Former president Geoff Gamble created the Campus Sustainability Advisory Council (CSAC) to guide the university in meeting and exceeding the requirements of the University Presidents Climate Commitment while positioning Montana State University as a true leader in energy and resource management, research, education and outreach. The committee is comprised of faculty, students, administration, and community members and has met regularly for the past year.
CSAC's charge is to:
- Provide a university framework to coordinate & advise sustainability
efforts on a campus-wide basis.
- Advise the President regarding national, regional, institutional and
community-based sustainability efforts.
- Explore and propose methods to fund campus sustainability initiatives and
improvements. Review, analyze and determine funding support for sustainability
proposals, including performance measures, progress reporting, etc.
- Sponsor and guide the development of policies to increase and promote
sustainability. As noted in the MSU Vision Statement - sponsor “a comprehensive
Campus Sustainability/Energy Policy that includes guidelines for building energy
conservation, new construction criteria, water conservation, transportation,
purchasing, and recycling, with the goal of minimizing our impact on the
environment…and…develop and implement an educational outreach
program…and…oversee a baseline inventory of campus energy consumption,
benchmarked against national and international standards, and establish
meaningful timelines and goals to optimize consumption.
- Guide the development of a comprehensive plan (including proposed funding
mechanisms and institutional structure to guide implementation) to address the
Governor’s 20x10 Initiative, the Presidents Climate Commitment, and other
initiatives as appropriate.
- Guide the development of a set of sustainability measures/indicators for the
campus.
- Guide the development of a communication strategy to promote, publicize and
raise awareness of MSU’s sustainability efforts, benefits and successes among
campus, community and statewide constituents.
- Solicit and support the involvement of students and student organizations
relative to sustainability efforts undertaken by the Committee.
- Advocate strategic planning for continued sustainability to MSU governance
groups.
- Guide coordination with university system and state government sustainability efforts.
A complete list of members and addtional information about the council can be found on the Office of Planning and Analysis website.
