CORVALLIS, Ore. - Oregon State University received 95 points out of a possible 99 as a 'green' school in the latest edition of "The Princeton Review's Guide to 332 Green Colleges: 2014 Edition."
The Princeton Review tallies its Green Rating scores based on institutional data it obtains from colleges in response to survey questions focused on alternative transportation, advancing sustainability, waste-diversion rate and other related topics.
"It's great to be recognized by Princeton Review for a fourth year in a row," said Brandon Trelstad, OSU's sustainability coordinator. "I believe it's OSU's diverse and broad sustainability efforts that have gotten us this far. Student efforts, specifically, have been key in maintaining our leadership role."
The guide is the only free comprehensive resource of its kind. It can be downloaded at http://www.princetonreview.com/green-guide and http://www.centerforgreenschools.org/greenguide. It does not rank schools hierarchically, but each school's green score can be found in their school profile on the main site (http://www.princetonreview.com/).
"Sustainability at OSU is a campus-wide endeavor that includes areas of institutional strength, like research, diversity, affordability, sustainability coordination and governance," Trelstad said. "We are lucky to have high on- and off-campus community involvement in addressing campus and community sustainability."
Among OSU's green highlights were an overall waste diversion rate of 40 percent, its environmentally based degrees including ecological engineering, and the fact that the campus is in the process of bringing online five planned ground-mounted solar electrical arrays that will generate 2.9 megawatts of solar power.
"Best of all, OSU will help you put that academic knowledge into practice; it hosts a Nonprofit Career Day, with significant participation from national and local green groups," the guide states.
The Princeton Review created its "Guide to 332 Green Colleges" in partnership with the Center for Green Schools (www.usgbc.org) at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)), with generous support from United Technologies Corp. (www.utc.com), founding sponsor of the Center for Green Schools.
Brandon Trelstad, 541-737-3307; Brandon.trelstad@oregonstate.edu
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