At Stanford, President Hennessy focuses campus attention on sustainability progress

By Kate Chesley

President John Hennessy delivering his annual address to the Academic Council on Thursday

Faculty, staff and students will likely begin to see solar panels appearing on about a dozen building roofs throughout campus as the university continues its efforts to embrace sustainability in campus operations.

Those installations are yet another step reflecting the emphasis Stanford has placed over the past several decades on enhancing both academic and operational programs in sustainability from developing new centers for research and teaching to designing more efficient campus energy and water systems.

As a result of that progress, President John Hennessy focused campus attention on wide-ranging issues of sustainability through his annual address to the Academic Council on Thursday.

While university researchers are looking to address such worldwide sustainability challenges as recovering clean water from wastewater, Stanford staff has been developing guidelines that result, for instance, in more efficient and sustainable buildings. Hennessy said students have been contributing as well, pursuing sustainability through such projects as building the Start.Home prototype for the Solar Decathlon competition. In addition, the university is communicating its values through the recent establishment of the Bright Award to recognize achievement in global conservation.

Although the university's overall initiatives are important, Hennessy reminded those in the audience, "For this university to operate in the most sustainable way possible depends on the action of all of us as individuals. We want to be a model."

Hennessy invited Pamela Matson, dean of the School of Earth Sciences, to join him in a discussion of academic progress in sustainability programs. Also addressing campus operational sustainability were Shirley Everett, senior associate vice provost of Residential and Dining Enterprises; Joseph Stagner, executive director of sustainability and energy management; and Fahmida Ahmed, associate director of sustainability and energy management.

Matson defined sustainability as "meeting the needs for people today and the future for food, water, energy, education, health care and so on in ways that protect and sustain the life support systems of the planet."

She added, "It's about meeting our needs, as well as those of our children and grandchildren. It's about intergenerational well-being."

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At Stanford, President Hennessy focuses campus attention on sustainability progress