Teams displayed their wind turbine projects or solar-run structures and explained to judges from solar and wind energy industries the processes they took to create their projects. Team members also took a Kahoot quiz to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of renewable energy initiatives. Teams were scored on their innovation and creativity, their projects鈥� performance generating energy, their performance on the knowledge quiz, and their delivery of their projects to the judges.听 All first- and second-place winners automatically qualify to compete in the on April 6, 2024 at James Madison University.

During the day, some parents, KidWind coaches and their team members took a solar roof tour of the James R. Wilkins, Jr. Athletic and Events Center, led by Barry Schnoor, director of Physical Plant at 听四虎影视. He explained that Shenandoah boasts the largest rooftop solar power system of any Virginia college or university. Learn more at 飞飞飞.蝉耻.别诲耻/驳谤别别苍/谤辞辞蹿迟辞辫-蝉辞濒补谤-辫辞飞别谤-蝉测蝉迟别尘.听

The keynote speaker for this KidWind event was the former mayor of Purcellville, Virginia, Kwasi Fraser, who currently serves on the as an appointee of Governor Glenn Youngkin, and is working to address complex environmental challenges. After the event, Fraser posted on LinkedIn:

“It was a privilege to deliver the keynote address at the Northern Virginia renewable energy challenge, hosted by 四虎影视. Witnessing the remarkable solar and wind projects presented by our youth left me inspired and optimistic about the future of sustainable energy. As we confront today鈥檚 energy complexities, this emerging generation exemplifies dedication and ingenuity and crafting viable solutions. I called them Solution Gen and they are the architects of our sustainable future.”

Over spring break, the university hosted the Northern Virginia Regional Challenge 鈥� a renewable energy design and construction student competition. Two participating teams, both from Loudoun County and sponsored by the nonprofit Makersmiths, Inc., are now headed to the KidWind National Solar Challenge later this month after performing well at the state competition at James Madison University. The high school solar team, Neighborhood WATTs, won the state competition and the middle school solar team, Operation Cheap & Clean, placed second.

Team Operation Cheap & Clean at the state KidWind Challenge competition

Shenandoah brought together a village of volunteers to promote sustainability by hosting the regional challenge, an all-day event that drew more than 100 young team members, as well as coaches and parents. A variety of Shenandoah community members played a part in the day鈥檚 success, according to Visiting Associate Professor of Education Studies Diane D. Painter, Ph.D., who also helped organize the regional competition at Shenandoah.听

For example, Shenandoah Director of Facilities Management Barry Schnoor gave tours about the , while College of Arts & Sciences Assistant Dean and Director of Innovation and Assistant Professor Environmental Studies and Biology Allyson Degrassi, Ph.D., worked with university environmental club members to supervise an activities room and give environmentally oriented walks through Sarah鈥檚 Glen, Dr. Painter said.听

Painter and Dr. Degrassi worked with the KidWind state organizer to set up rooms and wind tunnels and posted signs. And, Painter helped teams find the rooms where they鈥檇 display their projects and even directed traffic. Organizers also worked with the Department of Campus Safety to arrange parking and with Sodexo to provide food. The keynote speaker had a Shenandoah connection, too, representing the company that installed the university鈥檚 rooftop solar panels.听

Each of the teams now preparing for nationals were coached by leaders trained by Painter, who will also play a dual role at that competition. 鈥淚 will step in as coach of the middle school solar team (that team’s coach cannot go due to a work conflict) and I will also serve as an assistant coach to the high school solar team,鈥� Dr. Painter said. 鈥淎ll together, there will be 12 team members going 鈥� ages 9-15 years of age!鈥澨�

The KidWind National Solar Challenge will be held May 14-17, at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado.听

Featured image: Team Neighborhood WATTs at the state KidWind Challenge competition

Shenandoah is receiving the assistance as a subrecipient of a grant awarded to the Rolling Ridge Conservancy from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation鈥檚 Small Watershed Initiative to benefit the Chesapeake Bay, said Cool Spring Site Manager Gene Lewis.听

The $265,000 grant, 鈥淐reating a Resilient Landscape Hub Across the WV-VA Line: Forestland Protection, Native Grasslands Restoration, and Neighborly Invitations to the Conservation Table,鈥� covers the 1,600 acres of the Rolling Ridge Conservancy Property near the West Virginia-Virginia border as well as approximately 55 acres of Cool Spring land, Lewis said. The subgrant of $96,250 to Shenandoah will go toward converting non-native grasses and invasive plants to native grasses and wildflowers.听听

