National Wildlife Federation Presents “Campus Ecology Recognition Award” to Manhattanville College

Manhattanville College recently received the National Wildlife Federation's Campus Ecology Recognition Award for the 2004-2005 year. The recognition program was conceived to motivate and acknowledge campuses that set goals and systematically work to achieve them through the year. Kristy Jones, coordinator of Campus Ecology for the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), said in a statement, “Thank you for working so hard this past year on greening your campus and promoting conservation to your campus community.”

As a campus, Manhattanville achieved its goal of planning and implementing an annual Conservation Week celebration. Manhattanville’s environmental student club, Achieving Conservation Together (ACT) spearheaded this effort. The club’s goal is to reach students through several environmental activities designed to promote conservation awareness during Conservation Week as well as through out the year. 

The main focus of the Conservation Week is to relate the importance of conservation issues to students and the community. Over the last few semesters ACT has improved recycling practices around campus and promoted environmental awareness through lecture series and conservation exercises including a tie-dye workshop where students had the opportunity to recycle old clothing, a movie night showcasing an environmental cause, and a series of on-campus performances and lectures relating to environmental issues.

Published each year since 1989, NWF’s Campus Ecology Yearbook is the only publication of its kind in the U.S. The 2004-2005 projects are available online along with the previous year’s entries sorted by project topic and archived on NWF’s Campus Ecology website at www.nwf.org/campusecology. The case studies include information on the campus’ project goals, successes and challenges, funding strategies and contact information for the project leader and the campus.