Campus Dining: a Hotbed
for Sustainability Research
and Course Work
Enid Cardinal, Senior Sustainability Advisor
Scott Vadney, General Manager Grace Watson Dining Hall
Workshop Overview
• Introduction and overview of RIT
• Dining operations, past projects and a big
vision
• Using student research projects and project
based learning
– Sustainability Officer’s role
– Current study: Packaging and Sustainability.
– What’s next?
• Engaging dining services
• Q&A
RIT at a Glance
• 17,950 students
• 3,753 faculty/staff
• 1300 Acres (180
acres of federally
protected wetlands)
• 5,742,730 ft2
• 9 Colleges
Sustainability Highlights
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Golisano Institute for Sustainability
NYS Pollution Prevention Institute
Climate Commitment
Rochester City Scholars Program
LEED buildings
FSC Certified Print Shop
Dr. Destler’s electric vehicle challenge
Banning bottled water
DINING OPERATIONS, PAST
PROJECTS AND A BIG VISION
Dining Operations
• 19 Facilities on campus generating
$30 million in revenue
• Self-operated, non-union department
reporting to Finance VP
• One 800-seat board facility
• 560K meals, sales > $5 million
• 35 FTE, 264 student employees
working average 10,000 hours/month
BHAG
Zero Waste Facility
Source Reduction
• Trayless Dining
• Reusable to-go containers
– Eliminated 94,000
disposables annually
• Composting
• Recycling
Feed Hungry People
Dining
Services
Student
volunteers
5 Tons of food
donated to local
soup kitchens!
Soup
Kitchens
ADVANCING THE VISION
THROUGH PROJECT BASED
LEARNING
How Dining Supports the
Educational Mission
• Blessed Facility
• Engage Students, who then engage
other students
• Made it a goal on FT staff review
Moving Gracie’s closer to a Zero Waste goal
INTEGRATING CURRICULUM AND RESEARCH FOR
SUSTAINABILITY:
THE GRACIES’ PROJECT
To reduce waste, you need to know what you are
throwing out
17,000 STUDENTS ENROLLED–
I NEEDED 20.
The Role of the Sustainability
Officer
People
Planet
Economy
Triple bottom line
People – social performance
Planet – environmental stewardship
Economy - Prosperity
Aspirations
Values
Passion
Nurturing the learner’s
personal triple bottom line
Passion – what resonates with them
Values – what do they want to contribute
Aspirations – how do they want to contribute
Pedagogical model
• Accompany the students on their
learning journey
• Create a safe environment for
exchange and transparency
• Make the information come to life
• Make time for reflection
• Encourage discovery singularly and
in a group
The Assignment
What’s Next?
ENGAGING DINING SERVICES
Your Typical Dining Director
•
•
•
•
Global view of department
Willing to engage other departments
Cost conscious
May have some preliminary idea on
how to begin
Your Typical Dining Unit
Manager
•
•
•
•
Understaffed
Budget Constrained
Time Crunched
Pulled in multiple directions.
Can You Help Me?
Your Homework
•
•
•
•
Begin with the end in mind
Offer to meet between 2-4
Buy a meal. Have lunch there
Talk to your students
Questions?
Scott Vadney
General Manager, Grace Watson Dining Hall
Rochester Institute of Technology
585-475-2049
savfsg@rit.edu
Enid L. Cardinal, LEED AP
Senior Sustainability Advisor to the President
Rochester Institute of Technology
585-475-7942
Enid.Cardinal@rit.edu