ruppert-kathleenMay 30, 2014 - Dr. Kathleen Ruppert received the University of Florida’s Champion of Change award in the academics category through the Office of Sustainability and Healthy Gators for her work in developing an Action Plan for promoting sustainability in extension offices.  Many Extension offices are being asked to save money for their county in any way possible. The University of Florida (UF) Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Program for Resource Efficient Communities, working with UF's Office of Sustainability and undergraduate students in UF's College of Design, Construction and Planning, produced the document, Action Plan for Promoting Sustainability in Extension Offices. The intent is to help Extension offices become models for resource-efficient, sustainable, behavior for the clients and community they serve as well as saving money for the county. Note that the Excel spreadsheet, found at http://buildgreen.ufl.edu/Extension_and_Sustainability.htm, is referenced in the Word document also found on the same website. The students who worked on this document hope that a few faculty, staff members, and volunteers working within each county Extension office will take on this challenge to create and promote a greener and more sustainable world. Both the Word document and the Excel spreadsheet are intended to be copied to your hard drive and edited to fit the needs of individual county Extension offices. Note that, with some minor changes, these materials could be utilized by any group or organization. Please consider the students’ request and show that all organizations are interested in initiating practices that contribute to a more sustainable, high quality of life in and for all communities. If you have questions or suggestions for improving the document or spreadsheet, contact Kathleen Ruppert (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) with the Sustainable FloridiansSM program.

Kathleen Ruppert has devoted her professional career to educating, inspiring, and empowering students to become change­makers in the world. She has portrayed tremendous dedication within the area of sustainable education by encouraging real-world sustainability projects through teaching a capstone course and by helping to extend both the UF Prairie Project and the Sustainable Floridians program.