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/

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[Noel]

On March 27th, 2010 Hive 76 is hosting a Hack-a-thon weenekd, lasting all day through Sunday, March 28th. That's right, 36 straight hours of projects, ideas, building, etc. Read up about the event, March Madness, here.