Ñý¼§Ö±²¥

Previous Award Winners

• 2024

  Olathe Antonio & Brittany King: Students; Sustainability Research

  Antonio and King are doctoral Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ in the Clinical Psychology program and members of the Existential Trauma lab, where they lead and contribute to research at the intersection of climate change and mental health. They have a record of and continued commitment to scholarly work that addresses the psychological impacts of climate change and, importantly, translating their research to the broader campus community. Specifically, Olathe’s research focuses on the use of Traditional Ecological Knowledge to increase climate action and decrease climate distress in Indigenous communities. She has sought out opportunities to make this information accessible, including leading a discussion/activity with Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ and faculty from the Introduction to Climate Change course on a class trip to Glacier National Park. Brittany is working on several research projects related to climate change and mental health, including the creation of a validated measure to assess the types of exposures and psychological responses to climate change. Most recently, she collected data for a study on college Ñý¼§Ö±²¥’ response to climate change reminders and presented findings at Grad Con. Both Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ are also leading teams of undergraduate Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ in projects aimed at applying research on psychological and community resilience. Olathe’s team has partnered with HERE Montana to lead a day hike with BIPOC youth that provides psychoeducation on resilience in the face of climate change. Brittany’s project aims to bring renewable exercise equipment to the fitness center at UM to allow for broader engagement in climate action. Through presentation and application of their research in a variety of ways, both Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ have the potential to make a large-scale impact on our knowledge about and ability to respond effectively to the psychological burden of climate change. 

  Keith Bosak: Faculty; Sustainability Education and Research

  Bosak is a professor of Nature-based Tourism and Recreation in the Franke College of Forestry & Conservation. He integrates sustainability concepts into multiple courses that provide a foundation for how it is linked to public lands, protected areas, tourism, and communities. His scholarly activity extends to publications and books related to sustainable tourism through his work here in Montana and in numerous countries around the world. He is a leader in providing capacity and guidance around the world on sustainable practices in tourism development and protected area management that has had a powerful reach to Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ and professionals. 

  Sid Fellows: Student

  Fellows, enrolled member of Shoshone-Bannock and Chippewa Cree, supports sustainability through her leadership and work fostering Native food systems for both UM and the greater Missoula community. In 2023, she served as caretaker in the PEAS Farm's Four Sisters' Garden, where she thoughtfully continued and furthered the garden's mission of connecting Native community members with traditional ecological practices embodied in the corn, beans, squash, and sunflower garden. Through her work in the Four Sisters Garden, Sid facilitated over half a dozen workshops with All Nations Health Center, the People's Food Sovereignty Program, native youth groups, and many others in the garden, teaching planting, cultivation, harvest, and cooking skills, as well as the central cultural practices that created this and other Native food systems. Additionally, Sid’s thesis research will address the legacy of phosphate mining contamination on Superfund Sites on the Fort Hall Reservation and how Native plant practitioners navigate issues of contamination on traditional plant harvest sites. Her research and work – both centered in relationship – will no doubt continue to support sustainability both at UM’s campus and in landscapes across the West. 

  Kat Cowley & Kenzie Carter: Staff; Zero Waste Award

  Cowley and Carter from the ASUM Food Pantry have worked alongside UM Campus Dining staff to capture leftover food from retail and catered events and get it to those who need it most. The program is called Catering Cupboard and it launched at the start of 2024. So far, according to food pantry staff, over 1700 pounds of food have been rescued and served. Given how much food costs the pantry when they purchase it, that’s about $1500 worth of food that’s not going to waste. Both departments, Campus Dining and the ASUM Food Pantry have a long history of sustainability leadership. UM Campus Dining composts 100% of post-consumer food waste from the Food Zoo, exclusively utilizes compostable single-service ware, and has supported a pilot compost program in Gallagher this year. The ASUM Food Pantry has also sought many sustainable solutions to its programmatic needs. They’ve taken used t-shirts from Campus Thrift to make reusable shopping bags for customers, served Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ fresh produce from the UC gardens, and work to offer more sustainable options in their pantry for laundry detergent and personal hygiene products.  

