Dave Newport joined the CU-Boulder community as director of the Environmental Center last month. He previously served as director of the University of Florida's Office of sustainability where he researched and published higher education's first sustainability report that met with global business standards.

Inside CU talked with Dave about his plans and vision for CU-Boulder's sustainability future.

What do you think of CU-Boulder's sustainability plans and progress thus far?

The Environmental Center is about to release the second edition of a strategic planning and implementation guide to campus sustainability called "Blueprint for a Green Campus." The first edition in 2000 won an Environmental Protection Agency award and state and local acclaim.

The new Blueprint has the potential to guide CU-Boulder to a position of global leadership in sustainability, a position that both saves lots of money and reduces environmental effects while creating positive social outcomes. I hope to see the Blueprint fully embraced by CU.

How would you like to see the center and its programs evolve?

The E-Center is the oldest and most accomplished center of its kind in the nation. It has significantly helped CU become the respected sustainability leader that it is. E-Center operations and partnerships save the university millions of dollars a year. We have only begun to achieve the cost savings we can accrue for this university.

Our next step must build on that legacy of leadership by broadening sustainability's impact into peoples' lives every day. That is my mission.

What role does CU-Boulder play in the greater community in terms of teaching sustainability practices and influencing other programs?

Boulder is by itself a great and progressive community on the sustainability front. Boulder is already a national leader. The E-Center looks to partner with local interests in any and every way possible to help leverage that leadership into broader acceptance and implementation of sustainability's principles and practices.

Anything else you'd like to add?

The E-Center has just begun a new partnership with one academic unit (sociology) and is looking for ways to cooperate and partner with many more. The E-Center brings the leadership of the student body to help academic units focus more on issues of mutual interest. We have fantastic outreach and coordination capabilities that can greatly enhance academic units' impact and reach with students. I hope to see more faculty and departmental involvement with the E-Center and will be working to make that happen. Please contact me personally if you have even the most basic ideas of how we can better work together. I'd love to talk through opportunities.

Contact Dave Newport at (303) 492-8309, dave.newport@colorado.edu.

For more information visit the Environmental Center web site.