In
attendance:
CMU
– Terry Collins, Cliff Davidson, Dave Dzombak, Mike Griffin, Barb Kviz, Spyros
Pandis, Joel Tarr, Curt Yeske
Chatham
– Barb Biglan, Ellen Dorsey, Larry Viehland, Zhihong Zhang
Duquesne
– Dan Donnelly, John Stolz
University
of Pittsburgh – George Klinzing, Steve Tonsor
Sustainable
Pittsburgh – Evan Verbanic
1.
News from each member
CMU:
Dave Dzombak and Barb Kviz are chairs of the Environmental Practices
Committee. They have just turned in a
report to CMU President Jared Cohon describing several initiatives pertaining
to an expanded environmental practices program at Carnegie Mellon.
Chatham:
Ellen Dorsey is the new director of the Rachel Carson Institute. The Chatham environmental curriculum is currently being revised with the
assistance of Tony Cortesi from Second Nature.
Duquesne: Dan Donnelly and colleagues are overseeing several changes in the graduate environmental program. They are working toward the possible initiation of an undergraduate environmental program. A meeting to initiate a new 3RUCE student chapter of the Air and Waste Management Association was held at Duquesne earlier in the semester. Students from Duquesne, Carnegie Mellon, and Pitt will meet later in May to initiate the organization. Dan Donnelly, Dave Dzombak, and Rosemary Capo will serve as the initial faculty advisors.
University
of Pittsburgh: Steve Tonsor has received funding from the Mellon Foundation to
consider improvements in environmental practices and reductions in energy use
at field stations such as the Pymatuning Field Laboratory. George Klinzing reported on a new initiative
pertaining to CO2 sequestration at the Center for Energy and the
Environment at Pitt, and the start of a new Center for Green Construction.
Sustainable
Pittsburgh: Evan Verbanic reported that
Sustainable Pittsburgh, which used to be a part of the Pittsburgh High
Technology Council, is now independently operated. He suggested ideas for improving advertising on the 3RUCE,
promoting cross registration of students from the member schools.
2.
Web
Site
Curt Yeske reported that roughly $2,000 per year is needed
for regular updating of the 3RUCE Web Site.
New text for the Web Site written by George Klinzing and Cliff Davidson
was distributed. Several ideas for possible
revisions were discussed. Cliff will
send out a revised version within a few days, and will ask for comments to be
sent to him by e-mail within one week.
Chatham and Duquesne submitted their matrices of course offerings for
the Web Site, while Pitt and CMU are still working on their course listings.
3.
Three
Environmental Courses from Each School
Each
of the four schools submitted descriptions of three environmental courses that
would be most appropriate for 3RUCE cross registration. Curt Yeske will look over the lists and send
e-mail with any questions before the descriptions are put on the Web Site.
4.
Registration
with GreenPittsburgh.Net
Evan
Verbanic will check on registration of 3RUCE with GreenPittsburgh.Net as a
means of advertising.
5.
Discussion
by Don Brown, Senior Counsel of Pennsylvania DEP
Don
Brown came in from Harrisburg to address the 3RUCE members about his newly
organized Pennsylvania Consortium for Interdisciplinary Environmental
Policy. The CIEP had their first
meeting on April 28. There was
considerable discussion about the goals of the CIEP and how best to achieve
them. In general, 3RUCE members felt
that an emphasis on green practices at colleges and universities would be
worthwhile. The next CIEP meeting will
be in Harrisburg on July 28, and will be represented by several 3RUCE members.
The
next 3RUCE meeting will be at the University of Pittsburgh, Tuesday October 3,
2000, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm.