Campus Partners

Planning, Design and Construction is committed to green building and sustainable design solutions. The university, a US Green Building Council member since 2004, is committed to LEED Silver certification on all new construction and integrates sustainable building principles into campus standards. These teams have an established record of delivering projects that meet and often exceed the university's goal of achieving a minimum rating of USGBC LEED Silver on all new construction. As part of the sustainability program at UT Austin, Planning and Campus Construction have delivered the first SITES v2 Gold certified project at UT Austin: the 16.2 acre Dell Medical School Landscape. The certification was awarded by the Sustainable Sites Initiative, which is a national comprehensive rating system designed to distinguish sustainable landscapes. To date, Planning and Campus Construction have delivered 16 LEED-certified buildings to UT Austin, and several other LEED projects are in design or construction. 

Document Solutions is dedicated to using eco-friendly products and reducing our environmental impact through various green services, products, and tips. Clients can choose soy-based inks and a variety of Forest Stewardship Council-certified papers for their print jobs, and Document Solutions also supports ink and toner recycling throughout campus.

Environmental Health and Safety provides health and safety oversight, and prevents and eliminates environmental, chemical, biological and radiological hazards on campus. Their mission is to promote safe and compliant facilities and ensure environmental quality for the university community. They support recycling of potentially hazardous materials such as rechargeable batteries and light bulbs. EH&S also leads the campus in two Waller Creek Cleanups per year.

Important People:

• Carin Peterson, Animal Make Safe Program, is responsible for attending to live animal occurrences on campus (planned or unplanned) including exhibitions and special guests. The staff also respond to trapped or injured animals, and ensure that the animal survives and is released in a more appropriate location, or reaches a rehabilitation center if at all possible. EHS consults with Landscaping on removal of bees from campus structures, and also helps monitor and control the feral cat population around campus.
• Irezama (Nena) Anderson, Assistant Director, Environmental Programs is the primary point of contact for EHS’s sustainability programs, including hazardous waste diversion and disposal and wastewater testing and controls.

Facilities Services is responsible for about 19 million gross square feet of building space at the university, and serves the 427-acre main campus, the 476-acre J.J. Pickle Research Campus, the 445-acre Brackenridge Tract, the 96-acre Montopolis Research Center, and several other specialized sites.

Their staff actively reduces consumption, supports Zero Waste, protects the environment, and restores resources in day-to-day operations and supports other campus community sustainability efforts. All of them play important roles in diverting our waste stream and avoiding greenhouse gas emissions resulting from landfill contributions or fuel consumption.

Important People:

• Jim Carse, Manager of Landscape Services. Jim has spent 20 years in the tree care and landscape profession. He has been an assistant manager with Landscape Services at UT Austin since 2011. In this role he has overseen the forestry team and the Tree Campus USA program as well as landscape maintenance at the J.J. Pickle Research Campus and West Pickle Campus. Prior to joining UT, he served as an urban forester for the Texas A&M Forest Service, and as an arborist with the City of Round Rock. Jim is a forestry graduate of Colorado State University, and an International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) certified arborist and municipal specialist. He is also a Texas Licensed Irrigator. He is a past president of the ISA Texas Chapter and a member of the Professional Grounds Management Society (PGMS).
• Jennifer Hrobar, Supervisor of Urban Forestry. Jennifer Hrobar has ten years of experience in urban forestry. She is an International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Certified Arborist Municipal Specialist and is ISA Tree Risk Assessment qualified. She earned her bachelor's degree in urban forestry from Texas A&M University in 2004. Prior to joining the university she was a plant health care and forestry events crew leader for the South Suburban Parks & Recreation department in Centennial, Colorado for seven years.
• Mark Engleman, Manager, Resource Recovery, which includes Surplus Property and Zero Waste. In his role, Mark supports sustainable efforts like ensuring that trash and recycling services are provided to the university and managing the final disposition of all university property at Surplus Property.
• Lindsey Hutchison, Senior Zero Waste Coordinator, Resource Recovery.

The HealthPoint Wellness Program is part of Human Resources. The overall goal of the HealthPoint Wellness Program is to improve the health and well-being of faculty and staff. They accomplish their mission through improving policies and the environment to make it easier to be healthy on campus. They also provide educational opportunities and wellness programs.

Parking and Transportation Services manages alternative transportation for the campus including: bicycle programs, a car-sharing initiative with ZipCar and UT-Austin’s relationship with Capital Metro to provide campus shuttles. They house UT’s Automotive Repair Shop and Fleet Management for the entire campus. Fleet Management tracks fuel consumption and assists with the transition to cleaner, alternative fuels for the more than 600 vehicles owned by the university.

