Ari Weil

Jessa Lytle and Team Building for Sustainability

Team Building Activity

University of Michigan’s Adventure Leadership is an activity-based, team building and leadership development program that works with university groups, sports teams, departments, community groups, and corporate organizations. I spoke with Jessa Lytle, the Assistant Director of Adventure Leadership, to learn more about her work at the intersection of team building and environmental education.  In college, Jessa was passionate about finding ways for … Read More

Jessica Thompson and the Maize and Blue Cupboard

Jessica Thompson

Food insecurity is an increasing issue for students across college campuses. Around a third of students at the University of Michigan lack reliable access to enough affordable and nutritious food. To combat this, students formed the Maize & Blue Cupboard in 2014 and held monthly food distributions at the Trotter Multicultural Center. This winter, after years of gaining support across campus and expanding the … Read More

Missy Stults and Carbon Neutrality in Ann Arbor

Missy Stults

In February, University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel announced the members of the U-M President’s Commission on Carbon Neutrality. One of the integral members named to the commission is Melissa “Missy” Stults, the City of Ann Arbor’s Sustainability and Innovations Manager. I spoke with Missy about her professional journey, her role in the city, and the essential connection between the sustainability … Read More

Erik Boyer and the Energy Management Program

Erik Boyer

The University of Michigan is making progress on the 2025 Campus Sustainability Goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% below the 2006 baseline. Still, more work can be done to reduce energy use throughout campus buildings. U-M’s Office of Campus Sustainability has a team of Regional Energy Managers (REMs) who work to increase the energy efficiency of campus buildings and support … Read More

2018 SCIP Results: The Culture of Sustainability at U-M

SCIP Infographic

After many months of data collection and analysis, the results of the 2018 SCIP survey are live! The Sustainability Cultural Indicators Program (SCIP) is a collaboration between the Graham Sustainability Institute and Institute for Social Research to assess sustainability knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes across U-M students, faculty, and staff over time. First implemented in 2012, the 2018 survey is the 5th iteration … Read More

Sonia Joshi at the Intersection of DEI and Sustainability

Sonia Joshi

In the Fall of 2016, the University of Michigan Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Strategic Plan was created so every school, college, and unit across the University of Michigan instills the values of DEI in their missions and daily operations. That semester, the School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) brought in Sonia Joshi as the DEI Program Manager to help enhance the … Read More

Sustainable Labs Spotlight: Laura Mayo-Bond and Holly Evanoff

Laura Mayo-Bond and Holly Evanoff

The University of Michigan has 2.8 million square feet of lab space for research and teaching and is ranked #1 in research volume among U.S public universities according to the National Science Foundation. With an enormous amount of equipment and energy used to conduct research, labs have historically not been the most sustainable of workplaces. Fortunately, The University of Michigan Office of Campus … Read More

Custodial Staff Damon Woodard and Shannon Taylor

Woodard and Taylor

The Samuel T. Dana Building, home to the School for Environment and Sustainability, is one of the first academic buildings on campus to have compost bins for daily use. Last month, we interviewed two people that are instrumental to the success of the Dana Building composting program: Custodial Staff Damon Woodard and Shannon Taylor.   Both Damon and Shannon have worked for U-M … Read More

PBA Spotlight: Paul Dunlop and Zero Waste at the Big House

Paul Dunlop

It’s time for football and the U-M team kicked off its season with many new starting players, new maize uniforms, and renewed optimism that we will beat our arch rivals. One big change fans may notice is the Michigan Stadium Zero Waste Initiative.  Paul Dunlop, the Senior Facilities Manager for Michigan Stadium, leads the Zero Waste Stadium efforts. The Zero … Read More