Sustainable City Series (Courtesy Urban Design Studio)

The thirteenth Sustainable City Series event sponsored by the Urban Design Studio will take place on Tuesday, March 16 at 6:00pm at the Glassworks on West Market Street.  This time, the Series will discuss the role universities play in regional sustainability initiatives.  Representatives from the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky will be part of the panel.  Here’s a bit of info from the Urban Design Studio:

“Universities play a key role in the promotion and implementation of sustainable practices in our communities. Not only do universities contribute to regional sustainability through fundamental research and an existing knowledge base, but also through education and training, community involvement and outreach, and the institutions’ own development of space, energy policy and environmental programming.

“Our guest speakers will be:

“Justin Mog serves as the University of Louisville’s assistant to the provost for sustainability initiatives. He is the first to hold this position at UofL and has been working with the university’s Sustainability Council since August 2009 to integrate sustainability into everything the university does – from operations and facilities to administration and finances to education and research. Justin holds environmental studies degrees from Oberlin College (B.S.) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (M.S., Ph.D.) and recently completed three years of service in the Peace Corps promoting sustainable development in Paraguay.

“Larry Owsley has served as the University of Louisville’s vice president for business affairs since 1983. He has graduate degrees from the University of Virginia and the University of California, Berkeley in public administration and public policy analysis respectively. His undergraduate degree is in history from Centre College of Kentucky.

“Brent Fryrear is the Director of the Partnership for a Green City – a collaboration of Louisville Metro Government, Jefferson County Public Schools and the University of Louisville – working together to address climate change and “green” institutional practices within the organizations themselves as well as working to achieve real results that will have long-term positive impacts on the health, education, and well-being of our citizens. Brent has been in the environmental arena for almost 25 years in industry, emergency response, consulting, government and higher education. He has a Masters degree in Higher Education Administration and Organizational Development and a Bachelors in Biology, both from UofL.

“Shane Tedder was recently hired by the University of Kentucky to serve as their first Sustainability Coordinator and reports to the Vice President for Facilities Management. Prior to this appointment, Shane worked for 6 years as the recycling and sustainability coordinator for the Office of Residence Life at UK. During this time he created the Wildcat Wheels Bicycle Library (www.wildcatwheelsorg) and Earthdays in the Bluegrass (www.edbg.org).”

The event is free but seating is limited and the Urban Design Studio requests attendees to RSVP on their web site.  As usual, coffee will be provided by Heine Brothers and Ramsi’s Cafe will have snacks.  These events always fill up quickly, so I recommend reserving your spot as soon as possible.