New $11 million institute expands Carolina’s environmental programs

The UNC Institute for the Environment, formed through expansion of the existing Carolina Environmental Program, adds new degree programs, research sites and outreach initiatives throughout North Carolina. The institute will be launched April 12.

Photograph of Dr. Douglas Crawford-Brown

“We intend for this institute to become the major resource to which the state will turn as it tries to solve problems associated with community design, energy and environment, health and environmental policy,” said Douglas Crawford-Brown, Ph.D., director of the Carolina Environmental Program and head of the new institute. “The additional resources invested in the new institute will allow us to conduct the fundamental research needed to inform these issues, and to create the institutional infrastructure by which we can engage with the state and bring that research forward to help the people of North Carolina.”

The institute’s four initiatives include:

• adding to existing sustainable energy, environment and economic development programs;
• creating a center examining landscape change and human health;
• establishing a center for sustainable community design; and
• broadening UNC’s environmental public service and engagement programs, offering aid to public schools, local and state governments and environmental and community groups throughout North Carolina.

Chancellor James Moeser noted the institute’s focus on critical issues. “As our society grapples with environmentally related issues such as sustainable community design, natural resource allocation and global warming,” he said, “it is critical for the university community to be involved in new and different ways. The UNC Institute for the Environment extends our traditional mission of education, research and service by engaging with others on these issues.”

The institute’s creation is funded by a multi-year, $8 million commitment from UNC, as well as by $3 million in gifts from private donors. These commitments include:

• the Cherokee Distinguished Professorship in Sustainable Community Design;
• the Michael S. Meldman Distinguished Professorship in Conservation;
• support from Progress Energy for the institute’s programs in sustainable energy, environment and economic development; and
• a gift from Tim Toben of Chapel Hill, vice chair of the institute Board of Visitors.

The UNC Institute for the Environment will be a world leader in scholarship and service focusing on environment and sustainability, said Bernadette Gray-Little, Ph.D., executive vice chancellor and provost.

“Today, we face complex environmental challenges that will require strong, inspired and carefully planned responses,” she said. “By facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration, the Institute for the Environment will help to engage the campus in research and teaching leading to a deeper understanding of the environment and strategies to address environmental problems.”

The institute will maintain the current program’s focus on environmental modeling for policy development; its environmental field site network; and, in cooperation with the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Public Health, administration of UNC’s bachelor’s degree programs in environmental science, environmental studies and environmental health science.

The institute will also continue the Carolina Environmental Program’s Carbon Reduction Program (CRed), which led UNC-Chapel Hill and the Town of Chapel Hill to adopt ambitious targets for reducing emissions of gases, such as carbon dioxide, that contribute to global warming. Other notable programs that will be associated with the new institute include research that assists the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with air pollution standards, and work with the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources to help North Carolina municipalities achieve sustainable community designs.

Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy, who worked closely with institute faculty, students and staff on the CRed program, said, “We are fortunate to have the UNC Institute for the Environment and its students, faculty and staff here in Chapel Hill. They are helping the town reduce its carbon emissions and bring energy and commitment, and a broad and sophisticated perspective, to this important challenge.”

Note: Doug Crawford-Brown can be reached at (919) 966-6026 or douglas_crawford-brown@unc.edu.

Institute for the Environment contact: Tony Reevy, (919) 966-9927, tony_reevy@unc.edu.

School of Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, (919) 966-7467, ramona_dubose@unc.edu.

News Services contact: Becky Oskin, (919) 962-8596, becky_oskin@unc.edu.