University of Texas at Arlington
ER-T2-6: Sustainability Events

1) On October 28th, 2009 UT Arlington hosted the North Central Texas Campus Climate Summit. The event was co-sponsored by the University of Texas at Arlington, the National Wildlife Federation’s Campus Ecology Program and the Texas Regional Alliance for Campus Sustainability. The student groups involved with bringing this event to campus were: Air & Waste Management Association at UTA Environmental Society at UTA International Business Society at UTA Student Planning Association at UTA UTA Volunteers The first-ever North Central Texas Campus Climate Summit brought together over 50 participants from 15 different universities and colleges in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The summit provided opportunities for faculty, students, staff and administrators from the region to get together to share ideas, best practices and resources to accelerate climate change and sustainability solutions. The main themes explored were 1) Transforming the Curriculum to Address Eco-literacy 2) Green Workforce Development and 3) Comprehensive Greening of Campus Operations. 2) The institution also hosts The Annual Celebration of Excellence by Students (ACES) symposium. ACES is a university-wide, daylong event that occurs in late March. ACES showcases the best of our students' research and creativity. Undergraduate and graduate students work with faculty mentors in their disciplines to write and submit abstracts for the competition. The approved abstracts are then turned into oral presentations or posters to be presented at the symposium. In addition to the standard ACES awards, presentations and posters that students submit as being relevant to sustainability are also eligible to win additional sustainability awards through the University's Sustainability Committee. 3) UTA also hosts the annual Earth Day Celebration event called "Celebrating People and Planet". Free herb plants are given away, there is a $1 compostable lunch with baked potato and fruits. A variety of vendors show case their green products and services during this event. 4) One Book Program- Shares an intellectual experience with other freshmen as they read and discuss a chosen book in first-semester English class. Faculty, departments, and student groups sponsor events that complement the program. The result is an exchange of ideas and insights that crosses academic disciplines and embraces different perspectives. A theme taken from the book serves as an anchor for a broad array of events that are open to the entire community. In 2009-10 Sustainability was chosen as the topic for this book discussion and the book " Deep Economy" was selected. Deep Economy offers a new vision for the economy that seeks to revitalize communities and produce real human satisfaction while promoting sustainability. McKibbin's premise is one that rejects the view of a world economy based on growth and unquenchable accumulation and instead proposes pursuing prosperity on a more local and regional level.