UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN River Falls
UWRF Sustainability
Distinctions
The University of Wisconsin-River Falls is proud of our efforts to reduce carbon emissions, increase recycling, reduce overall waste generated, promote responsible water usage, and the many more efforts it takes to create a sustainable world. We are thankful for our campus community in helping us receive the below accolades.
Awards
The Sierra Club held their 15th annual "Cool Schools" ranking of North America's greenest colleges and universities in 2021. That year River Falls placed 127th out of 328 with a score of 64.76. This score is determined based on the STARS rating, see below. The full list of colleges and universities along with their ratings can be found at https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/cool-schools-2021/cool-schools-2021-full-ranking.
The Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest most influential grassroots environmental organization. The Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.
This is an award given to schools who dedicate to create and enhance the pollinator habitat on college campus's through various means. For more information go to: https://www.uwrf.edu/Sustainability/Bee-Club-Bee-Campus-USA.cfm
The Bee Club
The Bee Club is the oncampus club dedicated to enhancing polinator habitat. The club intends to build a bee hotel on the premises spring semester 2022. They also encourage planting natives on-campus and coming up with workable non-pesticide solutions. For more information see Bee Club - University of Wisconsin - River Falls (uwrf.edu)
UW-River Falls was featured in The Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges 2022 Edition, solidifying it as one of the nation’s most environmentally responsible colleges according to The Princeton Review®. The guide, of 420 schools, was released on October 26: find it at www.princetonreview.com/green-guide.
420 schools were selected based on an annual adminstrators survey of 835 Colleges. "We strongly recommend UW-River Falls to students who care about the environment and want to study and live at a green college," said Rob Franek, The Princeton Review's editor-in-chief. "UW-River Falls offers excellent academics."
Franek noted that The Princeton Review has seen an increasing level of interest among students in attending colleges with green practices, programs and offerings. The Princeton Review's 2021 College Hopes & Worries Survey found 78% of respondants said that a college's commitment to the environment would affect their school choice, a 12% increase from 2021.
In recognition of its sustainability achievements, UW-River Falls has been awarded a STARS Silver Rating from AASHE. The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS), measures and encourages sustainability in all aspects of higher education.
AASHE’s STARS program is the most widely recognized framework for comprehensive information related to a college or university’s sustainability performance. Participants report achievements in five overall areas: academic, engagement, operations, planning and administration, and innovation and leadership.
The UWRF STARS report is publicly available on the STARS website at https://reports.aashe.org/institutions/university-of-wisconsin-river-falls-wi/report/2021-06-30/. An executive summary can be found at https://www.uwrf.edu/Sustainability/upload/STARS-Silver-Executive-Summary-2021-2.pdf.
