News Updates

Sustainability Symposium invites students to engage with a group of expert panelists about environmental issues at W&M.

William & Mary’s commitment to sustainability is built into the campus, and it continues to grow with new architectural projects and expansion of existing programs.

Students connect with local food systems thanks to W&M Dining's Farm Fest.

James Monroe's Highland is home to a wealth of history, and opportunities for students to pursue their environmental research ideas.

Student interns work with dining services to advance sustainability by educating and connecting their peers to various aspects of food system sustainability.

For the more than 270 undergraduates who received 2024 Charles Center summer research grants, May through August is a period of profound discovery, personal mentorship, and meaningful connection.

The William & Mary Committee on Sustainability has announced the spring 2024 Green Fee awards. This semester, 13 proposals were approved to receive a total of $211,019 in grants. These projects will advance W&M’s sustainability through academic research, educational opportunities and improved technologies and operational systems.

With the promotion of sustainable practices at the forefront of these grants, the Committee on Sustainability members approved a total of $35,712 to be spent across a broad spectrum or projects, from academia and research, to operations that advance sustainability on campus.

The William & Mary Green Fee, established in 2008 by student request, has provided over $1.6 million in funding for sustainability-related projects. This fall, the W&M Committee on Sustainability (COS) awarded Green Fee proposals for seven sustainability-related projects, totaling $24,038.

The William & Mary Committee on Sustainability has announced the spring 2020 Green Fee awards, which will be awarded to seven campus projects.

The William & Mary community celebrated Earth Week virtually this spring, working with other Virginia universities to offer events accessible to the public through multiple online platforms.

The Global Innovation Challenge recently was held entirely over online communications platforms.

William & Mary has signed a power purchase agreement with Dominion Energy that will source nearly 50% of the university’s electricity from renewable energy.

Solar United Neighbors' fourth annual Virginia Solar Congress was held on Saturday, November 16 at the William & Mary School of Education. The event attracted members of the William & Mary community, in addition to residents from across Virginia.

As part of the university’s ongoing sustainability efforts, William & Mary Dining Services implemented a phase-out to use up its remaining stock of single-use plastics on the way to switching to alternatives.

Calandra Waters Lake, William & Mary's director of sustainability, used her own family’s holiday practices as a guide to give suggestions on how people can lessen their impact on the Earth while celebrating the holidays.

William & Mary’s Committee on Sustainability recently awarded fall Green Fee grants for sustainability-related projects at the university.

William & Mary and the University of Virginia have committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2030, the universities announced today.

Learn about what the W&M Sustainability EcoReps worked on this Fall in a Q&A with EcoRep Neel Simpson.

They are ubiquitous, nearly invisible and may determine the future of our planet. Known as aerosols, the small specks of matter can be found in nearly every ecosystem, but are tough to study in the wild. A team of students could change that.

Dozens of new students in the 7 Generations pre-orientation program turned donated T-shirts into reusable bags.

William & Mary students already eat lots of vegetables grown nearby as part of the university’s partnership with KelRae Farm, but this fall, menus will be abuzz with the addition of honey.

The survey will gauge opinions and preferences on “ghost” pots in Virginia waters.

Since spring 2008, the Green Fee program has funded more than $1 million worth of sustainability projects led by W&M students, faculty and staff, representing different aspects of sustainability on campus.

William & Mary President Katherine A. Rowe today announced the adoption of the university’s first long-range, comprehensive Sustainability Plan.

The William & Mary Committee on Sustainability announced which groups will receive a total of $74,466 to be dedicated to sustainability projects around campus.

Water bottling filling stations are part of the latest push to improve accessibility to and increase use of tap water in the William & Mary campus community.

Custodial sustainability efforts have earned William & Mary an honor that no other university in the nation has received.

The William & Mary Committee on Sustainability will support another eco-friendly project at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science as part of its fall 2017 Green Fee awards.

Faculty, staff, students and administrators have built a coalition to focus and further the university’s integrative wellness efforts as part of the national Healthy Campus 2020 initiative.

The university was recently designated a Silver Level Bike Friendly University by the League of American Bicyclists.

Terra Alpha Investments advocates for companies to adopt environmentally smart practices.

The William & Mary Committee on Sustainability this fall awarded more than $50,000 in funding to faculty, students and staff for sustainability projects on campus and in the local community through Green Fee grants.

It’s nesting season for bald eagles, and the birds are nesting closer and closer to campus — but William & Mary's naturalists have found no eagle nest on the campus itself. Yet.

Results of a new study led by researchers at William & Mary's Virginia Institute of Marine Science show that adult blue crabs are much more tolerant of low-oxygen, “hypoxic” conditions than previously thought.

A graduate student, assisted by an undergrad, are examining how vegetation affects diamondback terrapin nesting on Fisherman Island.

These mega-author collaborations are becoming more common in science.

William & Mary's Committee on Sustainability has announced its Spring 2015 Green Fee Awards.

A new study of the complex interplay between organisms and their environment shows that biodiversity is even more important to the healthy functioning of ecosystems than previously thought.

The Committee on Sustainability's second annual Sustainability Summit

The Fall 2014 GreenFee funding has been awarded to students, faculty, and staff for sustainability initiatives of all kinds!

a new bike program on campus has an exciting start

The College's first director of sustainability has been appointed-and she has big plans

a new bike program on campus has an exciting start

Join us for the first annual Sustainability Summit on Nov. 2nd in the Brinkley Commons of Miller Hall!

