Recognition

Awards

2009

• “Overall College Sustainability Leader” in the 2010 edition of the College Sustainability Report Card, in which Middlebury received an A-.
• As part of the 2010 Green Rating Honor Roll, Middlebury was selected as one of the top 15 green by the Princeton Review.
• Middlebury ranked third on Sierra's list of Cool Schools for 2009, which scores colleges based on their commitment to sustainability.
• The Franklin Environmental Center at Hillcrest, designed by SAS Architects of Burlington, VT, won first place in the Small Buildings category of the Better Buildings by Design 2009 Design Competition sponsored by Efficiency Vermont.
• Middlebury was recognized by the National Wildlife Federation in its annual “Chill Out: Campus Solutions to Global Warming” competition. The biomass plant along with students and staff were featured in the April 2009 Chill Out webcast.
• The Axinn Center at Starr Library was one of 12 projects recognized in the Boston Society of Architects’ 2009 Sustainable Design Awards. Awardees were praised for aesthetic achievements, for energy efficiency, thoughtful material use, systems development, and site and transportation planning. Designed by CBT architects in Boston, the Axinn Center also involved Efficiency Vermont, Otter Creek Engineering (East Middlebury), and Andropogon Associates of Philadelphia (landscape architecture).
  
• Axinn Center at Starr Library received an Excellence in Architecture award from the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP). This award recognizes best practices and emerging trends related to planning in higher education.

2008

• Middlebury was named #1 in Sierra Magazine’s 10 Coolest Schools – Our Annual Green College Guide in the September/October 2008 issue.
• The Franklin Environmental Center at Hillcrest earned the highest designation given by the U.S. Green Building Council—LEED Platinum (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). It is the first building in Vermont to achieve a Platinum LEED certification, and the seventh in the nation to be so designated under the LEED NC 2.2 standards.
• The Sustainable Endowments Institute 2008 Report Card ranks Middlebury as one of six overall sustainability leaders of 200 schools rated.
• The new Middlebury Master Plan, designed by Michael Dennis & Associates, received a 2008 Honor Award for Campus Planning from The Boston Society of Architects.  Sustainability is a core theme of the entire master plan.

2007

• The College received a National Leadership Award for Sustainability in 2007 from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education for its achievements in putting sustainability into policies and practices.

2005

• The College received the 2004-05 Vermont Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence & Pollution Prevention for 72 Hours of Light, a collaborative project between Steve Maier’s ENVS0211 class and Efficiency Vermont.
• Clean Air-Cool Planet acknowledged Middlebury College’s exemplary institutional commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions with a 2005 Climate Champion Award at their bi-annual climate change conference in NYC in June.
• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy awarded Middlebury College the 2005 Energy Star CHP Award, which recognizes commercial combined heat and power (CHP) operations that reduce emissions and use at least five percent less fuel than state-of-the-art separate heat and power generation systems.

2004

• Efficiency Vermont honored Middlebury College with the 2004 Excellence in Energy Efficiency Award in recognition of the institution’s exemplary work to increase the adoption of energy efficient practices in Vermont.

2003

• The College received the 2003 EPA Environmental Merit Award for its role as a catalyst for a new green certified wood industry in Vermont and New England.
• Middlebury College won the Northeastern Loggers’ Association’s 2003 Outstanding Use of Wood Award for the use of local and Vermont-certified wood in campus construction projects and for its support of the regional forest and wood industry in Vermont.

2002

• Middlebury College received the 2002 Vermont Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence & Pollution Prevention for significantly minimizing the deconstruction waste stream.