Climate Action and Sustainability Council Working Groups: Reports

Members of the Energy Use and Production working group were appointed and led by Malcolm Drane, former director of Energy Systems. Cody Powell became interim chair of this working group after Drane left Miami for a new position at Purdue in March 2025. 

Goals and Progress

• The FY25 goal of 82.5 KBTU/GSF appears to have been achieved (at the time of this report the final energy consumption bills have not yet been received for the month of June 2025). Completion of utility projects will not occur until the next fiscal year, which is expected to reduce consumption. 
• The campus-wide energy use goal for FY26 was set at 82 KBTU/GSF for the Oxford campus. 
• Planning has been updated on the remaining projects needed to complete the existing Utility Master Plan. The projects are now expected to be executed in a new sequence to accommodate decisions and potential construction related to a new multi-purpose arena and the removal of Millett Hall. Utility conversion projects are dependent on next steps with the current and future arenas (details in the Energy Use and Production FY 2025 Report). 
• Drilling was completed in May for the North Chiller Plant Geothermal Conversion project for the 520 wells in the South Lawn of Millett Hall. The project remains on schedule, and work will continue within the North Chiller Plant through the winter in converting the equipment to support simultaneous heating and cooling and geothermal. 
• Installation began in May of the two solar arrays in the Sharon and Graham Mitchell Sustainability Park. When finished, the arrays are expected to have a peak capacity of just under 2 megawatts. The two array locations will contain more than 3,000 solar panels over the current Western Geothermal well field and the site of the former Thomson Hall. Work is underway and the solar arrays are expected to be installed prior to the start of the fall semester in August 2025. Production from the arrays is expected to augment the campus’ electrical load by late fall of 2025.

Members of the Transportation working group were appointed and charged with developing strategies and plans to address carbon emissions from faculty/staff and student commuting and university-financed air travel (scope 3 emissions). These sustainability efforts align with broader strategic priorities such as reducing operational costs and improving efficiencies.

Findings

Reducing commuting and air travel emissions (scope 3) presents unique challenges because it relies on individual decision-making about whether to undertake a trip (i.e. commute vs. remote) and by what mode of travel (e.g. driving, walking, transit). Miami has made great efforts to make our campus walkable, bikeable, and transit friendly, yet vehicular commuting remains significant. This impacts the climate but also traffic congestion, public safety, and campus operations (e.g. costs of parking operations). 

• The Transportation Working Group recognizes that these decisions can be shaped by an approach called Transportation Demand Management (TDM), which assumes travel demand is elastic and price-sensitive. 
• Parking pricing and policies are among the most powerful TDM techniques.
• Miami has not increased the cost of student parking rates in more than  10 years and,compared to our Ohio public university peers, it has substantially lower permit costs. 

Recommendations

1. Modernize our parking policies and increase rates to match peer institutions, which will: 

• Help reduce residential student demand for long-and short-term parking, reduce vehicular trips and related emissions,
• Better support alternative transportation and address campus congestion issues,
•  Potentially generate revenue needed to offset emissions and support campus investments in climate action and efficiency. 

2. Increased rates should, at a minimum, align with peer institution rates.

3. Rate increases should begin with residential student permit fees because  these are largely discretionary conveniences and the most disparate from peer rates.

Members of the Procurement and Waste working group were appointed and charged with quantifying Miami’s waste and procurement streams and developing a new plan to reduce the environmental impact of these activities. 

Plans and Projects: For FY 2025,  most of these changes focused on process additions and improvements within Strategic Procurement.

1. Supplier Code of Conduct (fulfills STARS OP 9.1). Strategic Procurement implemented a Supplier Code of Conduct . Read it here.
2. Issued Solicitations that Identify Sustainability Considerations (fulfills STARS OP 9.2) Strategic Procurement implemented new language within our standard solicitation (RFP and Bid) templates that ask suppliers to inform the university on efforts the suppliers are undertaking or have undertaken to conduct their own business in a sustainable manner.
3. Purchased Goods Enhancements (fulfills STARS OP 10) Strategic Procurement implemented new policy enhancements and changes as it relates to the type of goods being purchased on campus. Refer to Section 4.00 of the Purchasing Handbook.

Future projects

Strategic Procurement is looking at a few longer-term policy changes and updates surrounding what types of goods/services can be purchased on campus; the first will be office paper. 

Developing a Weighted measurable point system for Solicitations “Scores for Suppliers with Sustainability Considerations.”

Initial Student Engagement working group members were invited or designated in Sept./Oct. 2024, and an open call for student nominations was published in Miami News and shared by Student Life social media. Working group formed in Oct. 2024; joined by Miami’s new Sustainability Coordinator (Alex Miller) when she started her role in Jan. 2025. 

Projects and Goals

• Primary project and goal for FY 2025: Assist In the creation of the Student Sustainability Literacy and Culture Survey, which was distributed to all Oxford campus students in February 2025 through a survey link in an email message from President Crawford.

• Assist in the review of both the Student Survey results and the Employee Survey results.  