The 四虎影视 River Campus at Cool Spring Battlefield is a 195-acre living laboratory/outdoor classroom space on a historic site and former golf course that is open to the public from dawn until dusk daily.听

鈥淭he initial phases, with the goal of eliminating the non-native, invasive species, will begin in May and run through the fall of 2023,” Lewis said. “This will be the most important aspect of the project and will give native plantings the best chance of survival. We not only have grasses remaining from the old golf course but we have also had many more non-native and very invasive plants invading the site. Stilt Grass, Poison Hemlock, and Japanese Hops are some of the worst.” The native grasses and wildflowers are slated for planting in spring 2024.听

The work is important for several reasons, according to Lewis. 鈥淣ative grasses are healthier for the soil and provide a habitat for birds and mammals of all types. They support honey bees and other pollinators that are necessary for the pollination of crops.鈥澨�

Another portion of the grant calls for 鈥渘eighborly invitations to the conservation table,鈥� said Lewis, who, with a representative from the Rolling Ridge Conservancy, has met a few times with Holy Cross Abbey, which lies across the Shenandoah River from Cool Spring and has 1,200 acres of protected land. 鈥淲e are discussing the possibilities of future collaborations, such as grant applications, with them as a partner,鈥� Lewis said. 鈥淏etween our three organizations, there are 3,000 acres of protected land here along the Shenandoah River and we have the opportunity for some great projects!鈥�

Note: This material is based on work supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency听(Assistance Agreement No. CB96358101) and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation鈥檚听Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund, which promotes community-based efforts to develop听conservation strategies to protect and restore the diverse natural resources of the Chesapeake Bay.

We love each other. We take care of each other. Electric cars are becoming more common, and we鈥檙e moving in the direction where we鈥檙e using renewable energy to fuel our cars instead of fossil fuels.鈥�
Amanda Grantham | Assistant director of career and professional development

Shenandoah prides itself on forward environmental thinking. In 2019, through a partnership with Secure Futures, a total of 1,337 solar panels were installed across three campus buildings, making Shenandoah鈥檚 system the largest rooftop solar power system of any Virginia college or university. Shenandoah has also been considered an environmentally friendly campus for years and is among 416 green colleges featured in 鈥淭he Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges: 2021 Edition.鈥�

And now the university is getting charged up on electric car culture.

It鈥檚 growing. The more that we can communicate that we are here, the more the population will know.鈥�
Shylo Martinez, M.F.A. | Assistant Professor of Dance who drives a Tesla Model 3

SU鈥檚 electric car culture is a friendly one. We鈥檙e good at sharing chargers, and I think we鈥檙e also good at showing gasoline car drivers what it鈥檚 like to have an electric car today.鈥�

Bryan Davis, Ph.D. | Assistant Professor of Chemistry who owns a Chevy BoltEV.

There are five members of the Electric Car Brigade: Grantham, Martinez, Davis, Registrar Emily Hollins and Andrea Zanelotti, an Office of Auxiliary services coordinator. They share the six electric car spots on campus: four at the Wilkins Athletics & Events Center garage and two at the Brandt Student Center garage.

Members say they drive an electric car because it cuts down on gas expenditures, doesn鈥檛 involve oil changes, and is better for the environment. It鈥檚 also fun to spot other electric cars on the road and to explain to gasoline car drivers what it鈥檚 like to own an electric vehicle.

As part of the group, Davis has shared technical information about charging and how much variation there can be depending on temperature. The group also discusses etiquette tips, such as moving your electric car out of its charging space once it鈥檚 charged.

Members of the brigade help each other by plugging each other鈥檚 vehicles in to charge once their own car is done powering up. This often saves the other person a walk across campus. They also discuss car stats, like mileage per charge, and personal charging schedules.

It is welcoming. I have met new people who I wouldn’t otherwise have known by talking to them about the charger and their cars. I think we are all good at sharing and we have been communicating well together about the charger availability. We are all grateful to SU that we can charge here for free 鈥� or as [Director of Physical Plant] Barry Schnoor says 鈥� at 鈥榥o charge.鈥欌��

Emily Hollins | Shenandoah’s Registrar who drives a Hyundai Ioniq plug-in hybrid

One issue that the Shenandoah electric car users want to stress is the importance of people with gas vehicles not parking in electric car spots, as this can prevent someone from powering up their vehicle and being able to get home.

