Sustainability
Sustainability is one of Grand Valley's main values that serves as the foundation for its strategic plan and mission of educating students to shape their lives, their professions, and their societies.
At Grand Valley, we believe that sustainability is related to the quality of life in a community. Improving sustainability means providing economic, social, and environmental systems that provide healthy, productive, and meaningful lives for both the population of today and tomorrow.
In University Marketing, we demonstrate our commitment to sustainability by:
Creating paperless processes
To make the university more efficient and sustainable, University Marketing's web team creates paperless processes for various university departments and organizations. This service is offered to any interested department who would like to find a way to use technology to decrease the amount of paper it uses.
For example, the web team developed an online system for administering Grand Valley's Writing 305 test. Since 2,800 four-page tests were taken per year and two copies of each test were made, 22,400 pieces of paper per year are conserved using the online process.
Members of the web team examined six of its paperless process projects in one year, and discovered that in just those projects they saved:
- 572,210 pieces of paper
- 1,144 reams of paper
- $4,005 worth of paper
- 68 trees
For more information on their analysis of these six projects, view their presentation.
If you are interested in creating a paperless process for your department or organization, please contact the web team.
Using sustainable printing practices
Sustainable Graphic Design
University Marketing's graphic designers use techniques, processes, and materials that will help reduce the detrimental environmental, social, and economic impact of their designs.
Volunteering
The members of the University Marketing team believe that as proud representatives of Grand Valley State University we have a fundamental responsibility to give back to the communities in which we work and live through volunteerism. In addition to providing much-needed assistance and gaining the personal satisfaction one gets as a volunteer, we also hope to inspire others to make a positive impact on society. The following groups and organizations are just some of those with which our team members share their time and talents.
- Animal Placement Bureau
- AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization)
- Blandford Nature Center
- Calvin College Bunker Interpretive Center
- Camp Fire USA
- Coalition to End Homelessness
- Fair Housing Center of West Michigan
- Family Promise of Grand Rapids
- GRACE (Grand Rapids Area Center for Ecumenism)
- Georgetown United Methodist Church
- Grand Valley State University Alumni Association
- GROW (Grand Rapids Opportunities for Women)
- Habitat for Humanity Kent County
- Harvest Orthodox Presbyterian Church
- Heart of West Michigan United Way
- Heartland Hospice Services
- Hill Child Development Center
- Homeschool Building & Resource Center
- Holy Family Catholic Church
- Humane Society of Kent County
- Kent County Literacy Council
- Kids Food Basket
- Land Conservancy of West Michigan
- Leadership Grand Rapids
- Neland Avenue Christian Reformed Church
- NECAA (North East Citizens Action Association)
- Partners for a Racism-Free Community
- Peke A Tzu Dog Rescue
- Rockford United Methodist Church
- Schools of Hope
- Special Ministries Friendship Club
- St. Thomas the Apostle School and Church
- UICA (Urban Institute of Contemporary Art)
- USPartnership.org
- West Michigan Arabian Horse Association
- Woodcliff Park Association
Recycling and conserving resources
In University Marketing, we pride ourselves on keeping our daily operations as environmentally friendly as possible.
We recycle all the paper and plastic items we use, only turn on lights when necessary, and use Grand Valley’s bus service for transportation to and from meetings in Allendale. In addition, many of our team members walk or bike to work and nearby meetings.