Campus Green Builder

With the leadership provided by the president’s office, the Facilities Management and Services office executes and manages various sustainability initiatives at the Spelman College. The institution is in the process of evaluating a strategic plan, which proposes a campus-wide sustainability office to focus on the improvement of the physical campus, technology infrastructure and residential programs. This office is also envisioned to facilitate student engagement by promoting student-faculty interactions, and to generate a dynamic learning experience and sustainable living environment. A presentation outlining the goal of this plan can be found here. Spelman has also created, Sustainable Spelman, a portal that describes all of the sustainability initiatives conducted at the institution.

Green Initiatives on Campus

Spelman College is implementing many initiatives to promote sustainability on its campus and proving to be a green building champion by implementing sustainable building practice in its brick and mortar projects. Following is an overview of Spelman’s sustainability efforts.

• Single-stream recycling and recycling of shredded secure documents are practiced throughout the campus.
• Tray-less dining is implemented at all the dining halls across the campus, saving the institution over one thousand gallons of water per week.
• Recycling of HVAC condensate is utilized to irrigate the landscape of the campus
• Student-lead sustainability groups and other Institution involvement 
  • The Environmental Taskforce and Sustainable Spelman are the two campus groups with goals to promote day-to-day sustainability efforts on and off-campus. Their activities range from coordinating the recycling program, raising sustainability awareness, and organizing debates and conferences. The African American Earth Day Summit and Green Jobs Now initiative are supported by these groups’ actions. In addition, Spelman College co-hosted the 2008 Collegiate Environmental Sustainability Conference with the Environmental Protection Agency following its commitment to green building and sustainability. http://www.spelman.edu/administration/business/fms/greenbuilding.shtml
  • More recently, Spelman embarked on a mission to address and investigate the state of its facility buildings and overall infrastructure of the campus, as well as the energy usage associated with the operations of its facilities.
• Energy Management
  The Energy Management Policy, officially launched in March 2009, is part of Spelman’s proposed Strategic Plan for improving campus operations’ efficiency. The policy provides guidelines for students and staff to advance energy efficiency and conservation practices and also outlines the institution’s other conservations efforts. This policy includes tips that could help educate the occupants of the campus buildings regarding the measures that could reduce the energy usage and assist the institution in pursuing its sustainability efforts. This awareness component of the policy encapsulates sustainable practices for using lighting, temperature control, and laboratory refrigeration among other systems that could contribute towards better energy efficiency while reducing institutional emissions. See the document titled “Spelman College Energy Management Policy” for a draft of this policy letter.
  The instituted Energy Management Policy also addresses air conditioning, energy efficient appliances and equipment usage throughout the campus. The institution has recently begun a new initiative that involves the use of meters at various campus buildings to measure utilities and energy efficiency as well as resource usage. This will help the institution analyze and quantify the improvements required to increase the efficiencies of these systems.
• Campus Assessment
  • Spelman College was awarded a grant through the Grants to Green Program, an initiative of Southface Energy Institute, The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta and Enterprise Community Partners. Southface has undertaken assessment of the carbon footprint of the campus as a whole and that of the Science Center complex for its benchmark evaluation. The Science Center is the largest single complex combining three buildings, which are estimated to be the largest energy users on campus. The second phase of the grant program may provide funding to the institution to implement improvement plans based on the results of the initial investigations. Click here to read the carboon footprint analysis and here to read the conclusions reached based on those findings.
  • A “measurement verification” program is also being implemented for “The Suites” dormitory to evaluate the building’s performance post-construction.

Sustainability Commitment

Currently Spelman College does not have a specific sustainability policy in place, however, the aforementioned campus sustainability initiatives are continually implemented and evaluated by the Facilities Management and Services office. These initiatives are the result of collaborative efforts and ongoing brainstorming sessions of the administration and the management authorities of the institution. These initiatives chart the path that guide the institution to a more sustainable and energy efficient future. Facilities Management and Services is the primary office addressing campus-wide infrastructure-related issues and integrating sustainable practice wherever possible. President Beverley Tatum has been a strong advocate for change and innovation at Spelman. Her vision for the future of the institution and her understanding of the environmental challenges facing the society and the planet today have proven catalysts in promoting sustainability on the campus.

Thus, the sustainability efforts at the Spelman College could be attributed to the excellent leadership of the president’s office and the expertise of the senior management. Spelman College is a stellar example of how the prudence of the president in tandem with the determination of the staff-members could advance an institution towards its ultimate mission of climate neutrality. 

Though not a signatory of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), the institution is on its way to completing a campus wide carbon inventory with the help of the Grants-to-Green program. This undertaking endorses Spelman’s commitment of developing an environmentally sustainable institution while transforming the ways in which buildings are built, managed and used on the campus.

As part of the Strengthening the Core Strategic Plan for 2015, Spelman staff and administrators have the following GOALS:

• Global Perspective, by working to achieve a "greener" Spelman
• Operational excellence, which will create an optimal experience for all campus visitors
• Accountability evident in greater cross-institutional cooperation, improved efficiency, and consistently excellent service
• Leadership opportunities, including professional development and training, for continued growth and development
• Service and community engagement beyond our gates

To enhance the experience of community for all constituents, Spelman staff and administrators will lead the college's efforts to create a more environmentally sustainable campus. Spelman's goal is to establish itself as a model academic institution in this regard, and it intends its leadership to affect lives and effect positive social change.