The recipients of this quarter’s Green U Awards have been recognized by their coworkers over the past quarter for their commitment to environmentally sound practices at home and work.
This quarter’s awardees were:
- Innovation and Implementation: Tami Houdesheldt
- Waste Reduction: Natasha Fields
- Education and Promotion: John Keenan
- Volunteering: Nick Knopick and Jack Swanson
Send a Green U
To recognize a ‘green’ coworker:
- Do you know of an employee who engages in environmentally friendly activities? Is so, send them a Green ‘U’ and you may read about them in an upcoming story!
Log in to eServ
- Select the “Campus Resources” and then “Green U Rewards”
- Fill out and submit the online form.
Tami Houdesheldt was recognized for being an advocate of “living green” every day. She performs those little tasks that really add up, looks for new ways for her department to save and be green, and spreads the word. She also found out about Earth Week activities and made sure her co-workers knew what opportunities were out there.
Natasha Fields was sent multiple Green U’s by her co-workers. She figured out which plastic items in the lab could be recycled and alerted her fellow lab workers, encouraging them to take part in recycling efforts. She is described as “eco-conscious” and, in addition to promoting recycling, provides “healthy tidbits” to others.
John Keenan has been awarded for all of his work promoting LiveGreen, by editing the weekly LiveGreen articles in UNMC Today. He makes sure all articles are ready, provides guidance, gets LiveGreen items on the UNMC calendar and helps promote Earth Week.
Nick Knopik and Jack Swanson share this quarter’s Volunteering Green U. When the “blue building” was closed, they worked tirelessly to make sure people who had items stored there were contacted and could take what they wanted or needed.
When items weren’t wanted, usually furniture, Knopick found other places on campus that could use them, saving departments money while diverting waste. Their efforts were described as “phenomenal” and “Herculean,” given the task and the short time frame.
Swanson also made sure all the metal in the building was recycled, a practice he’s familiar with. You probably know him as the guy who makes your surplus disappear. What you may not know is that when he takes it, he finds another home on campus (with huge cost savings) and recycles electrical components, scrap metal and anything else he can. He sells furniture to be reused and donates some items to the Paralyzed Veterans of America. So far this year he’s diverted more than 25 tons of material while recycling 10 tons of scrap metal — that’s the weight equivalent of 14 white rhinoceri of recycled material!
Good Job Jack! Thanks for your efforts to recycle and reuse. It's good to see that there are better ways to fiscally manage the investments made by taxpayers than filling up landfills.