• 2023

  Doug Kopp & Mae Ikerd: Team Project

  The Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ has a rich history of providing local and healthy food to our Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ and the campus community. We may take this for granted, but sometimes the decision to purchase from local growers and suppliers comes at a greater cost than conventional sources, whether that’s monetary cost or just some additional time and logistics. UM Dining’s investment in local and regional food producers exemplifies the UM way of fostering healthy relationships and good business. Ikerd, former purchasing manager with UM Dining, did just that with Doug Kopp, a local rancher with many close ties to UM and the Missoula community. Kopp Ranch’s relationship with UM started 2 years ago when UM Dining began sourcing beef sticks from Doug to be sold at the UC Market. This, in turn, led to the Iron Griz providing signature Kopp beef burgers and now Kopp beef in both the Food Zoo and at Big Sky Burgers in the UC Commons.  

  Trevor Wilson & Kolter Stevenson: Students

  As freshmen, Wilson and Stevenson noticed that Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ who were unaccustomed to living independently frequently stressed the facilities' control systems and energy capabilities through improper thermostat use, extreme examples of energy draw, or simply leaving the lights on while in class. They compared the figures related to the energy waste generated by such habits and revealed that energy costs significantly contribute to campus operating expenses. In response, they created Smart Dorm, a technology company, to offer a unique tool to relieve the frustrations of occupants and administrators while helping the campus achieve its sustainability goals. Smart Dorm's products and services are tailored to reduce energy waste, provide critical insights for campus administrators and tenants, and improve building occupants’ interactions with their buildings. 

  Peter McDonough: Instructor

  As Director of the Climate Change Studies program, McDonough has many contributions to UM and our community. Just about everything Peter does, whether teaching, volunteering, guest lecturing, or serving on boards—all of it contributes to UM’s sustainability goals and Missoula's resiliency efforts. Over the last year, the Davidson Honors College has been working to develop sustainable food systems curricula. Our massively globalized, industrialized food system is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. To help our Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ unpack this complex issue, Peter worked with Caroline Stephens, PEAS farm director and EVST lecturer, to develop a brand new food systems course. The end result was an interdisciplinary 3-credit course titled “Soil to Soil: Food and Climate” offered this past fall semester. The curricula required that Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ get out of the classroom to learn in-depth about food systems from start to finish—food production, processing, distribution, full circle to composting and waste systems. Beyond his teaching within the DHC, Peter has mentored and taught for the Franke Global Leadership Initiative and lends his expertise and insights to our community partners working on climate resiliency and sustainability.

  Laura Granlund: Faculty

  Granlund is the vice chair of UM Dining’s sustainability committee and the registered dietician for UM. A colleague in Dining describes her as “a tremendous advocate for sustainability in Dining.” Another said that ‘her passion is contagious.’ In the past year, she has supported the development of multiple award and funding applications to support her department’s goals. She is known for offering to take up tasks that others tend to avoid and is always willing to engage in complicated discussions on a variety of sustainability topics. She has been a key contributor in Dining’s advocacy for new garden space on campus, doing the heavy lifting to apply for Flagship Funds and taking the lead in responding to the review committee’s questions. She also spends time in the classroom guest lecturing and teaching, bringing her nutrition and food systems expertise to Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ whenever she can. On top of it all, Laura is currently managing the South Avenue garden space while our garden manager is out on leave. No matter the task, Laura is willing to take it on and give her best.  

• 2022

  Elani Borhegyi: Student

  Borhegyi is devoted to making sustainability part of every student’s experience at UM and, even better, making sure that diversity, equity, and inclusivity aren’t just boxes to be checked as we set sustainability goals or identify strategies. They have interned with the Office of Sustainability for the last year to develop a draft Sustainability Action Plan and have been heavily involved in the Climate Response Club since their freshman year, leading initiatives like the 35% by 2025 energy reduction campaign and a sustainability lecture series. Elani strives for intersectionality when seeking climate solutions and action and walks the walk, choosing not to own a car, living a nearly zero-waste lifestyle, eating a vegan diet, and constantly asking the tough, important questions we must grapple with in order to make real change happen. 

