Sustainability Report Fall 2025
The UA Little Rock Sustainability Committee includes staff, faculty, students, and external partners all committed to promoting sustainability practices across the UA Little Rock campus. The budget for this committee is fairly meager, with most of the funding for this committee going directly to supporting our annual Sustainability Grant competition. In addition to these grants, the Sustainability Committee organizes two annual events to celebrate Earth Day in April and Sustainability Day in October. Below is a list and description of several of the ongoing initiatives of the Sustainability Committee.
Sustainability Grants
The Sustainability Committee sponsors an annual grant competition to promote sustainability on the UA Little Rock Campus. Awards are up to $2,500 per award each fall to purchase materials in support of sustainability-related projects meant to benefit the campus community. These awards are competitive, and include student, staff, and faculty winners. We are currently soliciting proposals for our AY 2025-2026 competition. The winners and description of the AY 2024-2025 selected projects are below.
The 2024-2025 winners:
Colby Martinez (Student, Mechanical Engineering)
“Solar Panel Charging Station”
This project seeks to install solar-powered charging stations throughout the UA Little Rock campus, providing students, faculty, and staff with access to renewable energy for their electronic devices. The initiative demonstrates a practical approach to sustainability, aiming to reduce the university’s carbon footprint while making renewable energy technology visible and accessible in daily campus life.
Morgan Leyenberger, LCSW, MSW (Faculty, Instructor, School of Social Work)
“Putting the SOI (social and organizational impact) in Soil”
The project addresses food waste management within the School of Social Work, which occupies Ross Hall’s fourth floor. With 18 faculty members and approximately 85 face-to-face students, the school plans to implement a biowaste composting unit using microbiota technology for quick decomposition of uneaten food. The project includes a marketing campaign by Phi Alpha Honors Society to encourage composting behavior, and the resulting organic compost will be made available to the campus community. This initiative aligns with both the Grand Challenges for Social Work and the Council on Social Work Education’s requirements for environmental justice promotion.
Dr. Heather Black (Faculty, Assistant Professor, Geology)
“Campus-Wide Drinking Water Quality Assessment at UA Little Rock”
This project aims to analyze drinking water quality across all buildings at UA Little Rock. The project will establish a baseline for future monitoring efforts by collecting and analyzing water samples throughout the campus. The findings will contribute to understanding campus infrastructure and potentially guide future maintenance and improvement decisions.
Lane Epperson (Student, Biology)
“Enhancing Campus Biodiversity Through Bat and Owl Boxes”
This project focuses on supporting local wildlife populations by installing bat boxes along Coleman Creek and owl boxes across the UA Little Rock campus. The project promotes natural pest control through ecosystem services, as both bats and owls effectively manage insect and rodent populations without chemical interventions. This approach demonstrates a commitment to enhancing campus biodiversity while providing practical environmental benefits.
Building Renovations and Campus Recycling
For the last fifteen years, all major building renovations and new construction received LEED accreditation from the U.S. Green Building Council. Additionally, all mechanical and electrical systems are upgraded to reduce the use of electricity and natural gas.
The university continues to operate a recycling program. The campus recycled tons of paper, cardboard, aluminum, and plastic. Additional stations were added for battery recycling. To decrease trash contamination, receptacles were placed adjacent to recycling containers. Several large waste dumpsters were replaced to include units for cardboard collection.
The university also continues to operate a robust program (called Marketing and Redistribution) for the reuse and redistribution of furniture, lab equipment, and a variety of other campus items. Items collected from around campus are housed in local warehouses and are made available for redistribution to various units around campus. Those items not claimed on campus are sent to a state-level warehouse that collects items from other state agencies and posts the items for sale on government auction websites.
Sustainability Club
A student-led, faculty-advised UA Little Rock Sustainability Club was established in 2025. This effort was supported by the Sustainability Committee, but was nearly entirely spearheaded by undergraduate students interested in promoting sustainability practices and principles on campus. This club has become a Registered Student Organization (RSO) on campus, which entitles them to funding from the university. Since their inception, the Sustainability Club has focused on litter cleanup events of Coleman Creek that runs through campus, and has been an important supporter and contributor of manual labor during the annual Earth Day and Sustainability Day events. They are currently working to increase the number of student members and fundraising through activities like nature walks and bake sales.
Sustainability Day and Earth Day
In Spring 2025, our campus celebrated Earth Day with local vendors sharing their products and services and non-profit organizations sharing a variety of sustainability information. Grant winners were also showcased, including demonstrations of a working prototype of the solar-powered charging station that will be attached to picnic tables across campus.
In Fall 2025, our campus organized Sustainability Day. This event featured local vendors showcasing eco-friendly products and services as well as a station for electronic recycling. This event also included tours of the recently completed Sustainability Grant projects (e.g. bat and owl boxes).
Sustainability Certificate Program
In early 2025, a group of faculty members from various disciplines on campus began work on developing a Certificate of Proficiency in Sustainability. This 18 credit hour certificate will be a credential that students can earn in addition to their chosen major, and will be made up of courses in Social Science, Natural Science, Economics, and include opportunities for sustainability-related internships and research projects. We anticipate the start of the certificate program to begin by Fall 2026 / Spring 2027.
Campus Garden
The UA Little Rock Campus Garden is a place for education, research, and outreach about food production, sustainability, economic botany, ecology, and more. The Garden contains a variety of spaces, including in-ground vegetable gardens, Arkansas native plant gardens, an aerobic composting system, 16 raised beds, an apiary, an orchard, and two keyhole beds. The Garden only uses sustainable growing methods and techniques and is committed to reusing, recycling, upcycling, and sustainability including strategic water use and conservation. In Fall 2025, the Campus Garden recently acquired a building adjacent to the Garden that will be used for education and research related to the activities of the Garden. The Garden sends produce to local food banks, and has several farmstand events throughout the year.
UI Green Metric Participation
The Sustainability Committee also participates in the UI Green Metric World University Ranking. The UI GreenMetric World University Ranking is a ranking on green campus and environmental sustainability initiated by Universitas Indonesia in 2010. Through 39 indicators in 6 criteria, UI GreenMetric World University Rankings prudently determined the rankings by universities’ environmental commitment and initiatives.
AASHE Membership
The Sustainability Committee also uses a portion of its budgeted funding to purchase a yearly membership in the Association of Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). Through this membership, AASHE provides sustainability-related resources available to any faculty, staff, or student on the UA Little Rock campus.
Submitted by
Dr. Michael DeAngelis
Chair, UA Little Rock Sustainability Committee
October 30, 2025