During the summer this year, the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) at UT is hosting a faculty learning community in collaboration with the Office of Sustainability in order to create foundational, sustainability-related learning outcomes for courses on campus. Working with the College of Liberal Arts, the Moody College of Communication, the School of Architecture, the Jackson School of Geosciences, and the Cockrell School of Engineering, the CTL will help faculty define what sustainability might look like in coursework, define shared outcomes, and craft tools to see how students are exploring topics in sustainability within individual schools and colleges. We hope that this exciting project will take root and grow through working with other units at UT in the coming year! 

Over 16,000 students live in West Campus - the neighborhood directly west of the University of Texas at Austin. Each July, MoveOutATX makes moveout easier in West Campus by providing locations to easily donate gently used furniture, household goods, kitchen supplies and appliances, office supplies, nonperishable food, toiletries, and more! MoveOutATX takes place Friday, July 28 through Sunday, July 31 11am-6pm. Explore donation locations, drop-off hours, and a list of acceptable items here. Be sure to also check out the Free Furniture Market where donated furniture will be available for free pickup at the UT Austin Wright-Whitaker Sports Complex Intramural Fields at the parking lot on 51st street.

Need a stapler? Hosted by Office of Sustainability in partnership with Surplus Properties, the Office Supply Swap is a chance for UT faculty and staff to get free office supplies for your workplace!  Bring unneeded supplies to the Swap and we'll take them to Surplus for you. No large furniture, documents, or inventoried items (e.g. computers), please. Have batteries or ink/toner cartridges you need to recycle? Check out this page for where to bring these items. The event takes place Wednesday, August 3 9am-1pm.

As a part of the Campus Environmental Center, Trash to Treasure operates donation drives throughout the year by bringing donation bins to each of the residence halls, collecting what is donated, and sorting what we receive into different categories of reuse. 
The May Trash to Treasure drive collected 6512lbs of donations comprising 3083lbs of gently used clothing, 1367lbs of bedding, 1652lbs of food, and 345lbs of hygiene products. The items that are in the best condition are being resold to UT faculty, staff, and students through pop-up thrifts sales hosted occasionally throughout each semester. Everything is sold for $1 as a way to make reuse even more accessible to the UT community. The proceeds of sales go back to support the Campus Environmental Center and the environmental programs that it puts on.

Senior landscape technician Johnny Lee was featured in the May issue of Texas Connect for trailblazing a sustainable landscaping movement in the Forty Acres. Envisioning a carbon-free, noise-free Landscaping Services, Lee is working to transition gas-powered landscaping equipment to electric-powered. He and six students from professor John Doggett's management sustainability class submitted an application to the UT Austin Office of Sustainability's Green Fund grant program that ultimately earned over $12,000 to assist in transition costs. Read more about the project here.

When six power generation facilities unexpectedly failed on Friday, May 14th, Texans were precariously close to blackouts in unseasonable triple-digit temperatures. Luckily, solar energy generation output matched predictions and ERCOT was able to dodge statewide power outages. Despite criticism, renewable energy generation increases the grid capacity and overall grid reliability. Read more about this story written by Dr. David Tuttle, UT Austin research associate and Vice Chairman of the Electric Utility Commission of Austin, here. Read a similar article featuring Professor Michael Webber and Research Associate Joshua Rhodes here.

On June 19, The LBJ School of Public Affairs and The Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at UT Austin held their second annual Juneteenth Freedom Summit: Reflections on Freedom. Speakers included Associate Dean for Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Dr. Peniel Joseph, Galveston City Councilman for District 1 Sharon Lewis, LBJ School for Public Affairs Dean JR DeShazo, President and Executive Director of Texas Black Caucus Foundation Rudy Metayer, and more. Watch a recording of the virtual event here.

This Pride Month, the Pride and Equity Faculty Staff Association (PEFSA) is offering some "Out At Work" resources and materials! Utilize the Out At Work Toolkit for a printable sign and social media post to signal your pride. Other resources PEFSA shares for the UT LBGTQIA+ community include: Coming Out At Work (from the Human Rights Campaign), Should You Come Out At Work?, Protections Against Employment Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity (from the EEOC), UT Austin: Nondiscrimination Policy, UT Austin:  Gender and Sexuality Center, UT Austin: Pride Alumni Network, and UT Austin: LGBTQ Studies. If you would like to join the Pride and Equity Faculty Staff Association, fill out the form here. Be sure to check out other University Resource Group as well!