Our History

In 2000, an Environmental Team made up of faculty, staff and students from across the campus, was formed to improve the quality of Villanova’s sustainability efforts. The Environmental Team was a part of the Villanova Quality Improvement (VQI), with the mission to “deepen the University's communal bond, sense of shared purpose, and openness to change in order to better serve students, parents, colleagues, alumnae and others through striving for continuous quality improvement in relationship and work processes.”

The Environmental Team was active between 2000 and 2006. During that time the Team worked to:

• Instill within the Villanova University community a sense of environmental awareness.
• Promote the practice of environmental sustainability and wise use of resources within and beyond Villanova University.
• Enhance the understanding of environmental ethics and its relationship to environmental science, public policy, and socio-economic realities and consequences.
• Produce a community of faculty, staff, students, and graduates that individually and collectively are environmentally literate and responsible citizens, and whose actions on a day-to-day basis reflects a caring for the Earth, and respect of all living species, and a compassion for humankind.
  

In 2007, Father Donohue signed the Presidents Climate Commitment and a new committee was formed to help address our new responsibility of becoming a carbon neutral campus.

The President's Environmental Sustainability Committee (PESC) was then formed as a replacement for the Environmental Team.

Now, the Villanova Sustainable Leadership Council is the main committee addressing Villanova's responsibility to be more sustainable, and become a green leader for universities. By addressing issues of climate change today, we can ensure a thriving future for all, forever.