GVSU listed in guide as among the nation's top 50 schools with green programs

When Norman Christopher was thumbing through a new guide to green jobs he received in the mail over the holidays, he was pleasantly taken aback to find Grand Valley State University among the top schools in the country with outstanding sustainability academic programs and green campus practices.

Peterson's "Green Jobs for a New Economy: The Career Guide to Emerging Opportunities"  listed GVSU and the University of Michigan as the two Michigan schools among what editors called "top 50 four-year schools with great green programs" in the nation.

"I was surprised," says Christopher, executive director of GVSU's Sustainable Community Development Initiative. "We've been blessed because we've been noted in three or four guides like this before."

Peterson's is a New Jersey-based search provider of colleges and universities, graduate schools, private schools and study guides for students.

The paperback lauds the university for its Sustainability Community Development initiative, green campus projects and organizations, and large number of academic programs that focus on sustainability.  GVSU also was praised for its efforts in RecycleMania, a nationwide program in which colleges compete to recycle the most campus waste.

In all eight of the university's colleges, Christopher says the university offers some 200 sustainability-theme courses which focus or at least incorporate into its curriculum a sustainability viewpoint.

"This shows that Grand Valley has made a commitment to sustainability, both inside and outside the classroom," he says. The guide can be very useful to students investigating schools with highly ranked green programs or for job seekers wanting to learn and be part of the new "green" economy that spans across many industries, he adds.

In addition to Peterson's rating, the 2009 Kaplan College Guide has ranked GVSU as one of 25 cutting-edge green and environmentally responsible colleges in the nation, GVSU officials report. The Princeton Review's annual report also awarded GVSU its highest "green" rating among Michigan colleges and universities.

Sources: Norman Christopher, executive director of GVSU's Sustainable Community Development Initiative and GVSU's News & Information Services

Sharon Hanks is the editor of innovation and jobs news at Rapid Growth Media.   She can be reached at [email protected]

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