  Dr. Christopher Preston: Faculty

  Preston champions sustainability in his teaching, his research, his UM committee service, and his community involvement. His research explores the intersections of technology and sustainability in this strange era of the Anthropocene. He’s a prolific scholar—he’s already authored 6 books on environmental issues and has another one under contract. He served as co-chair of the Sustainable Campus Committee for 4 years, offering thoughtful, persistent leadership during times of low enrollment and budget cuts. Thanks to his leadership, the philosophy department committed to voluntarily offset their air travel emissions from conference attendance and workshops by purchasing independently verified carbon offsets. Most recently, he has stepped up to take on the Co-Directorship for the Master’s Program in Environmental Philosophy. He has been very successful in his new role, bringing in a high-quality pool of applicants, thus fostering the strength and continuation of the program. 

  Glenn Kneebone: Staff

  If there is one person on this campus who has thought long and hard about paper use, more sustainable paper options, and the environmental footprint of printing, it’s Glenn Kneebone. Glenn is the manager of PawPrint in the Mansfield Library, a department that serves thousands of UM patrons every year by printing hundreds of thousands of pages annually. The operation offers everything from simple black and white printing up to large format art prints, 3D-printing, and laser cutting. Here are some of the awesome steps Glenn has taken to reduce the environmental footprint of his department: 

  • When UM was no longer able to recycle Astro-bright papers, Glenn eliminated them from PawPrint’s operation.  

  • Over 10 years ago, he had the library switch the default print option on all computers to double-sided, noting that most users just hit print and didn’t really care.  

  • Since foam-core isn’t recyclable but is requested for mounting posters, Glenn researched alternatives and decided to purchase poster frames and stands, lending those to departments and individuals for events, resulting in dollars saved, a more professional aesthetic, and a smaller footprint.  

  • To address the energy use and end-of-life recycling issues of owning and leasing printers, Glenn standardized PawPrint with Xerox equipment primarily because of their support for equipment recycling. He also took steps to right-size equipment to the operation based on real usage, preventing excess heat in the operation and reducing the need for cooling. An added benefit was allowing the library at large to remove 7 photocopiers.  

  • PawPrint’s 3D print filament excess and failures are saved and hobbyists can melt this down into re-usable filaments  

  Glenn has been a tireless advocate for sustainability in his sphere of influence and is willing to do the research to back up each strategy.

  Managed Print Team: Team Project

  For the last year, a team of UM employees, the Managed Print Team, has been working with technology to increase efficiencies, reduce costs and improve print technology for staff and Ñý¼§Ö±²¥. They have reduced the total number of machines on campus from 126 copiers and 941 desktop printers to a total of 225 machines. The new machines are more energy efficient, they sleep when not in use, and the toner cartridges are fully recyclable. By centralizing how we purchase paper, this team has saved UM money and implemented a system that allows us to better track purchases and expenditures. Now that the new machines and procurement process are fully in place, we estimate a savings of $50,000 in paper in FY23. When they started this effort, the managed print team set the goal of reducing printing by 30%, reducing energy consumption associated with printing by 40%, and reducing printing costs by $100,000/year.

• 2021

  Melody Hollar: Student

  Melody took on leadership of the UM Climate Response Club (CRC) in its second year and has been instrumental in solidifying and focusing its membership and efforts. She has been a strong presence and seemingly endless energy despite diverse and sometimes disparate interests among Ñý¼§Ö±²¥, and even in the midst of the pandemic. Under her leadership the club has taken on mental health and climate grief - a new task for any student environmental group - as well as intersectionality and diversity issues, along with the more direct climate and energy projects on campus. Most importantly, Melody has curated a talented and passionate base among the officers and within the club, effectively setting the CRC up for success and flexibility after she graduates. The CRC and UM in general are fortunate to have numerous passionate Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ focused on climate and sustainability. Melody is the rare charismatic and energetic leader, however, and her influence shows in the quality and care of the club’s work on a wide range of issues. 

