By: David Dean – Outreach Coordinator, Office of Sustainability
Esprit de Coeur group of Pathways, in conjunction with North Carolina State University’s Office of Sustainability, honors memory of Facilities supervisor Joe Hoeve.
The Inaugural GreenTree Initiative Award was recently presented at the graduation ceremony of the Pathways Leadership Development Program. Mrs. Karen Hoeve received the award, presented by the Esprit de Coeur group, in honor of her late husband Johan ‘Joe’ Hoeve. Joe was a supervisor with Facilities Operations at North Carolina State University.
Joe modeled the way by striving to help make the North Carolina State University campus and community more sustainable. One of his personal projects was replacing the incandescent light bulbs at the Arboretum with CFL bulbs. Joe was very involved with other sustainability efforts on campus through his work as an employee and supervisor in Facilities.
The GreenTree Initiative is a quarterly award presented to a student, faculty or staff member who has developed a small scale project providing cost-savings, or is budget-friendly, to benefit the campus community and promote a more sustainable future. The initiative was created by the Esprit de Coeur group, in conjunction with the Office of Sustainability, and is only the second project developed by a Pathways team to actually be implemented.
Recognition for the winners will include a “swag bag” of gifts, tickets and other goodies, a profile on the Office of Sustainability web page and a plaque with their name engraved and posted in a designated location on campus. At a special dedication ceremony every year on Earth Day, a tree will be planted on campus in honor of the past year’s recipients.
Nominees will be judged using the following criteria:
– must be a student/faculty/staff of NC State
– have developed a small-scale project that is easily implemented in the workplace
– provide cost-savings or are budget-friendly
– benefits the NC State community
Nominations can be made year-round via the Office of Sustainability web site, www.ncsu.edu/sustainability