Sustainability Steering Committee

The Sustainability Steering Committee (SSC) conducted its inaugural meeting on October 3, 2008. Dr. Dennis Grady, Dean of the Graduate School, serves as the Chair of the SSC with Julio Stephens, university sustainability coordinator, assisting. During that meeting, the SSC developed a working group purpose.

The purpose of the subcommittee structure is to have interested individuals from the RU community focus on specific areas of sustainability.  The working groups will:

  1. identify sustainability issues within their respective domains;
  2. conduct research on the current condition at RU pertaining to those issues;
  3. review the literature on "best practices" addressing those issues;
  4. recommend to the Steering Committee policies, procedures, courses of action, or other measures to address those issues.

Working Groups

  • New Construction and Renovations — examine issues related to levels of LEED certification and other "green" building practices or renovations. Chair — Roy Saville, rsaville@radford.edu
  • Curriculum — examine how sustainable education programs might be developed and how environmental literacy could be interwoven across the curriculum. Chair — Mark Wagstaff, mwagstaff@radford.edu
  • Measurement — develop data and metrics to measure and report on GHG emissions and other sustainability indicators. Chair — Debra Templeton, drtemplet@radford.edu
  • Operations — look at ways to increase energy efficiency programs, water conservation, recycling, reduce transportation, and manage grounds more sustainably across campus and recommend campus-wide policies for these areas. Chair - Jorge Coartney, jcoartne@radford.edu
  • Purchasing — exploring ways to increase local food in food contract, green product purchasing, and holding vendors to higher levels of sustainability. Chair-Pamela Simpkins, ppsimpkin@radford.edu
  • Food Services — exploring ways to reduce waste and water usage under our contract with Chartwells. Chair — Vacant.
  • Student Involvement—looking at best practices and programs for involving students as drivers of campus sustainability. Chair Joe Rudolph, jhrudolph@radford.edu
  • Investments — examining how the University invests its portfolio in socially responsible companies and funds. Chair - Steven Beach, slbeach@radford.edu
  • Public Awareness — publicizing the work on-going regarding sustainability activities on campus. Chair, Don Bowman, dbowman@radford.edu