Sustainability program wins Governor's Environmental Excellence Award
Virginia Tech's Office of Energy and Sustainability was recently honored with a 2013 Gold Governor's Environmental Excellence Award at 24th annual Environment Virginia Symposium hosted by the Virginia Military Institute.
The award recognizes environmental and conservation leadership in two categories: sustainability and land conservation. Award recipients were selected on the basis of environmental benefit, stakeholder involvement, public outreach, transferability, and innovation.
“Virginia Tech is a leader in campus sustainability and receiving our fourth Governor’s Environmental Excellence Award in the past six years is a testimony to that commitment,” said Denny Cochrane, sustainability program manager in the Office of Energy and Sustainability. "Our students deserve so much credit for advancing sustainability at Virginia Tech," said Cochrane.
Virginia Tech's campus sustainability program seeks to improve the efficiency of campus facilities and operations; enhance academic programs related to sustainability; engage the campus and surrounding community; and change campus culture and behavior to conserve energy, water, and materials.
"We are honored to receive this prestigious award and to be recognized by the Governor,” said Sherwood Wilson, vice president for administration. "This award helps drive greater awareness and visibility of Virginia Tech’s continued commitment to achieving our environmental, economic, and social sustainability goals,” said Wilson.
Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.
