University of Pittsburgh
EN-3: Student Life

1) Student Office of Sustainability The Student Office of Sustainability (510 WPU) is a collaborative and programming space for students interested in sustainability and environmental issues. 2) Pitt Green Fund The University of Pittsburgh’s student run Green Fund Advisory Board finances and supports student-initiated projects and programs that make Pitt’s operations more environmentally sustainable, socially equitable, and energy efficient. By supporting these initiatives, The Pitt Green Fund empowers project proposers to make a visibly positive change on campus, and thus helps to educate the entire Pitt community about sustainability principles that can be applied in everyday life. 3) Bicycle Collective PBC serves as a safe and inclusive community space to support and improve the bicycling experience on Pitt’s campus via education, advocacy, and outreach. 4) Engineers for a Sustainable World ESW engages engineering (and non-engineering!) students in improving social, environmental, and economic sustainability in their community. 5) Food Recovery Heroes The Food Recovery Heroes is the University of Pittsburgh's chapter of the Food Recovery Network. The Food Recovery Network unites students at colleges and universities to fight food waste and hunger by recovering surplus food from their campuses dining halls that would otherwise go to waste and donating it to local hunger-fighting agencies. 6) Free the Planet FTP is a student environmental organization at the University of Pittsburgh working on campus and in the community to foster awareness about important environmental issues while taking action to resolve them. Free the Planet’s primary goal is to creatively instill a passion for sustainable, environmentally friendly, and healthy living in Pitt’s student body and beyond. Free the Planet regularly organizes educational events, community service, and various action-based campaigns to accomplish this goal. 7) Plant to Plate Plant to Plate manages an urban garden on campus, which provides produce for students and a local food bank. 8) Take Back the Tap Take Back the Tap works to protect safe, accessible, clean, water for all, both here in the U.S. and around the world. At Pitt this campaign’s main goal is to advocate for access to public drinking water, and for reducing the use of bottled water on campus. 9) United Students Against Sweatshops Chapter #31 USAS #31 is the Pitt chapter of United Students Against Sweatshops, a national student labor organization dedicated to workers' rights and social justice. 10) Nourish International A student movement committed to social change in sustainable and innovative ways through community partnerships, awareness events, and fundraising ventures to make lasting impact on extreme poverty. 11)Climate Stewardship Society The purpose of the Climate Stewardship Society is to bring together students from all different ideologies and backgrounds to advocate for effective policies and initiatives that address climate change. The CSS is a non-partisan organization that builds consensus on climate action by appealing to the shared values of all students, rather than partisan divide. 12) The Aquaponics Project Aquaponics is the combination of Hydroponics, and Aquaculture. The Aquaponics Project is a group based at the University of Pittsburgh which aims to promote sustainable farming initiatives in our community. 13) FeelGood FeelGood is a student-led movement with a mission is to end world poverty, one grilled cheese at a time. 14) Fossil Free Pitt Coalition FFPC is a coalition of over 40 SORC registered clubs advocating for the university to divest its endowment from the fossil fuel industry. 15) Students for Sustainability (SFS) SFS is focused on student created and driven sustainability service projects in the Pittsburgh community and on the Pitt Campus. All of the sustainability groups are student-governed.

1) The Oakland Avenue garden is maintained by one of the University's many sustainability student organizations, Plant2Plate. This organization's threefold mission is to teach students how to grow food in a natural and sustainable manner, teach them how to prepare this food, and encourage them to spread this knowledge to the community. All of the farming activities are facilitated by the on-campus garden.A portion of the produce harvested from the garden is donated to the on campus food pantry, the Pitt Pantry. 2) The Real Food Challenge is a team of Pitt students working to bring 20% Real Food to the Pitt campus by the year 2020. The group works with Pitt's food services provider Sodexo to assist in the project shifting process and sponsors educational programming on campus such as Real Food Day. 3) The Student Office of Sustainability also offers support to the Pitt Hydroponics club and the Aquaponics Project.

The University of Thriftsburgh is a student created and coordinated thrift store. The shop was created by two undergraduate students and opened in the O'Hara Student Center in March 2015. Thriftsburgh employs three student coordinators and is governed by a student and staff advisory board. The goals of the store are to promote sustainable purchasing for students on campus and to call attention to the policies of the textile industry and fashion industry.

