On Friday, April 1st , 2016, we attended the 8th Annual Grand Valley State University Sustainability Champion Awards celebration and had the privilege to present four GVSU students with a Nichols Sustainability Scholarship! Nichols established this scholarship in 2007 and it has been exciting to see the growth of the fund as well as the number of students who apply for the scholarship which this year was 32. We have been able to provide a scholarship to 21 students since established in 2007.
Grand Valley has done a wonderful job of institutionalizing sustainability across all of their programs. They also do a tremendous amount of sustainability work in communities across Michigan. Their Office of Sustainability Practices promotes sustainability in the following ways: Education and research, student involvement, facilities and administration, and community engagement.
Grand Valley was one of the first customers that invited Nichols to travel down the sustainability path with them. They are committed to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for all of their new buildings and has approximately 20 LEED buildings currently. Their Mary Idema Pew Library achieved Platinum, the first LEED Platinum library in Michigan in 2014.
GVSU has been recognized in many ways for their sustainability work and you can learn about them here.