• Assist in promoting the 2025 Campus Race to Zero Waste -  Per Capita Recycling Competition, and the Gameday Basketball waste diversion competition through tabling in Armstrong Student Center and outreach surrounding the events.

• Helped promote green organizations, sustainable events, and education surrounding sustainability considerations in event planning. Expanded waste diversion opportunities (composting at events in Armstrong) this year were offered at events including the Global Friendship Spring Picnic, I Love You Beary Much, Springfest, and Social Innovation Weekend.

FY 2026 projects and goals: 

• Build on the foundation of the initial year, FY 2025

Initial Faculty and Staff working group members were invited or designated in Sept./Oct; Working Group was formed in Oct. 2024. 

Projects and Goals

• The primary project and goal for FY 2025: assist in the creation and implementation of Miami’s first Staff Sustainability Training and Culture Survey, launched in Workday Learn in January 2025. Survey results were shared with the Miami community in Miami News, Miami Matters, and the Sustainability website: Valuable staff input gained from new Workday Learn course: Overview of Sustainability and Climate Action.

• Evaluated preliminary ideas for a Green Office Certification for Miami. 

Looking ahead: FY 2026 projects 

• The group will assist with the engagement portion of the Scope 3 Communications + Engagement Plan based on the Transportation and Commuting Working Group recommendations;
• Green Office Certification pilot

Members of the one-year-only Environment and Sustainability curriculum working group were appointed by the Provost Office for FY 2025 and led by Tom Crist, professor of Biology. The group was charged with evaluating Miami University’s current programs and curricula in the environment and sustainability and to provide recommendations on how to strengthen existing programs, increase student exposure to sustainability across the curriculum, and enhance the visibility and recognition of our programs.

Findings and Recommendations: 

• Miami has two majors, two concentrations, four co-majors, and three minors related to the environment and sustainability. Little overlap was found among programs; some program names appear to be similar, creating potential confusion among prospective and current students. This underscores the need for more centralized communication and marketing. 
• Within IES: The Institute for the Environment and Sustainability (IES) co-majors in Environmental Science and Sustainability are viable programs (comprising students from more than 35 disciplinary majors) and provide depth and breadth that should be marketed as unique strengths of these programs. The IES Master of Environmental Science (MEn) program is also a viable, fee-paying program that has potential for growth with greater faculty and staff support.

• The sustainability content of the Miami curriculum has broad representation across all 46 departments on the Oxford campus, but increased numbers of Perspectives and Signature Inquiry courses in sustainability would provide greater exposure to Miami students.

• A faculty cluster hire in several departments and programs would retain core areas of strength and add expertise in new, emerging interdisciplinary fields that would enhance teaching and scholarship.

• Programs would also benefit from increased donor support through improved communications with advancement and new external partnerships with industry and organizations.

Elizabeth Mullinex, Provost

Jayne Brownell, Senior Vice President for Student Life

David Creamer, Senior Vice President for Finance and Business Services and Treasurer

Brad Bundy, Vice President for University Advancement

Jessica Rivinius, Vice President, and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer

Randi Malcolm Thomas, Esq., Vice President for ASPIRE

Michael Crowder, Associate Provost and Dean of the Graduate School

Dawn Fahner, Associate Vice President for Human Resources

Communications and marketing liaison for the Executive Steering Committee and CASC Working Groups: Susan Meikle, Writer and Sustainability Communications, University Communications and Marketing

Energy Use and Production: Chaired by Malcolm Drane, Director of Energy Systems 

• Responsible for reducing energy consumption; completing the transition of building heating and cooling systems off steam; electrifying the campus systems to reduce burning fossil-fuels on site; generating electricity from solar energy (zero-emissions energy) on-site; procuring purchased electricity from renewable sources; and offset the remainder.

Transportation (Scope 3 Emissions): Co-chaired by Cody Powell, Associate Vice President, Facilities Planning and Operations; and David Prytherch, professor of Geography, chair of City of Oxford Planning Commission, and member of the City of Oxford’s Climate Action Steering Committee

• Responsible for reducing Faculty, Staff, and Student commuting to campus and discouraging University Sponsored Air Travel to address Scope 3 emissions in alignment with Miami’s Climate Action Plan.  

Environment & Sustainability Curriculum: Chaired by Tom Crist, professor of Biology

• Responsible for generating recommendations for how the University and the Institute for the Environment & Sustainability might enhance Miami’s curriculum relating to the environment and sustainability. 

Procurement and Waste: Co-chaired by Allen Sizemore, Associate Director of Analytics and Data Administration, Office of Strategic Procurement, and Chelsea Green, assistant clinical professor of Finance and Business Legal Studies

• Responsible for quantifying Miami’s waste and procurement streams and developing a new plan to reduce the environmental impact of these activities. 

Student Engagement: Chaired by Olivia Herron, Director of Sustainability  

• Responsible for educating the student body about Miami’s efforts to address environmental problems and their opportunities for involvement on campus and in their professional careers. 

Faculty & Staff Engagement: Chaired by Olivia Herron, Director of Sustainability

• Responsible for educating faculty and staff about Miami’s efforts to address environmental problems and how this relates to their duties as Miami employees.