ABOUT US 
“UNH has always recognized higher education’s unique role in promoting sustainability: as large educational and research communities, universities exert significant ecological, economic, and cultural force in their immediate region and extended surroundings and into future generations. And we will continue to build on our past decade-plus of collaborative work in order to transform the unprecedented challenges we face today into opportunities.”
-- Dr. Tom Kelly, UNH's Chief Sustainability Officer
Mission of the University Office of Sustainability (UOS)
To transform UNH into a Sustainable Learning Community.
To accomplish this, we...
See it.
UOS facilitates cross-disciplinary partnerships through the common ground of sustainability that strengthen the university's responsiveness to environmental, economic, and cultural challenges.
Build it.
UOS develops and supports university-wide decision-making mechanisms, tools, and policies that make UNH a model sustainable learning community.
Live it.
UOS initiates, leads, and collaborates on innovative teaching, research, and outreach initiatives that engage the university in building a sustainable learning community.
History
Sustainability at UNH began with the grassroots leadership of faculty, students, and staff, which led to the establishment of our endowed, university-wide program in 1997 through a generous gift by an visionary UNH alumnus.
UOS is the oldest endowed sustainability program in higher education in the U.S.
A program review process was initiated with the establishment of a review team in 2002; that panel suggested restructuring the program to increase communication of impacts and to establish a higher-level campus-wide reporting responsibility. A second advisory committee was convened in 2006 to develop more specific recommendations regarding name, leadership, reporting structure, and the establishment of an advisory committee.
The growing scope and impact of our office on academic and operational activities campus-wide lead to a reconsideration of the name, organization and reporting structure of this activity: in July 2007, UNH President Mark W. Huddleston announced the elevation of the University Office of Sustainability to strengthen our across-campus mission and reflect our senior and authoritative role in continuing the university’s national leadership in sustainability.
Along with our move to the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President, our office’s founding director, Dr. Tom Kelly, assumed the role of Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) for the university.
More Information
- Learn more about sustainability
- Learn more about the vision of sustainability at UNH
- Learn more about UOS staff
- Download the UOS brochure (PDF)
- Learn more about UNH's many successes in sustainability
- Learn more about UNH's awards and first's in sustainability
- See how the principles and practices of sustainability map across the entire UNH Durham campus
* Kelly, T. (November 2003). "Building a Sustainable Learning Community at the University of New Hampshire." Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future, 6(2).*
