Frostburg State Recognized in Princeton Review’s Latest Green Colleges Guide

Oct 19, 2017 10:20 AM

Frostburg State University has once again been included in The Princeton Review’s “Guide to 375 Green Colleges: 2017 Edition,” the education services company’s annual listing of the nation’s most environmentally responsible “green” colleges.

The Princeton Review selects those institutions “... with the most exceptional commitments to sustainability based on their academic offerings and career preparation for students, campus policies, initiatives and activities.”

Frostburg has appeared in the company’s “Green Guides” numerous times since 2010, when the guide was first published.

Under President Ronald Nowaczyk, Frostburg has reiterated its decade-long commitment to the ACUPCC – the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, for which FSU is a charter signatory.

“I am proud to see Frostburg State recognized again for our longstanding commitment to sustainability. We continually explore ways to reduce energy consumption, limit waste and encourage sustainable lifestyle choices,” Nowaczyk said. “Learning and living green has become the standard in Frostburg, so much so that our Student Government Association instituted its own Student Sustainability Fee to fund even more green projects and initiatives.”

FSU’s Student Sustainability Fee funds are administered by members of the Learning Green, Living Green (LGLG) Sustainability Initiative, which studies proposals from Frostburg students, faculty and staff, and issues grants to support projects with the greatest impact on student learning and campus sustainability.

Many students join LGLG through Frostburg’s Sustainability Studies minor, offered since 2010, which prepares students for careers or graduate studies in a rapidly growing field of global importance. Sustainability Studies students get hands-on experience in green initiatives, undertake research projects, contribute to LGLG activities and work side by side with passionate faculty members to promote sustainable choices.

This year, students in Sustainability 155 chartered Frostburg’s chapter of the Food Recovery Network, diverting FSU’s unserved food to the Western Maryland Food Bank. The effort builds on a 2013 initiative, where FSU Dining Services-provider Chartwells began composting uneaten food for Frostburg Grows, a greenhouse project on a former strip mine that provides local produce to campus. Previously served food continues to be composted, while FSU’s unserved food now feeds people in need.

FSU’s commitment to living and learning green reaches beyond the Sustainability Studies program.

Students in an upper-level English course publish “#Sustain,” an annual magazine dedicated to sustainability topics. The Arbor Day Foundation has named FSU a “Tree Campus USA” for five consecutive years for Frostburg’s commitment to effective urban forest management, a practice spearheaded by faculty and students from FSU’s unique ethnobotany major. Each spring, the entire campus community explores sustainability during Earth Day, which FSU celebrates with “Focus Frostburg,” a day of reflection on environmental sustainability and climate awareness.

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) granted a STARS Silver Rating to Frostburg in 2013, recognizing its sustainability efforts. STARS – the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System – measures and encourages sustainability in all aspects of higher education. Frostburg is one of only two STARS-rated campuses in the University System of Maryland.

Princeton Review selected colleges for the guide based on “Green Rating” scores (from 60 to 99), which the company tallied in summer 2017, based on its 2016-17 survey of school administrators. That survey asked for reports on schools’ sustainability-related policies, practices and programs. Princeton Review weighted 25-plus data points in its latest assessment of 629 institutions of higher education.

Schools with Green Ratings of 80 or higher earned a place in the 2017 Guide to Green Colleges. Frostburg’s Green Rating was 87.

To learn more about sustainability at FSU, visit LGLG Sustainability web site. To explore The Princeton Review’s full Guide to 375 Green Colleges: 2017 Edition, visit the Princeton Review web site.

Situated in the mountains of Allegany County, Frostburg State University is one of the 12 institutions of the University System of Maryland. FSU is a comprehensive, residential regional university and serves as an educational and cultural center for Western Maryland. For more information, visit the Frostburg State Web site or facebook.com/frostburgstateuniversity. Follow FSU on Twitter @frostburgstate.