Important People:

• Johnny Lee, Micromobility Coordinator, coordinates the university’s bicycle program and outreach. He works closely with University departments and the community as a whole to create a safer and friendly biking campus. From maintaining the bicycle registration program, The Kickstand, and developing plans for new and existing bicycle infrastructure, he strives to create a safer and knowledgeable cycling community while building a more viable sustainable mode of transportation for future generations to utilize.
• Blanca Juarez, Alternative Transportation Manager, currently manages all Green on the Go transportation options for The University of Texas at Austin. These programs include the collegiate shuttle bus system, mainline transit program, E-bus, Texas Express, Longhorns Express, Bike UT, carpools, vanpools, pedestrian and Zipcar programs.

Utilities and Energy Management (UEM) is within the Financial and Administrative Services vice-presidential portfolio. UEM is responsible for providing reliable and cost-effective electricity, chilled water, steam, deionized water, compressed air, emergency power, and elevator services. By increasing efficiencies and system monitoring techniques, UEM has handled campus growth since 1996 in a carbon-neutral manner: there has been virtually no increase in the amount of natural gas purchased to power the campus. UEM is also supporting (where viable and necessary) the addition of solar power and heat to campus buildings, such as the Manor Parking Garage and the Norman Hackerman Building.

The Environmental Science Institute was founded as a multi-disciplinary institute for basic scientific research in environmental studies. The Institute serves as a focal point on campus for a wide scope of interdisciplinary research and teaching involving the complex interactions of the biosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere in the Earth system, as well as the human dimensions of these interactions. ESI coordinates cross-departmental environmental science instruction; facilitates education and outreach in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields; and disseminates advances in the area of environmental science that are important locally and globally.

Important People:

• Jay Banner, Director, Environmental Science Institute.
• Chase Cobb, Senior Academic Program Coordinator.
• Didey Montoya, Senior Outreach Program Coordinator.

The Undergraduate College oversees the components of a college education that are shared by all undergraduates at the university. The mission of the school comprises preparing students for lives of accomplishment through a dynamic common curriculum and a strategic community of programs and initiatives designed to help them make the most of their academic experiences.

Important People:

• Jeanette Herman, Assistant Dean for Academic Initiatives and Director, Bridging Disciplines Program.

The Global Sustainability Leadership Institute is managed by the McCombs School of Business and is built in partnership with the Moody College of Communication. Their work focuses on corporate sustainability, sustainable finance, impact innovation and infrastructure, and sustainability communications. They also offer a minor open to all undergraduate students at UT Austin.

The Department of Geography and the Environment offer a Sustainability Studies B.A., which is designed to provide a rigorous and focused study of sustainability methods and content and simultaneously allow a student to complete all degree requirements within four years. The program is housed within the Department of Geography and the Environment, but is comprised of classes from across the university.

Recreational Sports has served the campus community since 1916, making it one of the oldest and largest collegiate recreational programs in the country. A total of 90 percent of the student population, or more than 45,000 young men and women, participate in RecSports programs and activities, accruing more than 3.21 million hours of participation annually. The Division is composed of Intramural Sports, Fitness/Wellness, Outdoor Recreation, Sport Clubs, the Instructional Program and Informal Recreation. Facilities managed by RecSports include over 500,000 square feet of indoor and 40 acres of outdoor space.

University Housing and Dining at The University of Texas at Austin seeks to foster a living and learning experience of environmental stewardship and sustainability awareness. Flagship programs include the Farm Stand on-campus gardens and farmer's market, Eco-to-Go reusable takeout containers, and UHD's composting program.

Important People:

• Cecilia Raatz, Sustainability Manager

The University Unions are committed to student input at all levels. Based on recent student interest in consumption and waste stream in the Unions’ many eateries, the Unions plan to implement a comprehensive recycling and composting plan in 2014 and 2015. The Student Activity Center is one of the most prominent LEED-certified buildings on campus, and the staff work actively to reduce energy use and support the building’s green features such as the green roof. In the Student Services Building, University Health Services launched a pilot study in 2013 to reduce clinical waste, which has been successful and plans to continue.

Athletics has rapidly accelerated its sustainability initiatives from 2014 to present, implementing large-scale recycling and composting on football game days and expanding recycling options at the baseball and softball stadiums. Athletics was one of the first major departments on campus to host a zero waste event on campus (softball series in 2014) and to begin internal monitoring of its energy use, and adjust automated settings to conserve energy use. The stadium and other facilities have completed major retrofits of lighting arrays, and are smart-sizing print runs of programs, brochures, and internal documents. In 2017, UT hosted the first zero waste baseball season in NCAA Division 1 history. 

UT Staff Council partners with the Office of Sustainability to keep staff informed about resources and activities from all the partners on this page and takes on projects of its own to support staff interest in sustainability and the environment.