Bethlehem, Pa., April 17, 2015—Moravian College is one of the 353 most environmentally responsible colleges according to The Princeton Review (www.PrincetonReview.com). The education services company known for its test prep and tutoring services, books, and college rankings features Moravian College in the 2015 edition of its free book, The Princeton Review Guide to 353 Green Colleges.
Published in time for the April 22 celebration of Earth Day, the free, 218-page guide can be downloaded at www.princetonreview.com/green-guide. The Princeton Review chose the schools for this sixth annual edition of its "green guide" based on data from the company's 2014 survey of hundreds of four-year colleges concerning the schools' commitments to the environment and sustainability.
"I'm pleased that we are once again included in The 2015 Princeton Review's Guide to 353 Green Colleges,” said Frank T. Kuserk, Louise E. Juley professor of biological sciences and director of the Environmental Studies & Sciences Program at Moravian College. “We have made considerable progress in the past few years in becoming a more sustainable campus and are proud of our efforts. Many constituencies deserve credit for what we have been able to accomplish and I want to thank them for their hard work."
“Being included in the Guide to Green Colleges shows that we have retained a certain level of sustainability on our campus, and it takes the time and collaboration of many to get to this point,” said Audrey McSain ’16, environmental policy major and president of ECO: Moravian's Environmental Coalition. It is my hope that this listing will act as a source of inspiration for us all to strive for excellence."
"We strongly recommend Moravian College and the other fine colleges in this guide to the many environmentally-minded students who seek to study and live at green colleges," said The Princeton Review's Robert Franek, Senior VP-Publisher.
Franek noted the growing interest the company has seen among college-bound students in green colleges. "Among nearly 10,000 teens who participated in our 2015 College Hopes & Worries Survey, 61% told us that having information about a school’s commitment to the environment would influence their decision to apply to or attend the college." (A complete report on that survey is at www.princetonreview.com/college-hopes-worries.)
In the "Green Facts" section on Moravian, The Princeton Review cites College’s free campus shuttle, the budget spent on local/organic food, the work of the school’s ECO sustainability committee, and waste diversion rate. On the academic side, Moravian College received praise for offering sustainability-focused degrees in the environmental sciences.
"I believe that ECO, our student run Environmental Coalition, has been ambitious in increasing and diversifying the events we host to raise environmental awareness and promote sustainability, and we will continue to do so in the future," Audrey McSain ’16 continued. "But there is much more to be improved upon and potential to be worked with, and it will take efforts from all around to do so. Let this motivate us to continually make enhancements to not just keep Moravian College amongst the greenest colleges, but to place us even further.”
The Princeton Review chose the colleges based on "Green Rating" scores (from 60 to 99) that the company tallied in summer 2014 for 861 colleges using data from its 2013-14 survey of school administrators. The survey asked them to report on their school's sustainability-related policies, practices, and programs. More than 25 data points were weighted in the assessment. Schools with Green Rating scores of 83 or higher made it into this guide. Most of the schools (347) in this edition are in the U.S. Five are in Canada. One is in Egypt. Information about Princeton Review's Green Rating and its Green Honor Roll saluting schools that received the highest possible rating score, 99, is at www.princetonreview.com/green-guide. Note: The Princeton Review does not publish the schools' Green Rating scores in this guide. The scores can be found in the profiles of the schools on www.princetonreview.com and in the 2015 edition of The Princeton Review books, The Best 379 Colleges and The Complete Book of Colleges, published in August 2014.
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