Clemson visits NCSU Office of Sustainability

By: Mande Swisher – Office of Sustainability

Clemson University faculty members Pat Zungoli and Scott Templeton brought a group of seven students from the Creative Inquiry Class to visit the Office of Sustainability on Monday May, 11th.  The class focus this semester was on Environmental Sustainability and the students have identified North Carolina State University’s Office of Sustainability as a model after which they would like to mold their own program.

Even though spring semester classes are over, these committed students and faculty took time out of their summer break to come to Raleigh and expand their knowledge on starting a sustainability movement at Clemson.  The class researched various schools and found they were especially intrigued by the Office of Sustainability website, our LED University designation and our composting efforts.  The class also visited with the North Carolina Department of Natural Resources while in the capital city.

Over the coming summer, the class will launch a sustainability web site for Clemson and help identify easily implementable sustainable projects for their administration.  The students showed themselves to be very eager and willing to learn with well thought out questions.

The morning session kicked off in Administration Services Building III with an overview of sustainability at North Carolina State University led by Outreach Coordinator David Dean.  Introductions were made to Associate Vice Chancellor Kevin MacNaughton and Assistant Vice Chancellor Jack Colby, both of Facilities Operations.  The next presenter, Barbara Doll from the NC Sea Grant program, discussed the history of the Rocky Branch Restoration Project.  Mrs. Doll then led the group outside to several key sites on Rocky Branch, including the water fall.  Mrs. Doll was able to help the group identify solutions to problems they have concerning a similar stream running through their campus.

Next up was a tour of Bragaw Residence Hall with Barry Olson from University Housing and Deb Lovig from CREE.  The class was very excited to see a suite retrofitted with LED contrasted with the dim lighting of an uncompleted bank of rooms.  Both the faculty and students peppered Mr. Olson and Ms. Lovig with detailed questions on the feasibility of moving their campus towards this next generation lighting system.

As any true Wolfpack fan can attest one tradition these Tigers needed to be initiated into was a visit down Western Boulevard to Amedeo’s for lunch;  this particular afternoon the famous lasagna did not disappoint.

Our friends at Clemson University are willing and excited to push forward with sustainable practices on their own campus.  It is always a good day when fellow institutions look toward a more sustainable future and, all athletic rivalries aside, North Carolina State University welcomes any future involvement we can have in helping the Tigers accomplish their goals.