1) The mission of the University of Pittsburgh Green Fund is to finance and support student-initiated projects and programs that make Pitt’s operations more environmentally sustainable, socially equitable, and energy efficient. By supporting these initiatives, The Pitt Green Fund empowers project proposers to make a visibly positive change on campus, and thus helps to educate the entire Pitt community about sustainability principles that can be applied in everyday life. The Pitt Green Fund is managed by the Green Fund Advisory Board (GFAB), and receives its budget from the Student Activities Fee via the Student Government Board. 2) The University has also just put together a university-wide socially responsible investing committee that will consider ESG, SRI, and other such means of investing their endowment to better match the values of the university.

1) The Heinz Distinguished Lectureship is supported by a gift from the Heinz Endowments for the establishment of a Green Construction and Sustainable Development Program in the Pitt Swanson School of Engineering’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The program is co-sponsored by the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation. The lectureship is open to the community and aims to bring to the University innovative, thought-provoking, and forward-looking concepts appropriate for sustainable infrastructure development. 2) The Student Sustainability Symposium highlights students' sustainability efforts and accomplishments while creating an inclusive space for an open dialogue about sustainability. The Student Sustainability Symposium brings together students, faculty, administrators and community groups to increase awareness around sustainability initiatives on the Pitt campus and in the City of Pittsburgh. The Student Sustainability Symposium is student organized and facilitated. 3) The annual Pitt Hunger Banquet focuses on issues of social inequality, specifically related to food and housing insecurity. The event showcases local organizations working in the sphere of basic needs and offers participants the chance to experience (though role play) a very different style of life from what they may currently be living. The event is co-hosted by the Pitt Pantry (Pitt's on campus food pantry), Food Recovery Heroes and Pitt Dining. 4) The Collegiate Basic Needs Dialogue was created and facilitated by the University of Pittsburgh. It pulls together representatives (students, faculty and staff) from local colleges and universities to engage in thoughtful discussions and workshops on social and economic equity and the basic needs of college student populations. 5) The Green Speakeasy events were created in 2014 to allow opportunity for faculty and graduate students from throughout the university to meet and learn about each other’s research areas in sustainability with the goal of encouraging future collaboration and interdisciplinary work.

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The University of Pittsburgh Outdoors Club began in the late 1960's as an informal group of students with an affinity for adventure. Today, it is a fully recognized student organization complete with elected officers. The club has weekly meetings, and sponsors frequent outdoor activities such as camping, hiking, biking, rock climbing, etc.

The University Provost, Patricia E. Beeson, declared 2014-2015 the "Year of Sustainability". This declaration is backed by a $37.5 million investment in support of sustainability research and education. The University declared 2016-2017 the year of Diversity and Inclusion and sponsored numerous events, program and activities focused on social and economic equity, including the Pitt Open Door series. 2017-2018 is the year of Healthy U on the University of Pittsburgh campus. The Provost office has supported events, programs and initiatives focused on the physical, emotional, mental and financial health and well-being of the entire Pitt community, including the inaugural Collegiate Basic Needs Dialogue.

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The University of Pittsburgh offers hands on and practical student based sustainability employment with internships through Student Affairs (PittServes/Student Office of Sustainability), the Departments of Housing, Dining Services, Parking and Transportation, Surplus Property and Facilities Management. Student interns work on recycling and composting education programs, have created and helped to institute responsible dining programs (BYO Bag) and they learn valuable marketing and outreach skills through their positions. They are encouraged to work cooperatively with other departments and divisions across campus on a variety of sustainability related projects. In addition, the University of Pittsburgh Student Government Board appoints the SGB Sustainability Chair each year to advise SGB members on sustainability related programs and initiatives and to create an agenda for new programming in this area. The Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation offers a 12-week paid undergraduate summer research program that pairs students with members of the Engineering faculty to conduct research in sustainable engineering.

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The University of Pittsburgh Honors College offers many co-curricular student program and funding opportunities including the Community Based Research Fellowship which allows an undergraduate researcher to work with a community, community leader, or non-profit organization to develop a research project that seeks to explore and address an issue that is important to the given community. The results or outcomes of the research are intended to inform actions for positive social change. In addition to fellowship programs the UHC offers field study programs in Wyoming and summer research programs which have a sustainability related focus.