SU Named a 'Great Affordable Eco-Friendly College'

SALISBURY, MD---Best Choice Schools, a website dedicated to providing college information for students, recently lauded Salisbury University’s “green” efforts … in more ways than one.

The site has named SU among the nation’s “50 Great Affordable Eco-Friendly Colleges.”

“Through SU’s sustainability initiatives, we are all about being green,” said Wayne Shelton, campus sustainability and environmental safety director. “At the same time, as this and other rankings have demonstrated, Salisbury also helps students — and their parents — save some ‘green’ by keeping tuition and fees reasonable.”

Best Choice Schools praised SU’s recycling program, which has recycled some 6 million pounds of material since its inception more than two decades ago. In recent years, a food waste recycling partnership with Delaware-based Blue Hen Organics has allowed SU to divert more than 50 percent of its annual waste from landfills.

The site also noted that SU’s resident halls are equipped with Energy Star washers and dryers, and nearly every building on campus before 2008 has received energy-saving retrofits through a partnership with Pepco Energy Services, Inc., expected to save the campus more than $5 million in energy costs through 2021.

In addition, Best Choice Schools lauded SU’s students for being environmentally minded, as well, with many majoring in environmental studies or joining organizations and initiatives including the Environmental Students Association, Smart Growth Club, Green Floor Living Learning Community and Garden Club, among others.

Many of SU’s sustainable initiatives are part of the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment to reduce greenhouse gasses to a net of zero by 2050, signed by SU President Janet Dudley-Eshbach in 2007. These include the installation on campus of what are believed to have been the Eastern Shore’s first public electric vehicle charging stations in 2011.

In addition, SU is home to nine U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) buildings, including the Eastern Shore’s first LEED-certified new construction project, the Teacher Education and Technology Center, which opened in 2008.

SU is one of four Maryland campuses on Best Choice Schools’ list, including Towson, Frostburg State and Morgan State universities. Other institutions include James Madison, Florida State and Texas A&M universities.

For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU website at www.salisbury.edu.