Photo courtesy of: Sustainability Awards
Elaine Goetz (left) presents Lifetime Sustainability Achievement Award to Nancy Manring
As part of its annual Earth Day celebrations, Ohio University’s Office of Sustainability announced the 2019 Sustainability Award winners at a lunch of Indian cuisine prepared and served by Professor Thom Stevenson and his students in the Restaurant, Hotel and Tourism Program within the Department of Human and Consumer Sciences.
The students were trained on the meal preparation by Dr. Usha Matta.
Political Science professor Dr. Nancy Manring received special recognition at the event and was presented a Lifetime Sustainability Achievement Award for her contributions to sustainability at OHIO. In 2007 Manring co-founded the Kanawha Project, a multi-year professional development opportunity designed for faculty to learn how to integrate sustainability and climate change issues into their coursework.
Since its inception, 91 OHIO faculty and 19 undergraduate scholars on the Athens and regional campuses have participated in the program. Manring received the student-selected University Professor Award in 2013.
Manring led the creation of the College of Arts & Sciences “Introduction to Sustainability” course, and serves as its lead instructor, and developed and teaches the Tier III course “Sustainability Citizenship.” Manring also served as director of the Sustainability Studies Theme (2013-2019), Chair of the Ecology and Energy Conservation Committee (2013-2018), and as a member of the ad hoc Sustainability Committee which oversaw the reorganization of sustainability at OHIO in the fall of 2018. She currently serves on the newly established Sustainability Committee.
The annual Sustainability Awards are given to individuals and organizations nominated by their peers. The awards are separated into five categories: Faculty Sustainability Award, Student Sustainability Leader(s) Award, Staff Sustainability Advocate Award, Exemplary Sustainable Department Award and Community Sustainability Recognition.
The Faculty Sustainability Award, given to a faculty member who has made exemplary contributions to his or her field through sustainability-related teaching, research, scholarship or service, was presented to Dr. Theresa Moran, director of the Food Studies Program for her “unending commitment to both her students and creating positive change in the food system [and for her] efforts to place Ohio University at the forefront of teaching and disseminating sustainable agricultural and food consumption practices.”
The Student Sustainability Leader Award, which recognizes one student (or student group) who has excelled in sustainable actions and leadership at Ohio University during their time as a student, was presented to graduate student Vicky Kent, events coordinator in the Office of Sustainability. The nomination submission remarked that “Through her events and outreach to organizations outside of Ohio University she has created a community that furthers Ohio University's Sustainability and Climate Action Plan within and outside of Ohio University.”
The Staff Sustainability Advocate Award, given to a staff member who has served as an advocate for advancing sustainability initiatives at Ohio University or served in a support role to assist student, faculty, staff or community led initiatives, was presented to Jen Bowman, director of Environmental Programs in the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs. Nominators commented: “She is a leader both on campus and in the community in furthering our sustainability mission. Two key efforts exemplify her impact: reforesting Appalachian streams and watershed education efforts … She has been an anchor of sustainability activities at Ohio University for years.”
The Exemplary Sustainability Department Award was presented to the Office of Information Technology.
The award recognizes an office or department at Ohio University that has shown great leadership in a variety of sustainable behaviors, including, but not limited to, advancing the Sustainability and Climate Action Plans, encouraging health and wellness among its employees, investing in local goods and services, reducing its landfilled waste generation, participating in energy reduction efforts, and engaging in shared office resources.
The OIT nomination referenced the hard work of staff in realizing upgrades to the department’s data center, resulting in an estimated “220,000 to 240,000 kWh savings for 2019 over 2018…That’s recurring power savings greater than the energy consumption of 20+ average us homes without considering cooling!”
The Community Sustainability Recognition Award for any community member (or group) that help support community-wide sustainability efforts was presented to the Village Bakery & Café. The nomination submission highlighted the leadership of owners Christine Hughes and Bob O’Neil: “They are dedicated to building a strong sustainable agriculture system in our state and region... They don't stop at sustainable local food--they are deeply committed to sustainable energy with their installation of solar panels and now they have an EV Charging Station... To [them], sustainability is a way of life--they have walked the walk way before all the talk!”
The Office of Sustainability was pleased to recognize the contributions to sustainability at OHIO and in the local community during the 2018-19 academic year and look forward to receiving nominations for 2019-20.
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