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The work of the Sustainable Universities Initiative (SUI) that was headquartered on USC's Columbia campus for the past nine years is in a period of transition following the departure of its former manager, Patricia L. Jerman, who has joined the S.C. Energy Office.
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| Patricia Jerman |
The SUI is an effort by the state's three research universities and 13 other affiliated state schools to get students thinking about how the environment, the economy, and social factors all interact. It also works to help its member institutions adopt environmentally friendly operations.
The grant from the V. Kahn Rasmussen Foundation to fund the SUI expired, but the University created an Office of Sustainability to continue its work on the Columbia campus and named Jerman as its director. Discussions about the future of the USC office are underway.
The University's Environmental Advisory Committee, which was created to be part of the SUI, will continue as a hub of information--sharing that will help maintain the University's sustainability momentum. The committee is chaired by Tom Syfert, head of the University's Office Health and Safety/Risk Management, and Michael Matthews, chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering.
Madilyn Fletcher, director of the School of the Environment, also has voiced her continuing commitment to sustainability issues campus-wide, Jerman said.
Jerman said she was thrilled with her nine years guiding the SUI from the Columbia campus, adding, "In most respects, we accomplished a lot more than I thought would be possible. I'm leaving with a really good feeling about it."
She will continue as an SUI "information conduit and institutional memory" for the statewide SUI network from the state Energy Office for the foreseeable future.
"I'll continue to handle it until we find a better way because the network of universities in the SUI is too important to let go," said Jerman, who can be reached at 803-737-8025 or tjerman@energy.sc.gov.
"My concern now is to find a way to keep the statewide network going and expand it to some other schools. There's an awful lot of interest on other campuses in doing this sort of work and certainly nationwide, there is a huge amount of interest in sustainability on college campuses."
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