Moraine Valley Community College

Green Partnerships and Agreements

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Current Partnerships and Memberships

The Center for Sustainability, the Green Team and several dedicated staff and faculty at Moraine are currently involved in and support the following organizations to further enhance Moraine’s commitments to sustainability.

  • Moraine Valley President Dr. Sylvia Jenkins signed the Carbon Commitment, pledging to eliminate Moraine Valley’s net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2042, the college’s 75th anniversary, as well as to promote the research and educational efforts of higher education to accelerate society’s progress toward climate neutrality and sustainability. The Carbon Commitment defines climate neutrality as having no net GHG emissions, to be achieved by eliminating net GHG emissions, or by minimizing GHG emissions as much as possible, and using carbon offsets or other measures to mitigate the remaining emissions. Signatories also commit to taking “actions to make climate neutrality and sustainability a part of the curriculum and other educational experience for all students,” and “actions to expand research or other efforts necessary to achieve climate neutrality. ”The signatories of the Carbon Commitment, and higher education as a whole, are leading society by driving the thought and defining the cutting edge of what is necessary and possible in mitigating climate change and fostering sustainability. Through Dr. Jenkins’ leadership, Moraine Valley now joins the other signatories in the necessary cooperative and united action to make positive change for today and tomorrow.
  • Illinois Green Economy
  • IGEN is an initiative that unites the state’s 48 community colleges in a joint effort to stimulate the green economy through a strategic provision of green workforce training, market transformation and community outreach. Dr. Jenkins is on the President’s Steering Committee Stephenie Presseller is a Network Affiliate.
  • South Metropolitan Higher Education Consortium (SMHEC) – Sustainability Taskforce
  • Task force staff representative (Stephenie Presseller, sustainability manager)
  • American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) Sustainability Education and Economic Development (SEED) Center member
  • The SEED Center is a leadership initiative, resource center, and online sharing environment for community colleges to ramp up programs for America’s workforce and build the green economy
  • GreenForce Initiative
  • A partnership with National Wildlife Federation, Jobs for the Future and colleges around the nation in an effort to strengthen the capacity of community colleges to develop, enhance or refine green career pathway programs in six regions of the U.S.
  • Task force staff representative (Stephenie Presseller, sustainability manager)
  • US Green Building Council
  • The U.S. Green Building Council is a 501(c)(3) non-profit community of leaders working to make green buildings available to everyone within a generation. Moraine Valley holds a national membership Some Moraine Valley Staff and faculty are Illinois Chapter members and Stephenie Presseller is the co-chair of the education programs committee for the South Suburban Branch of the Illinois Chapter.

Past Partnerships and Memberships

Green Governments Coordinating Council, Green Universities and Colleges Subcommittee

  • GGCC GUCS was the sponsor of the Illinois Campus Sustainability Compact from 2011 to 2015, of which Moraine Valley achieved Gold in 2012. Symposium task force chair (Stephenie Presseller, sustainability manager)

Compacts, Commitments, Awards and Policies

Moraine Valley has the following formal commitments to sustainability, locally, regionally and nationally.

  • Illinois Campus Sustainability Compact
  • AASHE STARS — Report
  • AASHE STARS — Press release
  • Board of Trustees, Statement of Sustainability Commitment
  • Computer Purchasing and Recycling Policy
  • Illinois Sustainable University Compact Pledge
  • Assessment 7 Dimensions