Our Investments in Sustainability Yield Positive Results
Sustainability-Related Outcomes Include:
- Integration of sustainability across the Dickinson curriculum, with 32 departments offering Sustainability Connections (SCON) and Sustainability Investigations (SINV) courses
- Approximately 55 sustainability courses offered each semester
- More than 1,400 students taking one or more sustainability courses each year, and more than 600 taking two or more , without requirement
- 96% of the class of 2015 taking one or more sustainability courses in four years, without requirement
- Sustainability courses in semester and year-long study abroad programs, including in Argentina, Australia, Cameroon, Germany and the United Kingdom
- Summer sustainability immersion programs in China, France, Israel, Italy, Japan and Germany
- Establishment of a 50-acre organic College Farm that supplies the campus and community local food
- Protection of 10,000 miles of Pennsylvania streams in partnership with community watershed associations - ALLARM
- Over 45 paid sustainability internships/student workers on campus each year
- A growing biking culture, propelled by The Handlebar Bicycle Co-op
- Installation of solar panels throughout campus with a generation capacity of 110 kW
- A waste-to-energy Biodiesel Shop at the College Farm
- The first LEED-Gold college residence hall in Pennsylvania (The Treehouse)
- LEED-Gold certification in Rector Science Complex, Althouse Hall, Durden Athletic Training Center & Waidner Admissions
- The new Dr. Inge P. Stafford greenhouse for Teaching & Research
- Greenhouse-gas emissions per square foot of building space that are 40% below the average for four-year colleges.
These and other achievements have earned Dickinson a Gold Star from the Association for Sustainability in Higher Education, a Climate Leadership Award from Second Nature, straight A grades from the Sustainable Endowments Institute, a "second-coolest school" in the nation rating from Sierra magazine, a place on the Princeton Review's Green Honor Roll and a Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence.