Colby ES Program advances in competition for environmental academic excellence

The Environmental Studies program today announced that it advanced to the “Environmental Eight” round in the first-ever national tournament for environmental and sustainability academic excellence sponsored by Enviance, Inc.  a global provider of Environmental ERP (EERP) solutions. The Environmental Studies program at Colby, which was named to the ‘Sustainable 16’ two weeks ago, was selected by a group of distinguished environmental science professionals who will determine 2012’s National Environmental Studies Champion on April 2.

The tournament, running at the same time as the NCAA college basketball tournament of the same name, will award $5,000 to the environmental and sustainability department of one National Champion, and send the department chair or member of the faculty on an all-expenses-paid trip to San Diego to attend the Enviance User Conference, April 16-20. While there, the winner will lead a panel titled, “What Tomorrow’s Environmental Leaders Need to Know.”

“Narrowing down this list was difficult, as each school in the Sustainable 16 are performing the important task of grooming the next generation of leading environmental science professionals,” said Lawrence Goldenhersh, CEO and president of Enviance. “That said, the Environmental Eight is truly a select group, and each school has demonstrated a profound commitment to environmental studies programs. We’re thrilled to be giving these schools the acknowledgment they deserve.”

In addition to the aforementioned prizes for the winning university and its environmental department, one student from each of the Final Four universities who submits a survey or video in support of their school’s submission will be selected by the judges to be profiled in Environmental Leader.

The call for submissions is now closed, and the Final Four and National Champion will be released on Friday, March 30 and Monday, April 2, respectively.