Archive for the 'Environmental' Category
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Special Community Meeting to focus on green issues on May 7
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Second of four quarterly community meetings to be held on May 7th at Richland College
WHAT: Special Community Meeting introduces City of Dallas and Richland College “Green Teams”
WHO:
Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert
Dallas City Councilmembers
City Manager Mary K. Suhm
Dallas City staff
Richland College President Dr. Stephen K. Mittelstet
WHEN: Wednesday, May 7, 2008 6:30 PM
WHERE: Richland College Campus – 12800 Abrams Road
Fannin Performance Hall (Marked “F” on attached map)
Public parking available in lot “W” (Marked “W” on attached map)
MORE: Dallas City Hall is taking City government directly to the people -holding special community meetings. The neighborhood City Council meetings will be held quarterly in south, north, east and west Dallas.
The public is invited to attend the second such meeting on May 7 in north Dallas on the campus of Richland College in Fannin Performance Hall.
City staff will present briefings to council that inform and educate the public about the City’s environmental efforts and the Green Dallas initiative (www.GreenDallas.net) which is aimed at environmental responsibility and encourages both public and private sector involvement. Air quality, energy efficiency, alternative fuel fleet, recycling, water conservation, green building standards; green space, trails, parks and the urban forest; and the Comprehensive Land Use Plan will all be discussed.
Some of Dallas’ accomplishments include being the number one municipal purchaser of renewable power in the nation, possessing the largest clean vehicle fleet of any city in Texas, and becoming the only pilot city chosen for the EPA’s Sustainable Skylines Initiative aimed at improving air quality.
Along with their “green” power point briefings, various departments will set up educational display booths showcasing their own green practices. Each department will also have members of their staff who work on green issues in attendance and will be introduced to Council.
In addition, Richland College President Dr. Stephen K. Mittelstet will brief the Council on the college’s own green initiative, GREENRichland, and their associated Web site www.richlandcollege.edu/greenrichland. Dr. Mittelstet will also talk about the construction of a $40 million, 114,000 square-foot facility that will house Richland’s science programs, Science Corner, bookstore, coffee bar and conference rooms.
Features will include special sustainable construction with the ability to harvest sunlight, underground cisterns to collect and irrigate rain water to other parts of the campus, as well as interactive devices in restrooms that users control to save water. Some building and furnishing materials will be made of recycled materials, such as the carpet and furniture, and local vendors will be utilized as often as possible to minimize exhaust fumes and excess fuel consumption from lengthy transports. A hands-on geology pit, green terrace roof, and monitoring stations to showcase energy efficiency will also be integrated, providing “field learning” for students.
College administrators, architects and contractors are seeking Platinum status under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. LEED is a nationally recognized standard for the design and construction of high-performing green buildings.
Published by Anitra Cotton on April 22nd, 2008 tagged Environmental, Events, News | Comment now »
This week’s RLC update
Community and Economic Development - GREENRichland hosted Richland students, faculty, and staff January 30-31 in participating with 1,000 colleges and universities in the nationwide observance of Focus the Nation, a landmark event for all American higher education, designed to engage students, educators, and community leaders in meaningful, action-oriented teaching/learning/community-building dialogue on global climate change. Richland activities included a student referendum, Choose Your Future, on priorities for action; faculty-led panel discussions with business and community leaders on the issues of economic, faith, social justice, and governmental/political implications in the global warming issue; and The Focus the Nation webcast, The 2% Solution.
Student Success - The Richland African American Latino Student Alliance and Student Programs and Resources office will host their annual leadership workshop, Get a Grip!, on Saturday, featuring award-winning speaker, educator, and author Joe Martin. Professor Martin will address Characteristics of Leadership; Growing as a Leader; Crisis Management; and Performance of a Leader. The Alliance Leadership workshop is conducted each year to provide an opportunity for leadership conversations between students, faculty and staff and to inspire leadership in Richland students.
