Enviance Blog

Cinderella is Still Dancing: Small Colleges, RIT and Colby, Join Purdue and Colorado State University in First-Ever Environmental Final Four

One of the most compelling things about the NCAA Basketball Tournament is the periodic upsets that take place when a small, unknown school upsets a traditional powerhouse. Well, the first-ever March Madness Tournament for Environmental Studies has seen the same phenomenon take place, where Colby, an 1800-student college in small-town Maine, and Rochester Institute of Technology, located in upstate New York, have survived two rounds of the tournament to make the Final Four. Joining them, are Purdue University and Colorado State University, both of whom made the NCAA field of 64, along with our very own version March Madness.

These schools have survived two elimination rounds, including the “Sustainable 16” two weeks ago, and the “Environmental Eight,” in order to compete for the title of “National Champion.” The schools that advanced to the “Final Four,” were selected by the tournament’s expert judges based on photo, video and essay submissions sent by students and faculty, in addition to a survey detailing key aspects of each school’s program.

Congratulations to the other members of the Environmental Eight, who fell just short: Ohio State University, University of Texas-Arlington, Humboldt State and University of California-Davis. Each of these schools boast very strong environmental academic programs and came very close to making the Final Four. In fact, the difference between making the Final Four and missing it was one percentage point, giving you an indication of just how hard it was for our judges to separate the competition.

So congratulations to our Final Four, who can celebrate by cutting down the virtual nets made of 100 percent compostable fibers. We’re sure they are all excited and will spend Earth Hour (8:30-9:30 p.m. local time on Saturday) sitting in the dark and think about how their department can best utilize the grand prize of $5,000. 

Who will be named National Champion on Monday? Will it be a favorite or an underdog? Tweet your prediction to @Enviance with #mmenviance in the Tweet, and follow us to find out who wins!

Who Will Cut Down the Nets? Environmental Eight Battle for Final Four Spot

While the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is now down to four of the traditional powerhouses in College Basketball, the March Madness Tournament for Environmental Studies has now been reduced to our “Environmental Eight.” And with all due respect to sports fans, we think ours is infinitely more interesting.

Where else can you see a small liberal arts school in Maine, like Colby College, go head-to-head against an athletic powerhouse like Ohio State? Show us a tournament where a little state school tucked up in the redwood forests of Northern California (Humboldt State University), competes with a Big Ten powerhouse like Purdue?

We were overwhelmed by the supporting content that our Environmental Eight schools provide to help support their entries, thereby outlasting some very distinguished universities that were included in our “Sustainable 16,” like Duke, Baylor and University of Florida. The content was in the form of close to 200 surveys, videos and photos, along with scores of Tweets from the schools involved.

So who will cut down the nets on Friday and join the first-ever Final Four in Environmental Studies? Who will be named National Champion on Monday, April 2? Stay tuned because in our version of March Madness, a college of 7,000 students can take down a university with 50,000 students.

Two Different Types of March Madness, but Familiar Faces in Both

Enviance’s Environmental March Madness Contest is off and running! We recently announced our Sustainable 16, which identifies the top 16 universities from our pool of entries with the strongest environmental and sustainability programs in the United States.

Our Sustainable 16, in alphabetical order:

Baylor, Colby, Colorado State University, Cornell, Duke, Humboldt State University, Montana State University, Ohio State University, Purdue, Rochester Institute of Technology, Temple, UC Davis, University of Florida, University of Michigan—Dearborn, University of North Carolina—Asheville and University of Texas—Arlington.

Faculty and students from our Sustainable 16 colleges have been submitting 300-word essays and two-minute video clips supporting their school’s case to advance in the tournament, and the outpour of support has been terrific! Our tournament judges are now using that material to help determine which of the Sustainable 16 will move on to the Environmental 8.

Meanwhile, in the NCAA March Madness tournament, the Sweet 16 field has been set. In alphabetical order, the field is:

Baylor, Cincinnati, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Marquette, Michigan State, North Carolina State, Ohio, Ohio State University, Syracuse, University of Florida, University of North Carolina, Wisconsin and Xavier.

While the University of North Carolina is favored by many to take home college basketball’s greatest prize, it’s the University of North Carolina’s Asheville campus that is in the hunt for academic glory!

Baylor, Ohio State University and University of Florida are flexing their muscle in both athletics and academics, having advanced to the field of 16 in both the NCAA and Environmental March Madness tournaments.

Purdue just narrowly missed advancing to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA March Madness Tournament when they were edged in the closing minutes by Kansas. While Duke and Temple both fell in opening round upsets to Lehigh and South Florida, respectively. Thankfully for them, they are still alive and well in our field of 16, and have a chance to achieve academic greatness!

We’re excited to track the progress of our Sustainable 16 schools in the NCAA March Madness tournament, and to also see who ends up progressing all the way to Enviance’s Environmental National Championship game.

Will it be a two-way university, competing in both tournaments, like Baylor, Ohio State University or University of Florida?

Be sure to follow both tournaments’ progress to find out!

Introducing the Sustainable 16: America’s Top Environmental Studies Programs

This morning Enviance and Environmental Leader introduced the Sustainable 16, the country’s top undergraduate environmental studies programs. These are top programs selected out of scores of schools who were invited to participate and/or submitted a survey response to a panel of expert judges from companies like CH2M HILL, Trinity Consultants, The Brattle Group, Valero and Enviance. They are, in alphabetical order:

•  Baylor University
•  Colby College
•  Colorado State University
•  Cornell University
•  Duke University
•  Humboldt State University
•  Montana State University
•  Ohio State University
•  Purdue University
•  Rochester Institute of Technology
•  Temple University
•  University of California, Davis
•  University of Florida
•  University of Michigan – Dearborn
•  University of North Carolina – Asheville
•  University of Texas at Arlington

The above 16 schools will now battle it out to determine who will be named National Champion on April 2. That determination will be made by the same panel of judges, and will be based on both the original surveys filled out by the colleges, along with essay, photo and video support from students and faculty submitted between today and March 19.

So how does our field in the first-ever March Madness Tournament for Environmental Studies stack up with the actual NCAA Men’s Basketball field? We think it stacks up pretty well when you consider that Baylor, Colorado State, Duke, Florida, Ohio State, Purdue, UNC-Asheville and Temple all made both fields. So when the tournament starts on Thursday, more than 10 percent of the NCAA Tournament bracket will have a shot at winning two championships on April 2.

It gets even more interesting when you consider that Montana, Texas, Michigan and University of California—Berkeley all have sister campuses from their respective state university programs in the Sustainable 16. Sure, they have athletic bragging rights, but only UC Davis, University of Texas at Arlington, Montana State and University of Michigan at Dearborn can bring home the environmental studies trophy home to their respect state programs.

You want Cinderellas? How about Colby, Cornell, Humboldt State and Rochester Institute of Technology?

Yes, the March Madness Tournament for Environmental Studies has it all, including passion and intrigue…favorites and underdogs. Check back on March 26 to see who makes the Environmental Eight and support your school’s entry now!

For schools in the ‘Sustainable 16,’ please follow this link for details on how to send supporting materials to the judges: http://www.enviance.com/march-madness/