   

  Suzanne Tilleman: Dean

  On top of her duties as Dean of the College of Business, Dr. Tilleman also serves as the faculty advisor to UM’s Sustainable Business Strategy Certificate, and she created and taught one of the classes associated with this certificate. She was also instrumental in developing the certificate, writing the application and carrying it through the approval process. Over the years, 15 UM Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ have graduated with the SBS certificate and 3 more will graduate this year. These Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ have gone on to increase use of sustainability strategies by Montana businesses and beyond. Suzanne has also served on UM’s Sustainable Campus Committee, serving as chair for a time. She’s overseen several KRELF projects, including a student’s project to install a bottle filling station in Gallagher, one of the first campus buildings to offer this. She graciously provides presentations on sustainable business issues to her colleagues’ classes and is noted for commuting to campus on foot. Considering her impact beyond UM, Suzanne played an instrumental role in the creation of the Montana Cooperative Development Center, a state-wide resource for cooperatives – a model often used by sustainable enterprises. Suzanne’s research interests include sustainable entrepreneurship which has created many new businesses and jobs in Montana. She has co-authored peer-reviewed and award winning papers on topics like: Institutional Logics and Technology Development: Evidence from the Wind and Solar Energy Industries and Creating Economic and Environmental Value Through Industrial Symbiosis. The latter deals with how manufacturers manage waste. UM is blessed to have such an outstanding role model of a respected academic who is also an activist committed to moving our society towards sustainability.

   

  Soazig LeBihan: Faculty

  LeBihan made a commitment to become co-director of the University's Environmental Philosophy program on the upcoming retirement of an existing faculty member this year. This has involved taking on new course preps, volunteering to advise an additional cohort of graduate Ñý¼§Ö±²¥, running a new version of colloquium series, working on curricular adjustments created by staffing changes, and helping mentor graduate Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ through the program. As part of this work, Dr. LeBihan volunteered to help a student in an engagement project on Justice, Equity, Diversion, and Inclusion (JEDI). Beyond the work Dr. LeBihan has done with this student, she has voluntarily taken steps to gain expertise in JEDI -elated matters in order to help steer the department towards a more inclusive future. Without Dr. LeBihan's considerable commitment, the environmental philosophy graduate degree at UM - one with a 30 year history and an international reputation - was teetering on the edge. Her commitment to sustainability education at UM has been timely, creative, and substantial. It has also been completely additional to her existing duties.

  Ray Merseal: Staff

  Merseal is the Food Court Manager for Campus Dining. In addition, Ray chairs the Campus Dining Sustainability Champions Committee. In this role Ray has tackled multiple sustainability issues over the last year. Most notably, Ray worked tirelessly to develop and implement pre and post-consumer composting in the UC Food Court. This was clearly a group effort, but Ray led the charge. He worked with the UC staff to find a proper location in the Commons area. He made sure the Food Court switched to containers which would be compostable and even worked with third party vendors in the building to switch some of their containers. Ray then supported education efforts to train our guests and consumers on how they could support composting on campus. Tabling in the UC Commons will educate a new generation of consumers. Ray has already turned his focus to the new R+R space and is seeking a grant to purchase a composting station for that location. Ray’s work will have a lasting effect on campus. He is engaged in changing our culture and providing invaluable co-curricular education to not just Ñý¼§Ö±²¥, but the campus community.
• 2020

  Maggie Gammons & Madeline Broom: Students

  Maddie and Maggie have carried on the work of 1000 New Gardens with creative & inspiring leadership. This group has organized Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ to help Missoulians install hundreds of food gardens in their yards over many years. They have also installed gardens at schools and the Poverello Center. In addition to organizing two Dig Days a year, they have offered numerous workshops on gardening info, seed saving, food preparation and preservation, use of native plants, conservation of pollinators, and more. Their workshops usually attract at least a dozen Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ while Dig Days usually attract 30-40 student helpers. Their work has helped many Missoulians grow their own low-cost nutritious food in a sustainable way. Organizing Dig Days involves recruiting student helpers, people who want gardens and borrowing tools and getting donations of needed materials from local businesses and nonprofits. The work involves a lot of time and organizing skills. This spring, they may not be able to hold their usual Dig Day, but they are trying to think of a way to help people get what they need to install their own gardens. Like many of Missoula’s helper groups, they hope to promote Do It Yourself projects this spring and hope to get back to supporting community efforts when those can be safely pursued again.