鈥淭his is equivalent to keeping my car in front of the only gas pump available,鈥� Martinez said.

As for moving forward, Schnoor said there are plans to add more electric car chargers in the near future.

鈥淚 think we’ll add one at the Admissions/Wilkins parking lot, and one more in the student center parking garage,鈥� he said, adding that more will be installed over time at other visible spaces on campus.

Explore the Sustainability Initiatives at Shenandoah

Shenandoah is among 416 green colleges featured in 鈥淭he Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges: 2021 Edition.鈥� The guide was released on Oct. 20, and is free at . The university has made the list since 2013.

We鈥檙e reminded regularly of the natural beauty that can be associated with the name Shenandoah: the river, the valley, the national park in the Blue Ridge, and our university. Protecting that natural beauty through our everyday actions is part of what makes 四虎影视 such a great place.鈥�

Barry Schnoor | Director of Physical Plant

The Princeton Review chose the schools based on a survey of administrators at 695 colleges in 2019-20 about their institution鈥檚 commitment to the environment and sustainability. Survey topics ranged from academic offerings and campus initiatives to career preparation for 鈥済reen鈥� jobs. More than 25 survey data points were analyzed by The Princeton Review editors to tally Green Rating scores for the schools on a scale of 60 to 99.

Shenandoah鈥檚 Sustainability Score is 86 out of 99. Colleges that earned a Green Rating of 80 or higher made it into the guide.

We strongly recommend 四虎影视 to students who want to study and live at a green college. Each and every one of the outstanding colleges in this edition of our guide offers both excellent academics and exemplary evidence of environmental commitment.鈥�

Rob Franek | The Princeton Review’s editor-in-chief

Franek noted that The Princeton Review has seen a high level of interest among college applicants and their parents in colleges with green practices, programs and offerings. Sixty-six percent of the 12,845 respondents (college-bound teens and parents) to The Princeton Review’s 2020 said that having information about a college鈥檚 commitment to the environment would affect their (or their child鈥檚) decision to apply to or attend a school. A report on the survey findings is downloadable at .

Through a partnership with the solar power company Secure Futures, of Staunton, Virginia, a total of 1,337 solar panels are spread across three buildings:

• Alson H. Smith, Jr. Library | 126 panels at 2,580 square feet
• Ohrstrom-Bryant Theatre | 229 panels at 4,689 square feet
• James R. Wilkins, Jr. Athletics & Events Center | 982 panels at 20,106 square feet

We are proud to highlight 四虎影视鈥檚 belief in and dedication to environmental stewardship. With this installation, Shenandoah demonstrates not only the power of solar energy, but also the power of people working together to create a better tomorrow.鈥�

President Tracy Fitzsimmons, Ph.D.

Shenandoah鈥檚 solar panels have the capacity to produce around 500 kilowatts of electricity. Annual output of electricity will be approximately 675,000 kilowatt hours.

Each year, the solar power generated at Shenandoah will be equivalent to the amount of carbon in 258 tons of coal burned, the electricity use of 82 homes, and the consumption of more than 53,000 gallons of gasoline.

Through the use of this solar project, the university is projected to save a total of $3.1 million in avoided costs for electricity from producing its own solar power over the 35-year lifespan of the equipment. Net savings to the university on electricity (after all costs are taken out) are projected to total more than $1.5 million over the same period.

The project is funded through Virginia鈥檚 first solar crowdfunding campaign funded in part through Secure Futures.

On-campus solar energy at 四虎影视 is being funded in part through Virginia鈥檚 first solar crowdfunding campaign. Through this innovative program, members of the community are able to invest in the development of solar projects at five different non-profit institutions around Virginia, starting with 四虎影视.鈥�

Tony Smith, CEO of Secure Futures

Over the years, 四虎影视 has established several sustainability initiatives, including creating a toner cartridge recycling program; using low-flow plumbing fixtures, LED lighting, Energy Star appliances, high-efficiency HVAC equipment and building materials with recycled content; planting trees and protecting natural areas; implementing natural light in buildings; and reducing water and energy usage as well as food waste through trayless dining.

