University of North Carolina, Greensboro
IN-24: Innovation A

UNCG has successfully piloted a series of two innovative courses focused on sustainable operations that simultaneously leveraged detailed technical knowledge of Facilities staff and built advanced professional skills for student in green building design and operations as well as applied campus operations.

The two new courses, each offered as a pilot were:
 ENV 300 – Fall 2017 – Sustainability + Built Environment – 20 students – LEED Green Associate Examination focused course - Dr. Amanda Gale; and
 ENV 350 – Spring 2018 – Sustainable Campus Operations – 7 students – professional work rotations in operational areas on campus - Dr. Aaron Allen and Dr. Shanna Eller.

ENV 300 – Fall 2017 – Sustainability + Built Environment – Course Details
This course used the U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) framework as a framework. Students were guided through sections aligned with the LEED framework and supported in preparing for the entry level LEED professional examination. UNCG staff delivered presentations and led site visits for seven consecutive weeks of the course. See list below for detailed topics with staff interface, the names of staff who supported the course, and quotes from the students regarding the information provided by and interaction with staff.

 LEED Rating System -Thursday – Aug. 24
o Jorge Quintal, UNCG Associate Vice Chancellor for Facilities
o Ken Pearce, UNCG Facilities Design & Construction, Director
 "Ken and Jorge were very knowledgeable and were very excited about how sustainable our campus is and how much further it still has to go."
 Location and Transportation - Thursday - Aug. 31
o Scott Milman, Executive Director of Campus Enterprises
 "Scott Milman's presentation was really informative and helped me understand how the school goes about planning for future infrastructure on campus and how they determine transportation to and from campus"
 Sustainable Sites - Thursday - Sept. 7
o Jim Munro, Facilities Operations, Grounds and Irrigation
 "Thanks to Jim for giving us a mini tour of the cistern. It's nice to know that people are trying to improve water issues on campus!"
 Water Efficiency - Thursday - Sept. 14
o Jon Soter, Facilities Operations, Utilities Manager
o Gary Denny, HVAC Supervisor
 "The trip to the McIver chiller facility with Gary and Jon was probably my favorite field trip so far. The systems involved are just fascinating and the cooling towers were incredible."
 Energy & Atmosphere - Thursday - Sept. 21
o Douglas Cato, Facilities Operations, Campus Mechanical Engineer
o Nihal Al Raees, Facilities Operations, Energy Analyst
 "Thank you so much Douglas and Nihal, for your amazingly informative and animated explanations and descriptions of the chillers, boilers and air handlers."
 Materials and Resources - Thursday -Sept. 28 - 2-3:15pm
o Ben Kunka, Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling, Manager
 "Thank you to Ben Kunka for showing us the Yard! It is my favorite thing on the "unconventional" campus tour because it is behind the scenes of operations. It's fun to get to see how the smaller but important things like recycling/trash collection work on campus!"
o Michael Logan, Director of Purchasing and Contracts
 "Michael Logan's talk was very interesting. I did not think about how much work really does going into purchasing products for a campus let alone a facility. Good to know they strive to purchase enviro-friendly /green products for the campus."
 Indoor Environmental Quality - Thursday - Oct. 5 -2-3:15pm
o Todd Beck, Environmental Health and Safety, Industrial Hygiene Manager
 "UNCG's Industrial Hygiene Manager Todd Beck does a fantastic job making sure our campus's buildings have clean and safe air for our facility and students!"
See several images from the course in the campus article, “In Unique Course, UNCG Facilities Staff LEED by Example” , link below.
https://uc.uncg.edu/prod/cweekly/2017/11/13/unique-course-uncg-facilities-staff-leed-example/

As a result of Dr. Amanda Gale’s pilot ENV 350 course 15 students in the course took and passed the LEED Green Associate exam.

ENV 350 – Spring 2018 – Sustainable Campus Operations – Course Details
This course was a study of facilities operations for universities and similar organizations, emphasizing sustainable infrastructure and institutional change. The focus was on professional development, applied knowledge, and experiential learning. A key element was a set of applied rotations that were conducted as mini-internships using a consultant model with campus clients. Each student did two rotations on a team from the four described below.

Energy Rotation – Sullivan Science LED Retrofit Analysis
Campus Client: Nihal A. Raees, PhD, UNCG Energy Analyst
Team 350:
 gathered detailed information on existing conditions in Sullivan;
 identified LED alternatives for existing fixtures;
 developed two budget alternatives for a phased retrofit of the entire building; and
 developed energy savings calculations based on the new LED fixtures recommended.

Transportation Rotation – Campus Bike Inventory
Campus Client: Suzanne Williams, Associate Director of Campus Access and Travel Demand
Team 350:
 inventoried location, condition, and number of bikes parked at of all bike racks on campus;
 inventoried condition and location of any bikes in seeming disrepair or not parked properly at or near a rack; and
 recommended areas for change or improvement.

Food Rotation – Snack Smart Program Evaluation
Campus Client: Sarah Lynch, UNCG Dining Services, Resident District Manager
Team 350:
 evaluated the Snack Smart display in campus retail operation;
 conducted customer intercept surveys focused on satisfaction with and ways to increase engagement with Snack Smart; and
 made recommendations for Snack Smart program improvements intended to increase sales.

Investment Rotation - Revolving Loan Fund Models Research
Campus Clients: Jim Settle, Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs; and
Julie Voorhees, Title III Grant Project Director, Office of Research and Sponsored Programs
Team 350:
 researched current revolving loan funds at other universities;
 compared the return of those loan funds to the UNCG endowment returns; and
 recommended a model for the UNCG Green Loan Fund if it were to evolve to revolve.

Not only did ENV 350 result in specific products for four campus clients that were of assistance in work toward campus sustainability, but the methodology piloted in the energy rotation was used by a graduate student in summer 2018 to successfully apply to the UNCG Green Fund for monies to employ that student plus an undergraduate student to do the same analysis for eight more buildings on campus.

The summer work was offered first to students from the ENV 350 course as professional work resulting from their course and provided the campus energy analyst with much needed information on campus facilities. LED interior retrofitting for the Sullivan building which was the focus on the course itself has been funded in FY19 as a result of the data. Funding for implementing LED interior retrofits in the other buildings studied in the summer is being sought.

Data for this credit was secured in part from Dr. Gale and Dr. Allen. Dr. Eller assembled the narrative and entered it into STARS.