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Sept. 15, 2008 |
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This past year, the university spent $1.8 million on utilities, including $1.1 million on electricity, $415,000 on gas, and $320,000 on water. "We've already put this program in place in the buildings that have centrally programmable thermostats," said Jeff Davis, associate vice president for facilities and director of auxiliary services. Administrators are currently assessing the feasibility of upgrading the climate controls for other buildings that have older non-electric thermostats and electric thermostats that aren't currently programmable. The goal is to have all buildings consume only the energy needed for heating and cooling while the facilities are in use. Heating or air conditioning will soon be set to come on at 6 a.m. and shut off at 7 p.m. The systems are currently being tested — turning on at 5 a.m. and shutting down at 10 p.m. — to make sure room temperatures will be comfortable by the time students and workers start the business day. Operating hours for temperature control are not being reduced in any on-campus housing, the library or the student center, because those buildings are widely used in the evenings and on weekends. The initial implementation has been successful, Davis said, and has resulted in "establishing consistent day-time temperatures" in buildings, another added cost-savings benefit. Information and Instructional Technology is also decreasing energy costs on campus. It started an automated shut-down of all classroom, lab, and other student-accessible computers at 11 p.m. every night starting on Sept. 6. The new automated service will save the university as much as $24,000 a year, according to Chief Information Officer Bryson Payne. While the utility conservation program is designed primarily to reduce expenses for the university, it will have the added benefit of reducing energy consumption by 15 percent and carbon emissions by more than 1,970 tons. "This is just step one of a movement toward sustainability on campus," Davis said. A new Web resource at apache.northgeorgia.edu/stewardship will update the campus community on the efforts being made toward environmental sustainability and any related cost-savings. Davis said that the resource will give updates on campuswide initiatives as well as "how-to" tutorials on what individuals can do to conserve energy. "There are a great number of individually controlled AC units in windows in campus," Davis gave as an example. "We'll post information online about how to better control those units." He would also like to give the campus community a better understanding of the efforts taking place related to water stewardship and what people can do to help. The university uses between 120,000 and 135,000 gallons of water per day and is Dahlonega's largest water customer. From electrical use to water conservation, Davis pointed to simple steps anyone can take to help — close your windows when the heat or air is running, turn off lights when you leave the room, take shorter showers. "It's a 'behavior' that we're trying to change," Davis said.
North Georgia faculty and students are leading initiatives this semester to create a sense of community responsibility to recycle and reduce consumption of resources. One of the first projects, the installation of recycling bins at 20 campus locations, will build community awareness of environment-friendly practices and represents North Georgia's first large-scale recycling effort in several years. Dr. Stephanie Songer, an assistant professor of biology, quickly got commitments from employees across campus to set up 40 new recycling bins from the Coca-Cola Company and the National Recycling Coalition, which jointly sponsor a bin grant program. The 23-gallon bins are being used in pairs, with bins designated for aluminum and plastic. "If we could be leaders in the community for recycling, that would be a really positive example of our leadership initiative," Songer said. "We just need to get the ball rolling." Songer believes that the university should mirror communities where local trash and recycling services are the norm. While in grad school at Emory University, Songer became accustomed to the recycling on campus. "I got into the habit of not throwing things away, and I want to see that same conservation ethic here," she said. Creating a critical mass for an energized recycling effort is constantly on Dr. Chuck Robertson's mind. The assistant professor of psychology and co-advisor to the Community Leadership Connection, a student service group, wants to build such an effort so that Lumpkin County residents will be able to see the institution's commitment to recycling. Recent MPA graduate Ryan Arnold secured a grant to fund the Away-from-Home trailer that is used around the county at large-scale community events. Robertson hooked the trailer to the back of his truck and "deployed" its 100 individual recycling bins alongside trash cans during the local July 4th fireworks on campus with the aid of students and faculty. The CLC helped him pick up the bins and take them to the local recycling station, funded as part of a tri-county recycling coalition. Robertson and Dr. Michele Hill are advancing the cause further this semester, helping student "recycling leaders" to develop educational videos to teach community members how to recycle in the county. The 30-second videos are scaled to the local infrastructure, so they will focus, for example, on recycling #1 and #2 plastics, which are the only plastics accepted locally for recycling, Robertson said. Robertson learned that local authorities often use inmates to take bottle caps off of plastic bottles placed in recycle bins. The caps are a different type of plastic and can't be recycled locally. Collecting research to develop the videos also took the form of CLC members placing their own recycling bins in some campus buildings and sifting through the contents. Some of the bins labeled "paper" did indeed include paper but also leftover lunches inside the paper containers. "We have to figure out what people are doing wrong and then encourage what they're doing right," Robertson said. The Community Leadership Connection will make the videos available on campus through the Web and on NG-TV by the end of the semester and circulate DVDs to the local community.
Erik Peterson, an expert in global strategic trends and the keynote speaker for the university's fall convocation for faculty and staff on Sept. 11, told the audience that water will become more precious than oil as our population grows and our resources dwindle.
Peterson is senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and heads the Seven Revolutions Initiative, an internationally recognized effort to identify and forecast global trends that will effect change out to the year 2025.
