Sustainability
Sustainability is a core value at HWS. The Office of Sustainability engages faculty, students, staff and the Geneva community on all three pillars of sustainability: environmental, economic and social. This requires a cross-disciplinary approach that works with multiple departments to generate innovative ways to make Hobart and William Smith more sustainable. We have a unique program that uses the physical campus as a laboratory to explore different strategies and that encourages students to link classroom learning with real world applications. In 2007, the Colleges were a charter signatory of the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, committing Hobart and William Smith to climate neutrality by 2025.
CAMPUS
Our campus is situated in a unique setting on the edge of a small city, a few blocks from vast agricultural lands and on the shores of one of the deepest lakes in the United States. The applied sustainability opportunities are endless and act as a microcosm of the complex issues of the 21st century.
Awards
In 2019, Environment America found that Hobart and William Smith Colleges was a top-10 school nationwide for renewable electricity purchased per student.
HWS continues to be recognized as a "Cool School" for sustainability by Sierra Magazine.
A $1 million gift from the Midgley Foundation establishes a permanent fund to support summer research projects focused on environmental conservation. Summer research collaborations between student scholars and faculty mentors…
A student project designed to protect and encourage pollinators won the 2021 Action Program of the Year award from the IMPACT Conference. To provide food and habitats for bees, moths,…
As a 2020 Woodworth Fellow, Willa Dow ’21 researched the impact of the French colonial legacy on the economies and environmental outlooks of four central African countries. Willa Dow ’21…
