This year, we awarded 38 green certifications on our campus! Congratulations to all! This includes 28 events (including iSEE Congress and the “TED Talk: Eco Edition” series) seven Greek chapters (including gold-level awards for Delta Delta Delta, Pi Beta Phi, Delta Gamma, Kappa Delta, and Zeta Beta Tau), and three offices: International Student & Scholar Services, Department of Communication, and Department of Chemistry Administrative Office. Learn more about all of iSEE’s Certified Greener Campus programs.

Greek Chapter Gold Certifications:

• Pi Beta Phi — March 2021
• Delta Delta Delta — March 2021
• Delta Gamma — March 2021
• Kappa Delta — February 2021
• Zeta Beta Tau — November 2020

Greek Chapter Silver Certifications:

• Triangle Fraternity — November 2020 (Read more!)

Greek Chapter Bronze Certifications:

• Phi Sigma Sigma — February 2021 (Read more!)

Event Certifications:

• SECS iCAP Teach-In — Certified April 2021
• SECS Trivia and Happy Hour — Certified April 2021
• SECS Plant Parenthood Fundraiser — Certified April 2021
• SECS Roundtable with La Colectiva — Certified April 2021
• SECS Earth Day Climate Strike — Certified April 2021
• SECS Stargazing — Certified April 2021
• SECS Teach-In — Certified April 2021
• SECS Ecosociology Lecture & Discussion — Certified April 2021
• SECS Virtual Sustainable Cooking — Certified April 2021
• SECS Volunteering with Red Bison — Certified April 2021
• SECS “Plogging” 5k Fun Run — Certified April 2021
• SECS Painting Climate Strike Signs — Certified April 2021
• Illinois Solar Decathlon ADAPTHAUS Inauguration Event — Certified April 2021
• Campus Recreation Food Assistance & Well-Being Program Digital Food Drive — Certified April 2021
• iSEE Congress 2021: The Future of Water — Certified March 2021
• Champaign Park District/UIUC Bunny Brunch — Certified March 2021
• iSEE TED Talk: Eco-Edition Series — Certified March 2021
• Environmental Leadership Program (ELP) Environmental Policy Workshop — Certified March 2021
• ELP Corporate Sustainability Workshop — Certified March 2021
• SSC Coffee Hours — Certified March 2021
• RST/Don Moyer Boys and Girls Club Young Olympians Program — Certified March 2021
• One Winter Night Anniversary Plaza Donation Drive — Certified March 2021
• One Winter Night — Certified February 2021
• Parkland College Trivia Night, 3/24/2021 — Certified February 2021
• Illinois Extension Everyday Environment Webinar Series — Certified February 2021
• American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) general meeting series — Certified February 2021
• Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) Sustainability Seminar Series — Certified December 2020
• ECEC21 (Emerging Contaminants in the Environment Conference 2021) — Certified December 2020

The City of Urbana is now partnering with Nexamp to bring solar savings opportunities to the community. This program is available to low and moderate income residents, including renters who do not own local property. The program provides solar power, through the existing electrical distribution network using solar panels that are being installed at the closed Urbana landfill.

Nexamp is holding two information sessions for Illinois residents to learn how they can enroll in a community solar program. These events will be held on:

• Thursday, December 10 at 7pm CT - visit nexa.mp/UrbanaDec10
• Tuesday, December 15 at 7pm CT - visit nexa.mp/UrbanaDec15

The flyer for these events can be found in the attached files below.

The Spring 2021 iSEE Quarterly Update (iQ) was released with the following message from Madhu Khanna, the Interim Director of iSEE:

Dear Colleagues,

Attached, please find the Spring 2021 “iQ” – the quarterly update from the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE).

It has remained a busy time here on our campus, as we bolstered our outstanding Congress and Critical Conversation events with the addition of two experts — activist Catherine Coleman Flowers and nuclear expert Denia Djokić — who are serving as Levenick iSEE virtual resident scholars.

Thanks to the support of experts Eban Goodstein, Tami Craig Schilling, and Harriet Hentges, our new Environmental Leadership Program workshops for undergraduates were a rousing success.

And we were so pleased to have a mix of virtual and in-person Earth Month events to engage students, faculty, and staff from across our campus!

Please take a quick look at those updates and more in this six-page “iQ.” For more regular news, please sign up for our E-newsletter at https://illinois.edu/fb/sec/5031776.

Best wishes for the summer,

Madhu

Halie Collins is the officially the next President of the Illinois Solar Decathlon (ISD) team! In her new position, she will be leading the efforts to form the next Build Team and Design Team. 

The outgoing president, Shashikiran Duraisamy, shared this note of thanks with Morgan White at F&S: "The Illinois Solar Decathlon team is extremely grateful for all the support that you have provided in the last two years. Your support was extremely valuable for our success and to support and contribute towards University’s sustainability initiatives. We are so much grateful for the Facilities and Services’ decision to allow ISD to store our construction materials in the Physical Plant Services Building and the constant support that the Receiving team (Dave Boehm & Jim McGuire) provided us to access the materials with ease. This was a lifesaver for our project. I look forward to the continued relationship between Illinois Solar Decathlon and Facilities & Services."

Irene Lira-Andsager, Jason Webb, and Daniel Xu spent the spring 2021 semester researching local environmental vulnerability factors and conducted vulnerability assessments to be included in the Environmental Justice Plan. The recording of their presentation of findings is found here (download to view). 

Robb Craddock, Senior Director - Labor & Employee Relations, provided a very informative and detailed response to the Telecommuting questionairre and Executive Summary of the IHR Telecommuting survey. Please see attached to learn more.