engaged in diversity and affordability efforts at Morris. Morris has a large population of Native American students. Students lead the planning of the annual Pow-Wow. Students conduct educational campaigns to educate students about Dakota and Anishinaabe language. Students prepare and lead ESL activities on-campus for Spanish-speaking newcomers. Students are engaged in food insecurity efforts on-campus. Students lead efforts focused on improving opportunities for GLBTQA2S+ students and allies.

Investment & Finance

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Investment & Finance?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Investment & Finance:

UMN Morris students are engaged with the Morris Green Reinvestment Fund. Students help screen and select projects that will use GRF funding. Students have approved projects that include a compost sifter, LED lighting, and more.

Wellbeing & Work

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Wellbeing & Work?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Wellbeing & Work:

UMN Morris students are engaged in wellbeing improvement opportunities at UMN Morris. Students led the effort to add electric bikes at the Regional Fitness Center and continue efforts to improve the program. The Morris "Let’s Thrive" initiative makes connections between wellbeing and sustainability.

https://students.morris.umn.edu/health-and-wellness/morris-lets-thrive

Optional Fields

Website URL where information about the institution’s living laboratory program is available:

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Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

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