In speaking to the faculty and staff who were gathered to celebrate the beginning of the new academic year, Peterson outlined the major challenges that leaders will face in the future — population, resource management, technology, knowledge, economic integration, conflict, and governance. Regarding water resources, a subject of great interest to residents of northeast Georgia, Peterson said that by 2025, nearly half of the world's population will face serious constraints on their capacity to meet water demands and that if not effectively addressed, global water shortages will significantly hinder economic development and could spark conflicts within and between countries.
He noted that the Seven Revolutions Initiative is intended to provoke leaders to think more strategically about their future and the global forces at work that shape our world. You can further explore these challenges at the Seven Revolutions Web site at http://7revs.csis.org/sevenrevs_content.html.
The author of several publications, Peterson is completing a book on global strategic trends and their effects on governance structures in societies across the world. He recently contributed a chapter entitled "Scanning the More Distant Future" to For the Common Good: The Ethics of Leadership in the 21st Century.
"I want to make sure that we maintain our reputation in the Army and that the training at the university and the officers commissioned will be of the same quality as we reach this new goal," said Col. Michael Pyott, North Georgia's new professor of military science. Maintaining and enhancing the education and training in the military science department will be a key factor, Pyott said. He'll also lead his staff of 30 to work closely with the Office of the Commandant and the School of Arts & Letters as the Corps of Cadets grows. "We will work hand-in-hand on developing training to grow the future leaders for our Army," Pyott said. "It's an enjoyable challenge. We're looking at the future of our Army and the future leaders of America's sons and daughters." Pyott will seek to create a more diverse Corps of Cadets, capitalize on the enhanced leadership opportunities cadets have in working with new technology and learning tools, and preserve the heritage of the corps through campus traditions and the specialty military units that provide more in-depth training for cadets. As a 1988 graduate, Pyott recognizes that he can't compare "what we did 20 years ago to what we're doing now." "We have a much smarter corps," Pyott said. "The corps runs itself to a degree with cadets being responsible and leading the corps. It wasn't that way 20 years ago. We're a much more professional and modern Army now, and that's what the Corps of Cadets models." The alumnus also has the advantage of understanding the campus culture. "I'm familiar with the university and the corps and I can relate to the challenges of determining how to strike a balance with leadership development and academics." That challenge starts now with Pyott and the military science faculty focused on retaining and preparing the members of the freshman class to become the leaders of tomorrow.
North Georgia's new Student Recreation Center will soon be open to students looking to stay fit or just have a little fun on campus. The long-awaited facility, funded through student recreation fees, will house the university's recreational sports programs.
Mindy Henderson, director of recreational sports, recently gave a tour of the facility to the Student Government Association executive committee. "I knew what to expect but I was still surprised at how big it is," Ashley DesPres, SGA vice president, said. "I am excited about the two-floor wellness center, with the cardio equipment being separate from the weight training equipment, because it will diffuse the gym." The massive, 54,000-square-foot, two-story Recreation Center includes a three-court gymnasium, a climbing wall, a walking/running track, and multiple exercise areas with an array of fitness equipment. "The most attractive features to me were the
climbing and bouldering walls," Justin Middleton, SGA president, said. "I love
climbing, and those walls are state-of-the-art. I will be in the Rec Center as
often as I can — playing basketball, working out or climbing — at least two or
three
times a week." The Rec Center will provide students with new opportunities to exercise and have intramural activities on campus, rather than using other community facilities, according to Brooke Turner, assistant director of recreational sports. "The facility will be open from 5:45 a.m. until 11:30 p.m., and we won't have to shut down the facility for physical education classes or other activities," Turner said. "It will really bring recreation to the heart of campus." Officials are planning a dedication ceremony for early November and a more informal open house celebration for students at a date to be determined.
The campus administrative phone directory and new eGuide are available at apache.northgeorgia.edu/directory. As an online tool, the eGuide eliminates the cost of printing a traditional directory that quickly becomes outdated, as employee information changes. With eGuide, employees may update their job-related and personal information, including e-mail addresses, phone numbers, positions, titles, etc., in a matter of seconds. To edit your information, select the Edit Information link at the top of the eGuide. Student e-mail addresses are available, too, and students can search the eGuide to contact professors or any office they may need. The eGuide service is password protected through the NGCSU Novell login to prevent spammers from using the database of the more than 6,000 members of the university community, including students, faculty and staff. The Photo feature is not yet functional, but is an option that will be available to users who wish to add a photo to the directory later in the semester. Expanded online directory services will be rolled out in the near future.
Connect-Ed, implemented in spring 2008, is used only to communicate urgent notices, such as closings related to severe weather and emergency information as needed by the North Georgia community, according to Public Safety Chief Mike Stapleton. If you did not receive a test message on Sept. 8 by phone or by e-mail, Stapleton urges you to log-in to your Banner account to enroll or edit your contact information. Additional assistance is available by e-mail at emeralert@ngcsu.edu.
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North
Georgia's Army ROTC program has a new goal in sight for 2015 — to
increase the number of officers it commissions to 100 per year. It's a
hefty task from U.S. Army Cadet Command that calls for the university to
double the number of second lieutenants it produces — from 49 this year
to 100 in a few short years. The university will step up to the goal by
turning out 70 officers next year.
