Environmentally conscious campuses are taking on the role of
managing resource consumption. Highlights of the 2010 Smart and
Sustainable Campuses Conference describe efforts to preserve and
protect. By Michele Madia and Tadu Yimam The fifth annual Smart
and Sustainable Campuses Conference at the University of
Maryland, College Park, in March took 280 participants well
beyond the basics. With a theme of “Making the Business Case,”
programming was organized into four tracks: a new track on
financing sustainability, plus operational solutions, planning
and smart growth, and institutionalizing sustainability. More
than 30 concurrent sessions, two preconference workshops, five
plenary sessions, and a campus tour offered innovative and
creative strategies for modeling new and more sustainable ways
of living and operating. Another 200 participants took advantage
of a more sustainable alternative to the conference: NACUBO's
first virtual event. The interactive online option offered many
of the same opportunities foun