UMass Chan Earns Bronze for Sustainability

After a nearly year-long reporting process covering all aspects of the campus operations, the University of Massachusetts
Medical School has earned a Bronze rating from the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS).

The STARS evaluation has several sections designed for more comprehensive university campuses with undergraduate programs and on-campus residents. So even though UMass Chan could not claim points in many categories, the school’s ongoing programs to reduce greenhouse gases, increase recycling and improve energy efficiency, yielded enough points to earn a Bronze rating.

“We are the only stand-alone medical school campus to earn a STARS rating this year, so that’s quite an achievement,” said Suzanne Wood, sustainability and energy manager for UMass Chan. “It’s a nice recognition of the efforts of so many people on campus who continue to support initiatives that help us be more sustainable.”

A program run by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, STARS is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance in relation to their peers.

The school’s full STARS report can be view at : https://stars.aashe.org/institutions/university-of-massachusetts-medical-school-ma/report/2016-05-26/