Other projects include a student group repurposing unused food from Allen Dining Hall to give back to the Winchester community, and a composting project that collected just over 155 pounds of compost from the Village apartments for the fall 2018 semester.

For the third year in a row, the university has also celebrated its name on 鈥淭he Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges.鈥�

Learn About Sustainability at Shenandoah

听

About Secure Futures, LLC

As a market and policy leader, Secure Futures builds, owns, manages and funds affordable resilient solar solutions for schools, colleges, hospitals and businesses. Headquartered in Staunton, Virginia, the company combines state-of鈥搕he-art solar technology with an innovative business model to make commercial-scale solar power readily affordable in Virginia, helping customers to realize the economic, environmental and community benefits of solar energy. In 2017, Secure Futures became a Certified B Corporation, having met the exacting standards for social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability established by the nonprofit B Lab. For more information, visit www.securefutures.solar.

鈥淕reenweek 2018 is run by a few different entities that are all in support of sustainability initiatives on campus in support of, and in conjunction with, Earth Day, which is this Sunday,鈥� said Shenandoah Outdoor and Adventure Recreation and Greenworks Coordinator Katie Hecker. 鈥淥n Earth Day, students will participate through social media and win some .鈥�

四虎影视’s Greenworks staff promotes sustainability on campus.

“Shenandoah Greenworks, a work-study located in Cooley Hall, works in partnership with the university community to reduce waste and promote sustainability. Greenworks maintains the campus community garden and a swap shop, where members of the university community can pick up gently used items like small appliances and furnishings, for free.”

A new student group on campus, Project Planet, is also passionate about sustainability on campus and provided volunteer support for Greenweek. 鈥淭hey just started this semester, and they鈥檝e already been voted the 鈥淏est New Organization鈥� on campus, which is very exciting.

Also, the university鈥檚 environmental studies department also participates in Greenweek each year with events geared toward waste such as stream cleanups and environmental documentary screenings.

While Greenweek casts a spotlight on sustainability at Shenandoah, the university鈥檚 dedication to reusing, reducing and recycling is far more than a weeklong effort.

鈥淧hysical Plant is the true spearhead of waste consumption on campus, as they are the ones who handle it on the day to day basis,鈥� Hecker said.

四虎影视 invites local energy vendors to campus during Greenweek 2018.

“So much of what I do on a daily basis is related to campus sustainability and environmental stewardship,” said Director of Physical Plant Barry Schnoor. “It’s just how we live.”

The concept for Greenweek is to address one specific issue per day.

On Monday, April 16, Trash Audit Day, students and staff sorted through the day鈥檚 鈥渢rash鈥� with the Greenworks crew to see what they were throwing away that could be reused or recycled.

Then, on Tuesday, April 17, Fair Trade Day, brought vendors, like My Neighbor and Me, a shop from Berryville, Virginia, that sells fair trade items, to the Brandt Student Center to promote and sell fair trade products from producers around the world.

Greenworks Students Promote Sustainability on Campus and offer prizes.

Greenworks students and staff teamed up with Physical Plant and local energy companies on Wednesday, April 18, Energy Awareness Day, by jazzing up the quad with a variety of energy sources, from coal to wind turbines to solar panels.

On Thursday, April 19, students, faculty and staff were encouraged to bike or walk to class for Green Transportation Day. Participants received 鈥淚 walked/biked to class鈥� stickers and were encouraged to post photos of themselves walking or biking to a social media outlet with the hashtag #SUGreenWeek and tag @SUStudentLife to be entered into a drawing to win one of two Shenandoah bookstore gift cards.

鈥淲hen you turn your engine off and on, it uses so much more gas than if you park your car and walk around campus,鈥� said Hecker.

Finally, Greenworks hosted its finale on Friday, April 20 with a Green Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Day and Carnival with fun activities and games and a chance to win sustainable reusable prizes.

Sustainability Facts

• Shenandoah was recently selected from 2,000 Colleges & Universities for the Princeton Review鈥檚 2017 鈥淕uide to 375 Green Colleges.鈥�
• 36 solar panels added to the James R. Wilkins, Jr. Athletics & Events Center
• Gore Hall, a residence hall, is capped with a 鈥済reen鈥� roof.
• Dining services uses compostable products and promotes the use of reusable water bottles.
• Shenandoah鈥檚 dining halls went trayless in fall 2012, reducing water and energy usage as well as food waste.
• The student group, Campus Kitchen at Shenandoah, repurposes unused food from Allen Dining Hall to give back to the Winchester community, aiding in the fight against hunger.