The steering committee for the COS has agreed to fund nine new proposals to advance sustainability on campus.

40th a year ago, W&M finishes 19th in 2012 out of 265 colleges and universities.

A new partnership between Virginia Sea Grant and the College of William and Mary is exploring whether a community-supported fishery is a feasible means to help reverse this trend by promoting greater consumption of locally harvested fish and shellfish.

Construction of seven new lodges and the Daily Grind Coffee shop to transform site by using cutting-edge technology and the latest sustainability strategies.

Twelve projects, totaling $64,380, are being funded.

Sustainability Fellow Sarah Hanke, student Max Cunningham, and alum Lauren Edmonds ’11 will make presentations at Pittsburgh event.

The projects reflect a strong interest in recycling and other energy-efficient initiatives.

The group includes the first graduate or professional student to receive a COS Summer Research Grant.

Program offers its faculty, staff and students the opportunity to contribute personally to an in-house carbon-offset initiative.

Spring projects include athletics, electronics, library science, transportation, and marine science.

As anyone who has ever participated in a remodeling project can attest, replacing and updating utilities is never an easy prospect.

The College's Committee on Sustainability (COS) has announced the projects funded for fall 2010 from the student green fee.

The College of William & Mary received a “B+” overall on the 2011 College Sustainability Report Card, improving on last year’s “B” and continuing the upward trajectory in sustainability efforts and achievements by the College.

The College of William & Mary has recently become a member of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, an association of colleges and universities that are working to create a sustainable future.

The Committee on Sustainability co-chairs set the record straight about the College's participation in green surveys following an erroneous article published by W&M's student newspaper, The Flat Hat.

Traveling to and from William & Mary is about to become a whole lot easier, and a lot more sustainable, through a new carpooling program established by the College over the summer.

The car sharing program Zipcar came to campus in August.

Beginning this month, faculty, staff and students will find a number of new large recycling containers across campus to collect paper, glass, plastic bottles and aluminum or tin cans.

Jane Gray Morris '13 uses a summer grant from the Committee on Sustainability to revitalize sustainably gardening behind the Caf.

William & Mary's faculty, library and undergraduate happiness level have again been ranked among the best in the country, according to the latest survey by The Princeton Review.

Diners in Williamsburg-area eateries late this summer may be tasting the results of a William & Mary sustainable agriculture internship.

The Committee on Sustainability (COS) announced the funding of five awards for Sustainability Internships for the summer of 2010. This is the second year for these awards.

The Undergraduate Business Program at the Mason School of Business at the College of William & Mary ranks second in the areas of sustainability and marketing, according to the Bloomberg Businessweek Best Business Programs by Specialty 2010.

Committee on Sustainability announces College's top-10 DOTs.

Home of the Mason School of Business at the College of William & Mary, one of the nation's oldest universities, is one of a handful of academic buildings earning Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

William & Mary is among the country's most environmentally-responsible colleges, according to The Princeton Review's first-ever "Guide to 286 Green Colleges."

W&M, in the midst of a campus-wide campaign focused on institutional and individual sustainability, has become the nation's first "Do One Thing" university.

William & Mary's lodge buildings may soon serve as a model for people and businesses looking to create and sustain "green" living spaces.

Apply for a COS Summer 2010 Research Grant by March 19th, 2010.

Apply for project funding from the student Green Fees.

President Taylor Reveley sent the following message to the William & Mary community on Jan. 25, 2010. - Ed.

W&M's Dining Services officially launched its program to compost much of the food waste from the dining facilities on campus, cutting its waste production by approximately one third.

The College's Committee on Sustainability (COS) has announced its fall 2009 round of project funding via the student green fee. Out of 26 proposals totaling almost $250,000 in requests, 12 were awarded funding at the committee's November meeting for a total of $78,759.

A letter from several participants in the Chesapeake Algae Program is printed in the leading journal "Science." The writers point out several environmental benefits of using algae as biofuel feedstock.

Last month, more than 20 students from various organizations - including the College's Committee on Sustainability, the Sharpe Community Scholars Program, the EcoHouse, and the Student Environmental Action Coalition - completed the College's first green roof test plots.

As interns for the Committee on Sustainability (COS), Tyler Koontz '09 and Judi Sclafani '11 spent their summer months evaluating William & Mary's recycling and waste services. Thanks to that work - and a recommendation by the students - the College will now save $40,000 annually.

William & Mary reduced its carbon emissions 16 percent per square foot of building space since 2002, according to the College's first official greenhouse gas inventory released this week.

Construction on the 166,000-square-foot Alan B. Miller Hall, located at the corner of Jamestown Road and Ukrop Way, has been completed, and the building is ready for its first full semester of classes beginning Aug. 24.

Study shows taller reefs in large sanctuaries are key to successful native oyster restoration.

William & Mary's faculty, libraries and student contentment help rank the college among the nation's very best in annual Princeton Review ranking.

William & Mary's Committee on Sustainability named a sustainability fellow for the 2009 -2010 academic year, the first in the school's history.

Aramark and William and Mary Dining Services will be hiring three (3) student Sustainability Interns for the 2009-2010 academic year.

Environmentally sustainable special interest housing approved.

New project will demonstrate the viability of harnessing solar energy to supplement campus power as a part of the College of William and Mary's sustainability initiative.

Is your work area or dorm too cold for your comfort this winter?

One of the recently-awarded grants from the Committee on Sustainability will go towards energy-saving SensorSwitches.