Minutes of the Meeting of the Three Rivers University Consortium for
the Environment (3RUCE), February 1, 2001, on the Pittsburgh Voyager

In attendance:

CMU -Cliff Davidson, Barb Kviz
Chatham - Barb Biglan, Larry Viehland, Zhihong Zhang
Duquesne - Dan Donnelly, Stan Kabala
University of Pittsburgh - George Klinzing

1. News from each member

Chatham: Larry Viehland reported that a recycling program on campus has just begun. He also mentioned that there will be tours of the new Highland Park Reservoir. Zhihong Zhang taught an interim course January 3-26 entitled Chatham's Ecological Footprint, where 12 students enrolled. Barbara Biglan reported that there are new state regulations for education of elementary school teachers, requiring each student to take at least one environmental course.

Duquesne: Dan Donnelly and colleagues are developing undergraduate environmental programs, one in environmental chemistry and one in  environmental science. Dan announced the Duquesne Undergraduate  Research Program where several undergraduates will be employed to do research funded by NSF, including some possible environmental projects.
Stan Kabala teaches an environmental course in the Pitt Honors College  -- students read Ecological Footprint.

University of Pittsburgh: George Klinzing reported on a new global climate series, focusing on local and regional issues related to  climate change. He also discussed a 10-week summer Honors College  undergraduate research program, where one thrust might be Greening of
the College Campus. In addition, George mentioned that the Environment  and Energy Center has seed funding for faculty research projects.  Finally, there will be a program entitled "Science 2001" on September 12-14, campus-wide, where one topic area is the environment.

CMU: Barb Kviz is co-chair of the PCIEP Committee on Greening of the College Campus. She discussed tentative plans of the committee as well as recent work of the CMU Green Practices Committee. Note that Dan  Donnelly is chair of the PCIEP (Pennsylvania Consortium for Interdisciplinary Environmental Policy). Cliff Davidson announced the
events in the Environmental Institute's Distinguished Lecture Series  for 2001. He also discussed a letter from Maurice Sampson, President  of Pennfuture, regarding plans for colleges across Pennsylvania to host  environmental workshops for high school students in their vicinity. He announced an April 1 lecture on Pittsburgh's Parks, and the Bioblitz  event sponsored by the City of Pittsburgh on the weekend on June 15-16.  Finally, he discussed the construction of the EPA Air Quality Monitoring Supersite in Schenley Park beginning in March.

2. Web Site

Cliff announced that Curt Yeske of CMU will no longer be able to work on the 3RUCE Web Site due to numerous commitments. Larry Viehland volunteered to manage the web site henceforth.

3. Greening of Pittsburgh College Campuses

Barb Kviz will attend a meeting on March 14 of her committee, and will contact Facilities Management employees of the various colleges after the meeting to discuss possible joint efforts.

4. Next Meeting

The next meeting of the 3RUCE will be on Thursday September 20, 12:00 - 1:30 at the University of Pittsburgh. George Klinzing will  speak with Bud Rawlins about making arrangements for this meeting.

We greatly appreciate Beth O'Toole's kind arrangements for us to use  the Pittsburgh Voyager for this meeting.