Employee Success - Congratulations to two long-time, founding members of the Richland faculty on recent honors they have received. Richland Theatre Professor Chuck Sheffield was named Featured Designer of the Year by the Texas Educational Theatre Association at its annual conference in Dallas this past weekend. Chuck was also honored recently by the Southwest Theatre and Film Association with its Distinguished Service Award. Physical Education Professor Bill Neal was honored January 26 with the 1st Annual Bill Neal Classic Wrestling Tournament held at Kimball High School. More than 80 boys and 60 girls competed in the inaugural event at which Bill conducted a wrestling clinic for eight local high schools. Richland’s wrestling program spanned 1972 to 1984, during which time, Richland won seven state championships.
Institutional Effectiveness - Richland’s Institutional Effectiveness leadership team recently received the results of the biennial Campus Quality Survey administered to all employees in fall 2007. Survey respondents rated 59 items on How It Is Now and How It Should Be, and the team is examining differences between the two ratings for gaps in performance and opportunities to improve. The results reveal that 82.07% of all employees indicated satisfaction with employment at Richland, a slight improvement over the 2005 rating of 81.75%. Additional results indicate that 90% of all survey items had performance gaps below 1.00, indicating good agreement between How It Should Be and How It Is Now. Six survey items had performance gaps of 1.00 or greater, indicating a lack of agreement. The team is triangulating these results with the Modern Think Survey results and the spring 2008 ThunderValues Survey for greater insight into common themes of success and opportunity.
Richland Collegiate High School (RCHS) - Representatives from Brookhaven, Cedar Valley, Eastfield, Mountain View, North Lake, Richland, District Office, University of North Texas, Early College High School at Mountain View College, RCHS, and Cedar Hill ISD met at the Bill J. Priest Institute Wednesday to discuss common issues related to Early College High Schools and RCHS. Among the issues the group addressed were: providing “highly qualified teachers;” documenting college courses on high school transcripts; “seat time” rules to earn funding from the Texas Education Agency (TEA); the disruption of students schedules for TAKS testing; the cost of providing college textbooks for students; handling registration blocks imposed by the colleges’ business offices; meeting TEA rules regarding nutrition and college food services and vending machines; smoking on campus regulations; and graduation ceremonies for graduates of both the high schools and the colleges. The productive meeting will lead to further cooperative discussions of these issues to develop a united approach to the TEA.
Published by Anitra Cotton on February 4th, 2008 tagged Award/Honors, Environmental, News, Richland Collegiate High School | Comment now »
Richland College seeking top tier among energy-efficient buildings in the U.S.
Richland College held a special ground-breaking ceremony last week for its new science building. The event marked the construction of a $40 million, 114,000-square-foot facility that will house Richland’s science programs, Science Corner, bookstore, coffee bar, and conference rooms.
Features will include special sustainable construction to include the ability to harvest sunlight, underground cisterns to collect and irrigate rain water to other parts of the campus, as well as interactive devices in restrooms that users control to save water. Some building and furnishing materials will be made of recycled materials, such as the carpet and furniture, and local vendors will be utilized as often as possible to minimize exhaust fumes and excess fuel consumption from lengthy transports. A hands-on geology pit, green terrace roof, and monitoring stations to showcase energy efficiency will also be integrated, providing “field learning” for students.
The décor will even be eco-friendly, including building integrated science-learning art. World-renowned science artist Larry Kirkland, with the help of Richland science and art faculty and students, is designing science-learning art to illustrate scientific principles and be aesthetically inspiring.
College administrators, architects, and contractors are seeking platinum status under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. LEED is a nationally recognized standard for the design and construction of high-performing green buildings. Currently, there are less than 20 LEED Platinum-certified buildings in the U.S.
“The additional beauty in designing this building to LEED Platinum-certified standards is the return on investment Richland College will experience in the operation of this facility–an operational savings we will experience from the first year of operation and throughout its life cycle,” said Mittelstet at the Dec. 6 ceremony.
With reduced operational costs through energy-efficient savings, this building will end up costing less than buildings built through traditional construction methods, saving approximately $200,000 in annual operating costs.
The design and construction of this building is a major step in Richland’s involvement in the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s President’s Climate Commitment. This commitment, along with several other initiatives, is part of an ongoing effort to achieve climate neutrality on the Richland campus.
For more information, contact Anitra Cotton at 972-238-6022.