Colorado State University

Colorado State University is pleased to welcome AASHE to Denver!

Dear Colleagues:

Welcome to Colorado! I can’t imagine a better place to host the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education than here at the base of the Rocky Mountains—in a state whose universities are leading some of today’s most exciting research into natural resources, clean energy alternatives, and environmental sustainability. Colorado is not just one of the world’s most stunning locales, it’s also a leading player in the new energy economy with strong alliances among state colleges and universities, government, industry, and the non-profit sector.

As a host institution, Colorado State University is proud to support this event because our university has long emphasized sustainable campus operations, individual and collective responsibility for our environment, and education for tomorrow’s green workforce. In fact, a focus on the environment has been a central part of Colorado State’s academic and research programs since our founding in 1870 as the state’s land-grant university. Our list of achievements is fairly impressive: Our faculty engineered the world’s first solar heated and cooled building. We established the nation’s first emissions control program. Colorado State philosophy faculty pioneered the field of environmental ethics. Ours was the first campus in the world to obtain a LEED CI certification. On our main campus just an hour north of Denver in Fort Collins, our faculty now are devising cutting-edge clean technologies for developing countries and partnering with NASA to monitor climate change by satellite. At our unique mountain campus, Pingree Park, we educate and prepare those who will guide our nation’s forest and wilderness preservation efforts for generations to come, as part of the nation’s premier program in forestry and natural resources.

All of this work has informed the strong service ethic embodied by our students and faculty, who continually push the University to innovate and step up efforts to reduce our carbon footprint and improve our stewardship of the environment. Through the emphasis we place as an institution on everything from day-to-day recycling to long-term campus master planning, we strive to match our choices with our rhetoric and to model what it means to be a “green” university.

Colorado State University shares AASHE’s commitment to promoting sustainable practices and education, while encouraging open, candid discussion about how we all can do a better job making sustainability a more fully integrated part of our standard operating practice. We’re proud of all we’ve accomplished at Colorado State University so far and open to all we have yet to learn through our partnership with AASHE and the other institutions participating in this groundbreaking conference.

Thank you for being here—and again, welcome!

Sincerely, 

Dr. Tony Frank
President