University of Texas at Arlington
PA-1: Sustainability Coordination

Sustainability is a path of continual improvement where our actions protect and enhance the human and natural resources needed for future generations to enjoy a quality of life equal to or greater than our own. As we continue down our path to becoming a sustainable campus, it is imperative that we have increased participation from the campus community to guarantee success. The Sustainability Committee is charged with improving our sustainability performance in both education and operations. The committee will facilitate regular communication with the maverick community about sustainability programs on campus. It will also review and analyze best practices and opportunities, recommend improvements, and help implementation of new programs. The mission of the Sustainability Committee is to cultivate a culture of environmental responsibility and stewardship. The committee will focus on advancing sustainability in several areas such as energy efficiency, waste management, transportation, education, outreach, community engagement, community garden, composting, student engagement, Office Green Team, and interdisciplinary and sustainability-focused curriculum. The committee will meet twice every semester. Chair – Morgan Chivers, UTA Library Co-Chair – Abeer Almughrabi, Department of Civil Engineering groups.

Name Department/Office Mari Duncan Apartment & Residence Life Dax Kuykendall Campus Recreation Douglas Klahr CAPPA Dean's Office Amruta Sakalker CAPPA Student Hanan Boukhaima CAPPA Student Megan Hein Chartwells/Maverick Dining Arpita Bhatt Civil Engineering Bear Lunce Commons and University Center Operations Susan Dequeant CRTLE/Center for Service Learning Ramon Ruiz EH&S Gautam Das Faculty- College of Engineering Abeer AlMughrabi Faculty- Civil engineering Andrew Milson Faculty- History Christopher Morris Faculty- History Peggy Semingson Faculty- Linguistics and TESOL Ritu Gairola Khanduri Faculty- Sociology and Anthropology Debbie Sandoval Inventory and Distribution Services Morgan Chivers Library Sean Armstrong Maverick Dining (Chartwells Higher Education) Li-Ya Mar Faculty Modern Languages Robb Chock Office of Facilities Management Don Lange Office of Facilities Management Lauren McLain Office of Facilities Management Sharon Carey Office of Facilities Management Jeff L. Johnson Office of Facilities Management Adam Kaufman Parking & Transportation Todd Smith Parking & Transportation Charlie Brooks Procurement and Payment Services Nick Paton Special Events Facilities Amber Raley Student-College of Architecture Stephanie Edgett UC Operations David Albart UC Operations Herb Booth University Advancement - Media relations Bobby Childress University Analytics Joanna Merritt University Analytics Marsha Booker University Housing David Locke UTA Police Bryan Samuel VP DEI

The Office of Sustainability at the University of Texas at Arlington aspires to provide the framework for environmental stewardship, natural resource conservation, emissions reductions, and sustainability. The office will act as a conduit to support and promote the University's environmental commitments and policies. In addition to promoting the University's environmental policy, the Office of Sustainability is committed to enhancing awareness and understanding of the principles of sustainability throughout the University community. This awareness will help UT Arlington students, staff, and faculty to incorporate green practices and procedures within all areas and aspects of the University. The Office of Sustainability is concerned with the health and safety of the University community as well as with the health of the environment. This office is focused on the continual implementation of programs and initiatives that not only create a sustainable campus, but improves the quality of campus life in general. The Office of Sustainability also helps to develop and promote academic programs, scholarship, research, service learning, and educational events focused on environmental and sustainability studies. In addition to on campus activities, the Office of Sustainability at The University of Texas at Arlington remains steadfast in maintaining direct involvement within local, regional, national, and international organizations and programs which promote environmental sustainability. Beyond compliance with these sustainable agencies, the office actively pursues outreach opportunities to expand its impact beyond the physical boundaries of UT Arlington. Aligned with the UT Arlington core values of academics, community, and social responsibility, the Office of Sustainability provides innovative initiatives, projects, programs, campaigns, educational services, group activities, and outreach opportunities. The various activities aspire to facilitate a culture of sustainability on campus, regionally and nationally that will position the university as a leader in sustainability.

Developing a GRI report The University Sustainability Committee used two frameworks to support the evaluation of UT Arlington’s key impacts and to determine report topics: the GRI Reporting Framework, the most widely used standard for sustainability reporting worldwide; and AASHE’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™ (STARS), a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. UT Arlington’s first STARS submission in January 2011 received a bronze rating. STARS submissions are available at https://stars.aashe.org. The committee identified an initial set of goals that focus on the University’s key environmental impacts and align with and support the University’s Strategic Plan and the Campus Master Plan, as described in the Managing Our Impacts section on page 18. The impacts, action plans, and performance in these areas are the focus of this report. In addition, the committee performed an initial review of economic and social aspects in relation to University priorities and considered these aspects alongside external feedback to determine the scope of topics in this report. For future sustainability reports, we will incorporate a more formal process for determining material sustainability topics.

https://sustainability.uta.edu/about/sustainability-committee/