  Jenny McNulty: Admin

  McNulty is the dean of the College of Humanities and Sciences. When Dean McNulty was overseeing the latest use of donated funds to upgrade the Eck Building, she made it clear early on that she would like to see solar panels on Eck as a product of the remodel. She enlisted associate Dean John Douglas and Dr. Christopher Preston to see how this may happen. Of course, the people who eventually made it real range from campus architect Jameel Chaudry, to Brian Kearns, to the KRELF committee, to the Eck Family, and many others. It took a team of people to implement this success. Without doubt, Dean McNulty's commitment to this idea early on made it happen. The new Eck roof has been set up so that additional panels can be added to the system that went up this winter. It will provide an ongoing motivation for H & S Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ to expand the green credentials of the building. Everyone who uses the Eck Building will benefit from the clean energy. The thirty-year lifespan of the panels ensures multiple generations of Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ will be affected. McNulty's early commitment on this will also spur other Deans and other units on campus to match H&S.

  Zach Rossmiller: Staff

  Rossmiller has been instrumental in updating the Information Technology landscape on UM’s campus. Information Technology infrastructure is very energy-intensive to operate. Zach and his team have worked hard to identify, collapse, and reconfigure inefficient server rooms. Working with distributed IT to: 1) close down inefficient data centers by virtualizing the equipment into UM’s virtual datacenter, and 2) relocate server equipment into an efficient data center (UM’s state-of-the-art modular data center). To date, Zach has helped shutdown seven data centers across campus, and is expected to shut down five more in 2020-2021. Over the past two years, Zach has worked closely with UM administration and Facilities Services to identify a reliable and efficient solution to replace UM’s aging Social Science data center. This data center is UM’s “Core” and is critical to university operations both on and off campus. The existing data center is cooled by an aging inefficient water-cooled air-conditioning unit. The new data center will take advantage of a air-cooled direct expansion (DX) cooling unit. The new system utilizes outside air not water to cool the refrigerant. The new data center cooling system will be more efficient and reliable then the existing system. Facilities Services estimated the existing data center air-conditioning unit uses 8.4 Mgal/year of water for cooling, which is discharged directly to the sewer. By updating to an air-cooled unit there will be an annual savings of $23K for water and $20K for sewer. 

  Rosalyn LaPier: Faculty

  LaPier, Environmental Studies professor, has added several key dimensions to UM’s Sustainability efforts. She developed and obtained approval for a Certificate in Indigenous Knowledge & Environmental Sustainability -- a new 12 credit certificate within Environmental Studies. Indigenous Knowledge & Environmental Sustainability is a STEM focused area that concentrates on environmental science, restoration ecology, environmental sustainability, ethnobotany and botany, and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). Rosalyn also created and teaches many of the required courses that provide in-class and hands-on experiences: ENST 410 Traditional Ecological Knowledge of Indigenous Peoples and ENSC 396 Supervised Internship: Native Plant Stewardship and Ethnobotany (or ENSC 398 Internship). She mentors Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ in selecting two elective 400 level ENSC (Environment Science) or ENST (Environmental Studies) courses with a focus on Indigenous Knowledge and Environmental Sustainability. Rosalyn was also involved in the developing UM’s Ethnobotany garden into a useful tool for public education and a living laboratory for Ñý¼§Ö±²¥. In addition to her contributions to teaching, Rosalyn is an award-winning Indigenous writer, ethnobotanist and environmental activist with a BA in physics and a PhD in environmental history. She works to strengthen traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and revitalize Indigenous languages within Indigenous communities. She has mentored numerous graduate Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ working in these areas. She recently co-authored an article in High Country News entitled: Misrepresenting traditional knowledge during COVID-19 is dangerous."

• 2019

  Colton Buford: Staff

  Buford started working for UM Catering as a student employee in 2015 and is now a full-time service manager. Over the years he has championed a number of sustainability initiatives, including working with Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ and staff to help reduce food waste and spearheading a project to enable catering to use bikes instead of vans to service and supply campus events. Colton is perpetually thinking of ways to green the department and claims to have a file folder full of project ideas. But what’s truly special about Colton is his initiative. When he’s not running around campus helping orchestrate events, he is analyzing mileage data for grant proposals and meeting with local business owners to discuss collaborative partnerships. His enthusiasm and advocacy have been instrumental in making UM Catering more sustainable!

