Healthy Campus
Life University Goes Green
As one of the first 100 college and university presidents to sign on in support of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, Dr. Guy F. Riekeman has been offered and accepted membership in the Leadership Circle as a Founding Member on Feb. 17, 2007.
As a member of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment and Leadership Circle, Dr. Riekeman has committed Life University to accept the responsibilities for recruiting other college and university chancellors and presidents in support of this initiative, as well as taking immediate action to implement initiatives for greening the campus and becoming a sustainable community. These initiatives include eliminating 
greenhouse gas emissions over time on the Life University campus by completing an emissions inventory; setting a target date and interim milestones for becoming climate neutral within two years; taking immediate steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by choosing from a list of short term actions; integrating sustainability into the curriculum and making it part of the educational experience; and making the action plan, inventory and progress reports publicly available.
The American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment addresses global warming by gathering high education institutions to unite in an effort to neutralize greenhouse gas emissions. The American College and University President’s Climate Commitment is coordinated and supported by Second Nature, ecoAmerica and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.
Making Life a Healthier Place to Live
The mission of Life University is to educate its students in a set of core life proficiencies, equipping them to become skilled professionals, and preparing them for successful careers focused on serving the health needs of society. With this is in mind, one of the University’s priorities is to improve the health of the communities we serve. By becoming completely smoke free, we are furthering this mission, and in doing so, we are setting an example of wellness and prevention that is important to the health of our staff, students, and community. Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of disease and death in the United States. Life University is addressing the number one health risk today by instituting a campus-wide no smoking policy. In addition, many 
people are unaware of how smoking affects their health and their ability to recover from illness. We hope this new policy will educate and remind our faculty, staff, and the community about the health risks linked with smoking. Our current No Tobacco policy prohibits smoking or the use of any other tobacco product anywhere on the Life University campus. This new policy prohibits smoking or other tobacco use within the buildings and on grounds on Life University’s property. Eliminating all smoking on our campus reinforces our mission as a leading healthcare educational institution, and sends a clear message that good health and healthcare do not include smoking or the use of other tobacco products. It also is a good way to support those who are trying to quit, effectively eliminating the triggers that make smoking cessation difficult.
Life University Receives Two Grants to Green Awards!
LIFE is a Grants to Green 2009 and 2010 grantee! The Grants to Green Program, funded by the Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta, Inc., provides environmentally focused knowledge and funding to strengthen nonprofits. The Community Foundation, Southface Energy and Enterprise Community Partners give metro Atlanta nonprofits the opportunity to renovate or build healthier work places that are energy and water efficient and environmentally friendly. The ultimate goal is to improve LIFE’s building structure to not only have less of an environmental impact, but also to increase the cost-efficiency of operations, ideally saving on finances in order to provide more services to students. On July 1, 2009 LIFE received a Grants to Green Assessment Award which allowed us to bring in experts to conduct an environmental efficiency scan of the structure of The Center for Undergraduate Studies (formerly Annex B), to determine areas for improvement. LIFE applied for the Community Foundation’s implementation award in the fall of 2009 and on February 1, 2010 the Community Partnerships Committee of The Community Foundation approved the grant request for LIFE in the amount of $50,000.
As part of the President’s Climate Commitment objectives, LIFE has implemented several programs on campus:
- Campus recycling program
- Elimination of Styrofoam from the Campus Café
- Installation of motion sensors to control office and exam room lighting
- Re-evaluation of the HVAC scheduling to reduce the run times
- Adoption of a minimum LEED Gold standard for all new campus construction
- Establishment of a carpool program and on-campus shuttle to reduce auto mileage associated with commuting.
