The draft Middle States Self-Study is now available to the campus community. We encourage you to review the document and share your thoughts and comments. The draft will be available for comment through Friday, July 22, 2016.
3.1.3 Environment and Sustainability
UMBC is committed to protecting the natural environment and promoting environmental sustainability. Our mission embraces social responsibility, which includes responsibility to the natural environment on which our local, national, and global communities depend. The priority includes both incorporating environmental concerns into the academic enterprise and moving the campus toward greater environmental stewardship and climate neutrality. Within the academic enterprise, objectives we have achieved include continuing to develop the PhD program in the Department of Geography and Environmental Systems; initiating an engineering track focused on environmental engineering; and producing or promoting more high-quality environmental research. Contributors to UMBC-linked environmental research growth include our Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education (CUERE) and the U.S. Geological Survey Regional Water Science Center at the bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park, among others.
Administrative objectives we have achieved include developing of a campus Climate Action Plan in response to the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment; conducting a comprehensive energy audit and entering into an energy performance contract to finance and complete energy conservation initiatives; identifying and pursuing strategies to improve public transportation and car- and van-pool options for students, faculty, and staff; and attracting new companies with a focus on environment and sustainability to bwtech@UMBC. That last objective also addresses our mission to contribute to the economic development of Maryland.
Some notable ways we have addressed the environmental priority are detailed below:
• UMBC was one of three USM partners in the creation in 2010 of the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (IMET) in Baltimore. IMET’s marine biotechnology 28 program became the new Department of Marine Biotechnology in UMBC’s College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences. IMET uses the research, training, and technology transfer capabilities of its partner institutions—the others are the University of Maryland, Baltimore and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science-- to conduct marine and environmental research that supports development of technologies to address protection and restoration of coastal marine systems and watersheds, sustainable use of their resources, and improvement of human health.
• The geography and environmental systems department has expanded. Undergraduate majors have grown from 168 to 291 in six years, a new graduate program enrolled 13 PhD and 40 master’s students, tenure-track faculty positions have increased from eight to 12, and external funding is growing.
• UMBC is attracting new businesses to its research park with a focus on environment and sustainability. Through a partnership with the Maryland Clean Energy Center and Baltimore County, bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park has established an incubator for clean energy start-up businesses.
• We are implementing the Climate Action Plan. The Climate Change Task Force submitted the plan in September 2009, as required by the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment signed by President Hrabowski in 2007. This document describes the campus’ plans to reduce its carbon footprint over time. The FY 2015 greenhouse gas inventory showed a decline of 15.5 percent from our FY 2007 baseline. The decline is attributable to lower electricity usage, an increase in renewable energy credits, and a reduction in air travel.
• After a comprehensive energy audit, UMBC entered into an energy performance contract with the State to finance $13 million in major energy conservation projects on campus, with the debt to be repaid through energy cost savings over ten years.
• An environmental sustainability coordinator to promote and track conservation, recycling and other environmentally beneficial activities was hired in 2012.
• The new Performing Arts and Humanities Building and the Patapsco Hall addition were built to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) specifications, and were awarded Silver and Gold certifications respectively