  Shelley Harshbarger: Staff

  Over the past several years, Shelley has worked with ASUM Transportation and other stakeholders to study parking and transportation challenges and opportunities on campus. While it would have been easiest to keep operating with the status quo, Shelley has instead approached new technologies with an open mind. She’s currently working to implement a state-of-the-art parking management system to replace UMPD’s aging software and hardware. When this is complete, UMPD will have a full suite of management tools that will help the program manage its parking supply with sustainability in mind. Transportation emissions are a major contributor to UM’s greenhouse gas emissions and Shelley’s foundational work on parking and transportation will help UM reduce its emissions moving forward. 

   Chuck Christensen: Staff

  Christensen is the supervisor of UM’s Tech Services staff within Facilities Services. His job is to look after the HVAC units on campus and to manage those systems that are on electronic monitoring controls to effectively control our energy consumption on a daily basis. He and his team also take care of everyday repairs and maintenance calls that come in. Newer HVAC units in our buildings are complex and require significant understanding of mechanical components and how they work. Chuck has that unique knowledge and uses it to track how our campus units are running in order to keep UM’s energy consumption as low as possible. Since about two-thirds of UM’s carbon emissions (scopes 1 & 2) come from the energy used to heat, cool & power our buildings, Chuck has a direct impact on being able to lower our footprint AND our utility bills. He has provided input into the selection of new HVAC units that campus utilizes while managing a team of qualified technicians that helps in Facilities Services’ mission of providing the best-maintained facilities we can provide to faculty, staff, Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ and the general public.  Most importantly, Chuck & his team work tirelessly to keep you comfortable in your classrooms and offices with the right amount of heating, cooling and ventilation.

  Neva Hassanein: Faculty

  Hassanein joined the environmental studies faculty in 2000 and has been a tireless sustainability advocate and leader since then and even before her time at UM. Neva built a powerful local movement to protect Montana farmland and increase local food security and sustainability. She served on the board of the Community Food & Agriculture Coalition and secured major gifts, hired an Executive Director and guided a study of Western Montana’s farm & food economy. She serves on the Missoula Planning Board, working to protect farmland. Neva has received UM teaching awards and created EVST’s Sustainable Food and Farming emphasis. She helped build UM’s campus-community partnership for local food (Farm to College) into a nationally recognized program that has received national awards. Neva engages her classes in real-world problems and guides them in developing useful contributions to addressing these problems.  With her Ñý¼§Ö±²¥, she produced the Missoula County Community Food Assessment, which helped local food agencies obtain a major federal grant and led to the formation of a nonprofit focused on community food security. With her Ñý¼§Ö±²¥, she also studied the impact of UM’s Farm to College program. Neva inspires Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ and her colleagues with hope and vision. She teaches effective skills for positive social change. She helps our community envision how our food system can be more sustainable, secure, and democratic and has worked strategically with others to make the path clear and walkable. She has helped to feed Missoula & Montana– body and soul!

  Paul Kirgis: Admin

  Kirgis joined the Alexander Blewett III School of Law at the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ as Dean and Professor of Law on July 1, 2015. Last year, Dean Kirgis reached out to the Environmental Law Group (ELG) about working to achieve carbon neutrality at the Law School through purchasing carbon offset. Dean Kirgis mentioned that it would be great if the effort was student-led. The ELG took this encouragement by Dean Kirgis and raised $331 for our carbon offset purchase. Throughout the entire process, Dean Kirgis was very supportive and encouraging. With a little help from an existing carbon offset fundraising effort, we found sufficient funds to buy enough offsets for our building to become “carbon neutral” for the first time in the Law School’s history. Without Dean Kirgis’ leadership, the Law School could not have reached carbon neutrality. Dean Kirgis’ leadership continued as he opened the lines of communication between the sustainability coordinator to decide which projects we wanted to support with our offset purchase. After we selected our projects, Dean Kirgis got the ball rolling to publicize the purchase by working with Eva Rocke and Sara Kryder, the Law School’s Director of Communications. Dean Kirgis has demonstrated his commitment to sustainability. 

