Oakton Receives Environmental Sustainability Award from Village of Glenview

(Dec. 4, 2018) Oakton Community College was recently recognized by the Village of Glenview as a 2018 Environmental Sustainability Gold Award winner for education and outreach. Sponsored by the Village’s Natural Resources Commission, the environmental sustainability awards annually recognize organizations that serve the Glenview community by taking the lead with environmental stewardship and innovative best practices.

“We are proud to see that the communities in our district hold the same value for sustainability as we do here at Oakton,” Sustainability Specialist Debra Kutska says. “It makes our work more meaningful when we can work toward environmental responsibility together. We feel honored to have received this award from the Village of Glenview alongside so many other impressive community partners.”

To receive the education and outreach award, an organization must influence its employees, members, customers or other stakeholders to improve sustainable practices through various education events.

Oakton’s wide-ranging sustainability effort encompasses the college’s grounds, building operations and educational curriculum. The Village of Glenview praised Oakton for activities held this past year including hosting a “zero waste” Fall Fest, restoring the grounds with native landscaping, compiling an annual sustainability report and incorporating environmental sustainability into coursework.

Oakton has long been a leader in sustainability. Recent efforts include launching a new environmental studies concentration, diversion of more than 36 percent of waste from landfills and a student-led initiative to use refillable water containers and eliminate the sale of single-use plastic water bottles on campus. The college has also installed solar arrays at its Skokie campus in addition to electric vehicle charging stations at the Des Plaines location.