Sustainability Office

Explore Sustainability at the U

SCIF Project Report – Green Infrastructure Pollinator Garden: Making the most of campus space

Project Green Infrastructure Pollinator Garden, was the result of a collaboration between Professors Sarah Hinners and Amy Sibul as well as the then student leader of the University Beekeeping Association, Mason Kreidler to prevent flooding in the Architecture Building through the use of green infrastructure while creating a pollinator friendly landscape. 

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SCIF Project Report – Community-Based Educational Outreach to Address Air Pollution

Project Community-Based Educational Outreach to Address Air Pollution was created by Casey Mullen to increase at-home air sensors in houses in high-impact communities. The goal of her project was to address the social inequities in the distribution of nongovernmental air quality sensors and educate communities on local air quality issues. 

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SCIF Project Report – Project Art Heals: Illustrating healing through upcycled medical waste

Project Art Heals, headed by Emily Hagn, used visual art as a symbol of therapeutic healing medical burnout and loss throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The project, a mural currently displayed at the U of U Hospital, used medical waste, vaccination vials and mementos from patients, workers and individuals involved in or lost during the pandemic in an attempt to acknowledge health disparities that were amplified during that time. These disparities include income in different areas, access to space that enabled for social distancing, access to vaccines, and ability to take time off work to access health ca

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Student Stipend to Offer Greater Accessibility to SCIF Grants

The Sustainability Campus Initiative Fund (SCIF) is for everyone and anyone interested in pursuing funded sustainability projects. In an effort to live up to this statement, SCIF is introducing a student stipend that will offer financial compensation to students who aren’t able to pursue an independent project due to financial or personal barriers. While the […]

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Hope in 2023: A Letter from the Chief Sustainability Officer

For me, every January begins full of hope. A new year. A fresh start. This will be the year we accomplish our goals–the year we change the world! Then, of course, life happens. We break new year’s resolutions, we experience hardship, we endure tragedy. It gets harder to feel hopeful.   But hope is a funny […]

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SUSTAINABLE CAMPUS INITIATIVE FUND: YEAR IN REVIEW (2021-22)

By Emerson Andrews, Sustainability Office The Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund (SCIF) funded 19 projects during the 2021-22 academic year. The grants totaled $101,128 and the projects covered a wide range of issues, from bird banding to mural making. Project funding is approved by an allocation committee of students, staff, and faculty.  SMALL Grants Little Cottonwood […]

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Project Art Heals Utah: A Tribute to COVID-19

By Sarah Buening, Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund Intern The COVID-19 vaccine marked a turning point in the pandemic and offered a glimmer of hope for many people, including University of Utah anesthesiologist Dr. Emily Hagn. Exhausted by the collective loss and continuous struggle of COVID-19, Hagn decided to keep her vaccine vial as a hopeful […]

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