  Cory Beattie and Dan Carlino: Students

  Cory and Dan founded an ASUM climate action group called Climate Action Collaborative and encouraged the other climate groups to join the Collaborative so they could request funding from ASUM Senate without being in competition with one another. Working with the other groups, they assigned different tasks to different groups depending on their interests and strengths (education, lobbying, and direct action). Additionally, Cory and Dan invited the SunRise Movement, a national youth-led climate action movement, onto campus and hosted group meetings. They traveled out of state to attend SunRise organizer trainings. They also successfully lobbied the ASUM senate to adopt a resolution in support of Missoula City/County’s resolution to achieve 100% clean energy by 2030. They organized fellow Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ to contact our congressional delegation to support the Green New Deal. Both Cory and Dan have volunteered and interned for many other sustainability causes, but their efforts toward climate action this year have been particularly noteworthy. 

   

• 2018

  Stasia Orkiszewksi

  Casey Brandon

• 2017

  Cassie Buhl

  Sam Forstag

  Brad Layton

  Lily Elison

  Liz Roosa Millar

• 2016

  Clare Vergobbi: Student

  Clare is active in many facets of campus sustainability.  First, she is an Ecological Restoration major and hopes to use her degree to pursue a career in rejuvenating agricultural land and working for better national policies.  She is the UM Dining Gardens student assistant and is an invaluable asset because of her agricultural knowledge and work ethic. She also interns at the PEAS farm, going above and beyond to learn extra skills.  Clare has had a consistent interest in the hard work of organic agriculture and last summer was the student assistant at River Road Farm.  Clare contributes to many student groups as well. She is a co-chair of the Real Food Working group, helping to bring healthy and sustainable food to our campus community.  She is an active member of 1,000 New Gardens, often found tabling, leading workshops, and spearheading group projects, and is active in the Reinvest Montana group to move University Foundation money away from fossil fuels investments. Clare is both a leader and a cooperative team member.  Her involvement in campus sustainability and her time commitment go beyond resume padding and show true interest in and commitment to a better future. 

  Sara Rinfret: Faculty

  Sara stands out in her dedication to ensuring that sustainability is a key component of UM's education and leadership. She revamped her Environmental Policy class to engage Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ in creating policies to address UM's Climate Action Plan. She revised her Public Policy course to include a significant climate change component (the course will be called Public Policy and the Climate starting spring 2017). She's an active and highly valued member on the Climate Change Studies faculty steering committee. Her research in environmental regulation focuses on the Clean Power Plan, a key policy issue affecting our state and nation. Sara is a respected teacher who inspires her Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ to consider sustainability, even if not their primary concern. She is a valued colleague, who inspires us to continue developing curricula to prepare our Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ to navigate the complex and sometimes contentious world of sustainability.

  Harley Lathrop: Staff

  Harley joined UM and the Residence Life Office this year and immediately started assessing how we could better serve our Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ and specifically how we could continue improving our green practices.  For example, within months of Harley's start with UM, he replaced all the hand soap within the residence halls with a greener product. In addition, Harley assisted the Recycle Res Life KRELF project willingly and with excitement and will continue to support this project in the future. This spring, as campus partners plan for our Campus Thrift move-out event, Harley has graciously supported event logistics, communicating with RLO staff about collection sites, event times, and goals. Harley has been an incredible addition to the RLO staff and is a huge supporter of improving our sustainability efforts. He brings diverse experience from other positions he has held and will continue to be an essential facilitator of campus sustainability efforts into the future. 

  Jordan Hess: Admin

  Hess is the Director of ASUM Transportation. He is one of those people at UM who finds opportunities to engage with our sustainability goals and values beyond what is necessary for him to do his job, namely, running a bus service for our campus community. Instead of just operating a bus service, he has found a way to support a bike/pedestrian coordinator position through ASUMT, hire 2 Sustainable Transportation Ambassadors, and, as we’ll see this summer, has successfully navigated the purchase of 2 electric buses for the university with the support of our student government. Under Jordan’s leadership, ASUMT’s programming has come to include so much more than just public transportation; it offers a bike rental program, creative bike-oriented outreach programs, and annual sustainable transportation celebrations to encourage alternatives to single-occupancy vehicle commuting. For the last year and a half, Jordan has been facilitating a Parking & Transportation working group and study process, a project that poses all sorts of opportunities for controversy and challenge. Throughout this process, Jordan remains dedicated to active, sustainable transportation options, building on his strong relationships in our community and on campus. He has brought energy, expertise, and thoughtfulness to this process so that parking and transportation can become mechanisms for furthering our institutional sustainability goals. 

