Three campus offices have joined the ranks of Certified Green Offices on campus. After iSEE’s spring 2017 relaunch of its Certified Green Office Program, all three have demonstrated sustainability leadership to earn Gold Certification.

The Capital Programs office members proudly gathered in May to receive their Gold Office Certificate.

Capital Programs at Facilities & Services

The Capital Programs office works collaboratively with campus customers to create facilities that meet their programmatic needs.

This dedicated team of 33 full-time professionals do it all — developing project scopes, designing spaces, managing budgets, securing campus and university approvals, and hiring the services needed to construct new buildings, additions, and renovations. The office signed up for the Green Office Program in Fall 2016 and finished implementing 25 resource-saving practices in just 12 weeks.

A highlight of their efforts is a home-brewed glass recycling program. Since the University waste system does not recycle glass, they placed a communal collection bin in the office, and employees take turns being responsible for getting those items recycled.

Michael Donovan (right), Senior Library Specialist and Sustainability Ambassador for the Collection Management Services office, accepts the Gold-level Certificate from iSEE Sustainability Programs Coordinator Micah Kenfield (left).

Collection Management Services

This branch of the University Library oversees the Oak Street remote library storage facility and handles distribution of print, media, and digital materials on reserve at the Undergraduate and Main Stacks.

The 30 staff members went above and beyond the minimum requirements to update or add 31 sustainable workplace practices. Throughout the semester, they’ve been removing physical items — in print or physical discs — that can be accessed digitally instead. To date, they’ve eliminated more than 65,000 bound serials from their collection to be recycled, which opens up space and is an efficient use of their resources.

Engineering and Construction Services office employees were given their Gold-level Green Office certificate on July 10, 2017.

Engineering and Construction
Services at Facilities & Services

According to the F&S website, “Engineering and Construction Services consists of many areas:

• Engineering Design collaborating with campus to ensure good stewardship to campus buildings when a proposed project alters or connects to building systems or architecture.
• Quality Assurance ensures that university facilities are designed and constructed to be consistent with world class institutions.
• Construction Services provides oversight for projects ranging from the installation of a new room sign to the remodeling of a laboratory. Three delivery options are available to meet the campus demand for construction: Contractor Services, Job Order Contracting (JOC), and F&S Crafts & Trades.
• Campus Code Compliance & Fire Safety is responsible for the fire and life safety programs and the existing building and fire code compliance functions for the campus.
• Facilities Information Resources maintains building records and a space inventory, and provides mapping, drafting, and graphic design services.
• The Division of Responsibility (DoR) coordinator creates DoRs for new buildings, reviews and updates DoRs for existing buildings, and ensures the DoR Guidelines are consistent and fairly applied across campus.
• Transportation Demand Management represents and coordinates campus transportation needs, with an emphasis on active transportation.”

This office was certified in June 2017.

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More about the Certified Green Office Program

The Certified Green Office Program is the Institute’s effort to interest and involve Illinois staff and faculty in resource conservation at the campus level.

By updating their daily practices, groups ranging from small offices to entire departments can reduce their environmental footprint, help the campus save money, meet Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) objectives and commitments, and respond to the overwhelming interest of staff, students, faculty, and the surrounding community in creating a more sustainable University.

Becoming a Green Office is easier than you think. Each office takes four required actions, and then chooses to implement anywhere from 5 to 30 elective sustainability practices from a wide menu of choices. Offices customize actions to fit their needs.

So far, 33 offices have participated in the program, encompassing more than 1,200 employees who contributed their part to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions.

By 2020, we aim to enroll at least half of campus full-time staff in the program to create a bigger impact.

Visit the Program webpage >>>