The sustainable campus: could csun be greener? short report (internal
The Sustainable Campus: Could CSUN Be Greener?
Short Report (Internal Proposal)
Dr. D
ianne Harrison is putting out a
RFP fo
r Sustainability Proposals on campus. She has
allocated some funds for green projects. Your team will compete for this money against 5 other
teams in the class.
Is CSUN as “green” as it could be? Could money be saved as well as our carbon footprint
reduce
d? How do we compare to other campuses? Try googling: “Sustainability/Green Building
Websites.” Look at CSUN’s Sustainability Institute site
(
http://www.csun.edu/sustainability/
)
to
evaluate our current progress, and then see what other campuses are doing.
Look for ideas that
CSUN could use in its quest to become a more sustainable university. Review past proposals that
have failed as well as what other campuses do. Find a topic you would be interested in exploring
more deeply; do so by connecting to your m
ajor, your profession, or your personal interests.
10/20 Sustainability Day will be your starting point.
Some areas to consider may be:
Food Service, cafeterias
Transportation parking, traffic
Student / Faculty Housing
Gardens, Green Spaces, Trees
Power
& Energy
SRC
Klotz Health Center
Child Care Center
Electronic Waste (e
–
waste)
Recycling
Wildlife, birds
Classroom space
Waste management/ Rainwater catchment/Irrigation
Matador Athletics
USU
Campus Events (The Big Show, Matador Nights, etc.)
There are
a lot of programs
and activities
around this topic; you may find yourself swimming in
a sea of information and ideas! When you workshop this draft, I expect solid feedback that does
more than just talks about sentence
–
level errors and
spelling mistakes (4
0 points); it should really
touch on the issues and further the conversation that we have been having since
we began this
class.
Keep an open mind and a curious attitude as you explore the variety of ideas across various
2
U.S.
and international
campuses. Yo
ur idea could be an awareness campaign, a change in how
things are done,
how to improve an
existing program,
a new approach to an old problem, an
installation, new facility, and a student activity.
Final Topic Selection:
It would be wise to select your to
pic fast. The odds are not great, but your
topic may have some overlap with another team in this class, which is not ideal, but realistic in
the workplace.
Your final product will be a well
–
supported internal
proposal of 1,500
+ words in short
report forma
t directed to your decision
–
maker: President Dr. Dianne Harrison of CSUN.
Refer to
your text for guidance
.
Chapter 8 will be your main guiding force in this report;
however, Chapter 9 provides some useful suggestions as well.
In your report, you’ll need t
o
include: the purpose (why you are making this proposal); the problem (why this needs to be
done); the solution or plan.
To be clear: a proposal is not a research report; you must actually propose something, not just
tell Dr. Harrison about it
.
The solut
ion is key in this type of report!
Ask yourself when you finish
your draft, what did I propose we do about this problem?
Cost Analysis:
You will need to consider costs and feasibility. You must have a cost anal
ysis in
the report (see page 333 and 338
for
a sample). How could this be done? What would it cost?
How would it work? Do your best to find the answers to these questions. Would students accept
this idea? You will also need to explain how this change will be communicated to students, or
how students
could become involved. This could be with a poster campaign,
social media, and
event,
or other networking/student involvement possibilities.
Trajectory/ Timeline
: How will this proposal get done? Who will do it? Is there a deadline? I ask
you consider al
l of these things for completeness. Leave
no
detail neglected and no question
unanswered.