• 2015

  Steve Thompson: Admin

  Steve is the director of Campus Recreation and has impressed everyone with his initiative. Steve and his awesomely supportive staff at Campus Rec have repeatedly sought ways to demonstrate sustainability and efficiency through Campus Rec’s operations and facilities. Not only have they installed solar panels, water bottle refilling stations, and motion-sensor lights throughout their building, but they have also upgraded their facilities for energy efficiency improvements using KRELF (a student-generated revolving fund on campus) AND provide myriad programming to support healthy life habits (nutrition education, fitness classes, and outdoor rec opportunities that connect Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ with some of western MT’s best places). Steve supports his staff in taking initiative seeking out opportunities to make their facilities better and repeatedly “shows up” as a campus sustainability leader. Since Campus Rec sees hundreds of Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ each day, their staff and facilities have the chance to expose campus constituents to sustainability work and choices. Steve and his crew take full advantage of this opportunity and have installed signage to educate visitors on their sustainability projects. Perhaps most importantly, Steve and his team are excited to bring Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ to the table and work with them to submit their sustainability proposals, an additional educational benefit of their leadership. 

  Fletcher Brown: Faculty

  Fletcher is a faculty member in the College of Education and also teaches several classes for the Environmental Studies department. Fletcher’s emphasis and passion is in environmental education, and he has helped many local groups in the community and on campus create environmental education programs. He has volunteered his time with the Master Naturalist Program, the Montana Natural History Center, Ecology Project International, and the Montana Environmental Education Association. He is also actively involved in the Teacher Training Institute for BEETA (Bridging Environmental Education Trans-Atlantic), which involves teachers from Hungary and Montana focused on the implementation of environmental education. 

   Brian Fruit: Staff

  Brian is the Associate Director of Facilities for Campus Recreation. Under Brian’s leadership, Campus Recreation has seen a number of sustainability projects undertaken in the last several years. He has overseen a solar array installed on the FRC, LED lights for the climbing wall, insulating the pipes in the mechanical room, installing variable speed drives for our air handlers, the daylight harvesting on our basketball courts, water bottle filling stations on two floors of the FRC, a new paperless management system, and new, more efficient media in our pool filter. All of these projects add up to reduce Campus Recreation’s carbon footprint, and its reliance on consumables, and provide an educational platform for the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ and staff of the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥. 

  Abby Huseth: Student

  This is Abby’s first year at the university as a Graduate Student in the Environmental Studies program. Even though this is only Abby’s first year, she has been involved in several sustainability programs and projects on campus. Abby has been actively involved in the KRELF (Kless Revolving Energy Loan Fund) committee since the fall semester, helping the committee select which sustainability projects should be awarded funding. Abby’s background in renewable energy and other sustainability concepts has been invaluable to the committee. During the Fall Semester, Abby also helped determine the solar potential at UM for a potential large-scale solar project. This was part of Abby’s work in a Local Solutions to Climate Change class. Abby’s group also surveyed Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ to determine campus support for the proposed solar project, work that will be built upon this semester as the project continues to move forward. Abby is also actively involved in the Food Systems Working Group as a co-chair of the committee. Abby is actively involved in the Real Food Challenge and supporting sustainable food movements. 

• 2014

  Kara Colovich

  Mike Reid

  Roger Strobel 

  Kent Swift

   

• 2013

  Jim Burchfield

  Ian Finch

  Katie Nelson 

  Robin Saha

• 2012

  Kelly Chadwich

  Ken Price

  Steve Schwarze

  Patrick Rhea

• 2011

  Zach Brown

  Tom Javins

  Len Broberg

  Mark LoParco

• 2010

  Zack Porter 

  Jack Mondloch

  Nicky Phear

  Bob Duringer

• 2009

  *no record of recipients

• 2008

  *no record of recipients

• 2007

  Vicki Watson

   

• 2006

  Lisa Swallow

   

• 2005

  Paul Williamson

   

• 2004

  *first award given

  Mark LoParco