Recycling

• 300,000+ pounds of materials recycled during the 2016/17 academic year.
• Recycling bins are placed throughout campus, with about 100 new bins added within the past two years.
• Shenandoah鈥檚 Bulk Mail department purchases printing and copying paper with a minimum of 30% post-consumer recycled content. This helps close the loop on the recycling process.
• Shenandoah Greenworks swap shop collects more than 5,000 pounds of items every year, eliminating this much waste from entering the landfill. Donated items include gently used furniture, working appliances, small housewares, lamps, electronics, usable clothing and non-perishables, and unopened food items collected in designated locations, The swap shop redistributes the items, for free. Items not claimed or repurposed are donated to local non-profit organizations.

Environmental Stewardship

• There are 78 trees in the quad on main campus.
• The Chesapeake Forests Program has planted 600 trees at Cool Spring.
• The water features at Sarah鈥檚 Glen serve to filter rainwater before it flows into Abrams Creek
• The 195-acre 四虎影视 River Campus at Cool Spring Battlefield serves as a learning laboratory where students can conduct research in the humanities and the natural sciences. The site, abundant with natural features, includes a heron rookery.
• Many of the plants, flowers, and trees on Shenandoah鈥檚 campus have been labeled to promote environmental stewardship, education, and research. These plants are selected as native and non-invasive species.
• In 2015, Shenandoah eliminated a section of ground cover (invasive English Ivy) on a patio near the Allen Dining Hall.
  • While this garden produces only a small amount of vegetables, its co-location to the Dining Hall helps remind us of our connection to the food we eat.
  • This garden has produced squash, strawberries, peppers (both sweet and hot), tomatoes, flowers, kale, cabbage and spinach. 听
  • In addition to this small garden, in 2013 the Student Environmental Council planted an organic herb garden for use by the kitchen staff and other community members.
  • The herb garden produces oregano, thyme, chives, lavender, and Russian sage. Among other landscaping on campus is the Serviceberry or Juneberry shrub, which produces delicious berries every summer.
• During the summer of 2012, Shenandoah began collecting and composting its own yard waste in a facility located on the edge of campus.

Water Conservation

• McKown Plaza behind the Brandt Student Center features permeable pavement.
• Campus dishwashers and washing machines were replaced with rated units in 2014. These units not only use less energy but also less water. The estimated savings from the washing machines alone is 1,519,000 gallons of water and $11,734 per year.
• Of all the developed landscape at Shenandoah, none of it is irrigated. Shenandoah鈥檚 planting plan includes choosing plant species that are low maintenance and require no regular irrigation. Why is this important? In a typical household, landscape irrigation accounts for up to half of all water consumption. At the university, this could translate to hundreds of thousands of gallons of water.
• Numerous plumbing fixtures have been replaced with low flow models including toilets, showerheads and faucets. The majority of toilets are now 1.6 gallons per flush or lower.

Energy Conservation

• 24 bike racks on campus to encourage the use of bicycles on campus
• Occupancy sensors are used to reduce energy consumption when spaces are not in use.
• Energy-efficient lighting fixtures reduce the amount of energy needed to light buildings. LED lighting is used in a wide variety of campus spaces, including the house and stage lights at Armstrong Concert Hall. LED bulbs use 20 percent to 25 percent of the energy of incandescent bulbs, and last longer than incandescent, as well.
• The Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems have advanced control options that respond to outdoor conditions and building schedule to conserve energy and improve air quality.
• 四虎影视 currently operates 5 electric golf-car-type vehicles in support of Student Engagement, Athletics and Physical Plant operations. Electric vehicles have no tailpipe emissions.

According to a post on the organization鈥檚 blog, 鈥渢hese tributaries were likely significant sources of pollutants into the Shenandoah River鈥� when the property was a golf course. Thus, the desire to create a riparian forest buffer, which would 鈥渟ignificantly reduce the amount of nutrients reaching our waterways, and also help stabilize stream banks, sustain fish habitat, reduce air pollution, and increase in-stream processing of nutrients.鈥�

Cool Spring Manager Gene Lewis worked with the Alliance to have 四虎影视 classified as a 鈥渘on-typical, high priority鈥� landowner in order to participate in the USDA FSA Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), the existing primary federal cost-share program for riparian forest buffers in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

As a result, 600 trees that were planted at the Cool Spring river campus early last month.

