"Pathways to a Green Campus" Report

IV. Environmental Coordinator

For the last two years Middlebury College has had the services of a Recycling Coordinator who has been supervised by Norman Cushman, the Assistant Director for Maintenance and Operations, Facilities Management. The current Recycling Coordinator, Holly Cookis, has been instrumental in helping to improve and promote the College's recycling and composting operations. She has also worked closely with the Environmental Council and been active in coordinating many of its environmental awareness programs and other projects. It has been very helpful to have on the staff of Middlebury College a person whose first responsibility is recycling and environmental awareness, and the Council strongly recommends that when Holly Cookis leaves this position at the end of this academic year, the position be continued and another person be hired to take her place. Given the way this job has evolved and the future needs of the College and the Environmental Council, it seems appropriate to give this position a new title and to redefine the job. With these considerations in mind, the following recommendations are made:

A. that the position of Recycling Coordinator be renamed Environmental Coordinator, be established as a permanent position, and that an Environmental Coordinator be hired for the 1995-1996 year.

B. that the job description for the Environmental Coordinator include the following basic responsibilities:

1. To serve as recycling coordinator with the responsibility:
   • to hire, train and supervise student recycling workers.

   • to design the recycling and pick up schedule for campus buildings and communicate the schedule to workers and the College community.

   • to work in collaboration with the Addison County Solid Waste Management District.

   • to research new recycling equipment and possibilities.

   • to assist with the tracking of information on College waste and publicize findings when appropriate.

   • to assist the Bread Loaf mountain campus and the Snow Bowl with their recycling programs.

2. To serve as an environmental awareness educator for the College community regarding recycling, waste reduction, and conservation with the responsibility:
   • to conduct an environmental awareness and recycling orientation session for all new students during their College orientation in September and February and for new faculty and staff.

   • to organize and lead the training of the Residential Life staff and residence hall Environmental Monitors regarding recycling and energy and water conservation, and to assist the Director of Residential Life in promoting environmental awareness among the students.

   • to offer environmental awareness and recycling presentations to faculty, staff, and students as needed and to promote environmental awareness and responsibility through the campus media.

   • to represent Middlebury College at other institutions and at off-campus events concerned with recycling and environmental awareness; and to advise other colleges on recycling.

3. to serve as an ex officio member of the Environmental Council and as the Vice-Chair and Project Coordinator for the Council, coordinating such projects for the Council as the responsibilities described in 1 and 2 above permit.

4. to make recommendations to the College community and the Environmental Council on ways to reduce waste and increase environmental awareness; to assist students with research projects on recycling and other related environmental issues; to perform other tasks for Facilities Management as needed.

The needs and priorities of Middlebury College pertaining to recycling and environmental awareness will continue to evolve as they have over the past few years, and whoever is hired as the new Environmental Coordinator should be prepared to have the job description evolve with the situation. At present it seems advisable for the Environmental Coordinator to continue to report to the Assistant Director for Maintenance and Operations, Facilities Management. There are special advantages with regard to the recycling responsibilities of the Environmental Coordinator to having the Coordinator's office in the Service Building where it currently is located. This location of the Environmental Coordinator's office also fosters some productive communication between faculty and students on the one hand and the Facilities Management staff in the Service Building on the other hand that might otherwise not occur.

However, it is also important that the Environmental Coordinator work closely with the Residential Life staff in the Dean of Students office and that environmental awareness and responsibility be included as an important item on the Dean of Students' agenda for new student orientation and the Residential Life program. (See Chapter VI.)

It must also be pointed out that the Environmental Coordinator with his/her many responsibilities cannot provide the Environmental Council with all of the staff assistance that it needs in order to fulfill its mission. This need remains an unresolved problem that must be addressed in the future.

Environmental Coordinator Subcommittee
Holly Cookis
Norman Cushman
Steven C. Rockefeller, Chair

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