The Princeton Review Honors Chico State as One of its Green Colleges

The Princeton Review has recognized Chico State as one of the nation’s most environmentally responsible colleges.

In its recently published online resource, “The Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges: 2023 Edition,” Chico State is among 455 higher educational institutions that exhibit superb sustainability practices, a strong foundation in sustainability education, and a healthy quality of life for students on campus.

“Chico State is honored to be recognized as a Green College,” Jennifer Rotnem, director of energy and sustainability. “The campus community should be very proud of this achievement, which reflects the collective hard work and dedication to sustainability of many faculty, staff, and students.”

Among its methodology, The Princeton Review explores factors like whether students’ on-campus life is both healthy and sustainable, how well an institution is preparing students for employment in an increasingly green economy and how environmentally responsible a school’s policies are.

Spelled out in its Strategic Plan, Chico State consistently prioritizes resilient and sustainable practices across its campus. Such measures include recently added bike lanes and reductions in water use in its landscaping to support conservation efforts to implementing reusable takeout containers and coffee cups as standard practice in its dining services and coffee shops.

From an academic standpoint, a faculty-learning community, led by geography and planning professor Mark Stemen, helped implement better sustainability and resilience in the curriculum among more than 80 courses at six CSU campuses. And, of course, the University continues to annually host This Way to Sustainability conference, one of the largest student-run college conferences in the nation.

The Princeton Review chose the 455 colleges based on its 2021–22 survey of administrators at 713 colleges concerning their institutions’ sustainability-related policies, practices and programs. Of the 455 schools selected for the 2023 edition of the guide, 421 are in the US, 26 are in Canada, two are in Taiwan and one (each) is in Ecuador, Egypt, Greece, Ireland, Mexico and Morocco.

The Princeton Review’s honor comes on the heels of Chico State’s recognition by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education on its annual Green College Honor Roll, ranking the University at the top performer in is Master’s Institutions category. It marked the first time Chico State has earned the Master’s category’s coveted top spot and was the fifth consecutive year the University placed in the top 10 and second straight year in the top 5.