NEW GREEN UH TEAM SPECIALIZES IN SUCCESS


Green UH has a new team of specialists this semester to help spread the word and educate our campus on going green. This semester, the Green UH student team consists of seven students with a wide range of classifications and areas of study.

Leah Wolfthal, Program Coordinator for Sustainability for University Services, has formed the new Sustainability Fellows Program where she has hired on student workers to manage different content areas of the program such as public relations, data management and volunteer recruitment. According to Wolfthal, the objectives of the program are threefold, �to develop the University�s intellectual assets � in students � for problem-solving in sustainability, to use those assets in the service of sustainability on campus, and also to help students connect sustainability thinking to what may be their future career fields.�

The Sustainability Fellows will work as a whole on ways to educate, promote and generate interest in creating a more sustainable campus.

�This fellowship program cultivates not only traditional skills associated with their individual professions, but also skills needed to be leaders in problem-solving for sustainability,� said Leah Wolfthal, Sustainability Coordinator for University Services.

Wolfthal described her team as �diverse, creative and talented� and said she looks forward to seeing the ideas the team will generate. Each week the team will develop and plan programs and then meet each Friday to discuss their ideas and progress.

�I think the team we have is really amazing. Everyone has a really good work ethic! We�re all so different but it makes things interesting, and it�s good for work because we can give so many different ideas,� said Sarah Clouse, Workshop and Training Development and Facilitation Fellow for the team.

The new Green UH student team is:

Adam Nguyen (graduate student, architecture) � Data Management Fellow
Arnea Williams (graduate student,digital media/photography) � Public Relations Fellow
Domonique Champion (sophomore, theatre) � Playwright/Director Fellow
Sarah Clouse (junior, psychology) � Workshop and Training Development/Facilitation Fellow
Angelo Emiliani (freshman, undecided) � CLASP Management Fellow
Michael Nguyen (sophomore, supply chain and logistics) � Event Logistics
Gordon Rainwater (junior, computer science) � Volunteer Recruit Management Fellow

This semester, the Green UH team will introduce some new events and programs to promote and further educate the campus on sustainability. On October 18, Green UH will host the contest �Who Wants to Be An (Eco-)Millionaire?� in the UC Houston Room where students can sign on for a chance to win $1,000. The team will also release weekly public service announcements written by and starring UH students to students, faculty, and staff on conservation and climate change issues. Also this semester, Green UH will hold a bi-monthly Sustainability Roundtable where faculty and staff can discuss their own sustainability-related projects and ideas.

The Sustainability Fellows are also developing ideas to increase donations and funding to the program and assessing views of sustainability on campus. Adam Nguyen, Data Management Fellow, is currently working on a random sampling of the student body on knowledge and attitudes of basic sustainability literacy questions. He said in his education and profession, he has a vested interest in sustainability issues which attracted him to apply for the Green UH position.

�As an architecture student, sustainable issues have always been in the forefront of our studio culture and design. To this, I felt Green UH would be a great opportunity in which to further my education on the topic of sustainability as well as contribute to positive changes on campus,� Nguyen said.

The Green UH team will host the fourth annual Green UH Day on November 2, 2011 in Butler Plaza which will coincide with the Flip the Switch ceremony for the solar array on the Central Power Plant, funded by a donation from Green Mountain Energy.

To volunteer for green programs and events on campus, send an email to volunteer.greenuh@gmail.com. For more information on Green UH, visit www.uh.edu/green.