2016 SLICE Awards

Thank you to all who submitted nominations highlighting the outstanding work of students, faculty and staff for this year's SLICE awards. The nominations were thoughtful, inspiring and spanned many departments and offices across campuses, further demonstrating the breadth and depth of work by many to integrate sustainability into our daily work and long-term thinking. 

Please join us in honoring the 2016 SLICE award winners. (Sustainability Leadership, Innovation and Collaborative Engagement) Awards.

• Faculty Award for Sustainability in Higher Education--Marth Bohm, assistant professor architecture.  Under Bohm's direction, the GRoW Home was created and finished second in the U.S. Department of Energy's national Solar Decathlon competition.  The effort involved hundreds of students, multiple faculty and a dozen academic departments.

• Staff Award for Sustainable Operations Initiative--William Bagley, supervisor of grounds, facilities campus operations.  For the past several decades his dedication to continuously improve the university’s recycling program and minimize waste across campus has helped to ensure the university’s waste diversion goals are integrated into our operational fabric.  

• Student Leadership Award for Sustainable Action--Connor Brown, an undergraduate majoring in mechanical engineering.  As president of the UB student chapter of Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW) the past two years he has been a consistent advocate of sustainability on campus, and has served as an outstanding role model training the next generation of sustainability leaders.  His overall commitment, outstanding leadership, and recruitment of UB students has led to many successful projects. 

• Sustainability Excellence by a Department or Cross-Functional Team--Parking & Transportation Services.  The unit's sustainability initiatives have played a critical role in mainstreaming sustainability best practices into university life.  Whether the involvement has been working with outside organizations like Social Bikes and Zipcar or ensuring students have convenient access to buses and shuttles, Parking and Transportation Services has been committed to lowering our carbon emissions, empowering our campus community by increasing mobility options and working to increase awareness.

About the UB SLICE awards

Exemplary efforts by University Community members express UB’s continuing efforts to become a sustainable institution. The University at Buffalo wishes to recognize outstanding individuals and departments who exhibit a sincere commitment to transforming our campuses into a holistically sustainable community through the kinds of leadership, innovation, and collaboration that demonstrates environmental stewardship, enhances social progress, or promotes responsible economic systems and growth.

Each nomination was evaluated based on how well the nominee’s actions reflect these sustainability criteria:

• Going above and beyond routine or assigned responsibilities
• Innovation
• Overall impact
• Ability to serve as a catalyst or model
• Engages multiple campus stakeholders (students, faculty, staff, community, etc)
• Incorporates multiple aspects of sustainability

Nominees must be faculty or staff members, students, or a department or cross functional team at the University at Buffalo. Candidates can be nominated for different categories, either as individuals, departments or partnerships. The categories are:

•  Award for Sustainability Excellence by a Department or Cross Functional Team
•  Student Leadership Award for Sustainable Action
•  Staff Award for Sustainable Operations Initiative
•  Faculty Award for Sustainability in Higher Education

The awards program is selective. Not every nomination is selected for an award. The number of awards in each category is not restricted nor is each award category filled each year.