University of Pennsylvania
IN-20: Grounds Certification

For the fourteenth year in a row, Penn has been named a Tree Campus USA by the Arbor Day Foundation. The Tree Campus USA program recognizes college and university campuses that effectively manage their campus trees. To continually obtain this distinction, University of Pennsylvania has met the five core standards for sustainable campus forestry required by Tree Campus USA, including establishment of a tree advisory committee, evidence of a campus tree-care plan, dedicated annual expenditures for its campus tree program, an Arbor Day observance and the sponsorship of student service-learning projects.

In addition, the main academic campus of the University of Pennsylvania was designated as a Level II Arboretum under ArbNet certification. The Penn Campus Arboretum curates and manages a diverse collection of trees, focused on preserving and sustaining the urban forest for the well-being of the community, environmental benefits, research and educational opportunities. Penn’s campus is an urban forest with over 6,500 trees in its collection, over 240 species of trees and shrubs, ten specialty gardens and five urban parks. Penn has dedicated resources and coordinated the care of a comprehensive tree management program over the course of many years, resulting in Tree Campus USA designation and ArbNet arboretum accreditation.

Shoemaker Green is currently certified under the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES). The site is located immediately east of 33rd Street between Walnut and Spruce Streets on the University of Pennsylvania campus, and is a major component of the east-west connection between the central campus and Penn Park, serving as a new continuation of the Locust Walk / Smith Walk corridor. The site is surrounded by two of the University's most iconic athletic facilities - the Palestra and Franklin Field, and serves as the "front door" to these historic structures. Shoemaker Green's program is mainly passive recreation, but the site has the ability to adapt for multiple events and activities with a wide range of scales, from secluded areas to eat lunch to staging areas for the Penn Relays and graduation. By way of carrying over the essence of College Green, while still retaining a character all its own, the site is the heart of Penn's eastward expansion. Shoemaker Green also serves as a model for sustainable campus design. Through the innovative use of a variety of strategies and technologies, the design of Shoemaker Green has been optimized to capture and control stormwater from the site and surrounding rooftops, provide viable native plant and animal habitats, minimize transportation of materials to and from the site, and serve as a starting point for the development of a sustainable maintenance strategy for the University at large