Read more about the effort on the .

To address this challenge, 四虎影视 is one of 15 Council of Independent Colleges in Virginia (CICV) member schools that will participate in the Solar Market Pathway for Independent Colleges of Virginia (SMP-ICV) program through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative.

鈥淎dding renewable sources to our energy portfolio is one way to reduce our impact on our natural environment, and it further indicates our commitment to the stewardship of that environment,鈥� said 四虎影视 President Tracy Fitzsimmons, Ph.D. 鈥淲e are honored to be part of this group of forward-thinking institutions.鈥�

CICV has been awarded more than $807,000 in federal funding from the SunShot Initiative to help 15 member schools, all private nonprofit colleges in Virginia, develop comprehensive plans for implementing solar power on their campuses.

鈥淭he SunShot Initiative presents an opportunity to work as a team to effectively make progress in an area that is daunting when working individually, particularly for our smaller schools that may be limited in the resources they can commit to large scale improvements,鈥� said CICV President Robert Lambeth, who serves as principal investigator for the program.

The three-year program will help the colleges navigate the complex legal, regulatory, and technical challenges associated with installing solar systems, leverage group purchasing power to achieve price reductions for hardware and installation services, and create a learning network accessible by other organizations considering solar power. Consulting services will be provided to CICV by Optony, Inc. (), a global consulting firm focused on solar energy.

鈥淩enewable energy could be a way to lower our carbon footprint and our utility bills at the same time,鈥� said Barry Schnoor, director of 四虎影视鈥檚 physical plant. 鈥淧rograms like this push the momentum in the right direction, eliminating or reducing at least some of the obstacles to solar energy.鈥� Schnoor will serve as Shenandoah鈥檚 team leader for the project.

The ultimate goal is to create and implement a replicable plan for participating institutions to deploy solar electricity within five years. This project has the potential to substantially increase the total amount of solar power now produced within the Commonwealth of Virginia. Program objectives also aim to break down procedural, administrative, financial and legal barriers in the participating institutions鈥� localities to aid in the implementation of solar power in those communities. In order to do that, the group must clear two major hurdles.

鈥淭he program targets two critical areas that are challenges to each of us on our own,鈥� said Eric Sheppard, Sc.D., dean of Engineering and Technology at Hampton University. 鈥淭he pooling of resources to complete the preliminary technical and legal analyses required and 鈥� hopefully 鈥� the collective power to negotiate better prices for implementation are two major objectives of this project.鈥�

Drawing on expertise from select faculty and staff at participating institutions, the project will eliminate duplication of effort and create a streamlined, replicable process for institutions to plan for, acquire and implement solar energy systems on their campuses. Students at participating institutions will contribute their time and effort to the program.

Once the framework is in place and institutions are ready to begin installing solar power, CICV will develop a request for proposals (RFP) so that companies may bid to install the solar energy equipment schools choose.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 one of the biggest benefits of the project for the participating colleges,鈥� said Jenny Bousquet, director of Grant Support & Foundation Relations at 四虎影视. 鈥淭hat process alone for a school with no previous solar experience would be daunting and complex. The grant won鈥檛 fund the purchase of solar panels, but tiered cost reductions based on the purchase volume of the group will be made available to the participants. The idea is to build capacity within the participating schools so that what they implement in terms of solar energy is sustainable over time.鈥�

A final part of the program is the development of a learning network that encourages and enables project replication, including a how-to guidebook and an online information hub accessible to interested parties within and outside Virginia throughout the project lifecycle and beyond.

Additional institutions involved in the collaborative initiative include Appalachian School of Law, Bridgewater College, Eastern Mennonite University, Emory & Henry College, Ferrum College, Hampton University, Hollins University, Lynchburg College, Mary Baldwin College, Marymount University, Randolph College, Roanoke College, Virginia Union University and Washington & Lee University.

About the Council of Independent Colleges in Virginia:

The听 was founded in 1971 and currently operates as Virginia Private Colleges, a nonprofit, 501(c)(6) organization representing 29 accredited nonprofit independent colleges and universities in Virginia. The organization works collaboratively in the areas of public policy, cost containment and professional development as well as providing support to our member institutions and their students.