Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q) has been awarded the prestigious FEE EcoCampus Green Flag award, marking it as the first university in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to be awarded this recognition. CMU-Q is a member of Qatar Foundation's network of partner universities.
"We are thrilled to be the first university in the MENA region to receive the FEE EcoCampus Green Flag", said Michael Trick, dean of CMU-Q. "For the last four years, our entire campus community faculty, staff, and students have embraced positive change and worked together to make CMU-Q a model for environmental stewardship".
Based in Denmark, the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) is one of the world's largest environmental education organizations, with over 100 member organizations in 81 countries. The EcoCampus program empowers students to lead sustainable change, bring awareness to their peers, and encourage operational efficiency at their campuses.
CMU-Q embarked on its ambitious EcoCampus journey in September 2020 under the leadership of Chadi Aoun, teaching professor of information systems, and the guidance of Ruba Hinnawi, technical lead at Qatar Foundation’s Earthna Center for a Sustainable Future, the national operator for EcoCampus. A committee of students, faculty and staff created a comprehensive plan to integrate the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into all aspects of campus life.
“This has been a long, collaborative effort between CMU-Q and Earthna to transform a campus and create a blueprint for other universities to get their own Green Flag designation”, said Ruba Hinnawi, who attended the audit and the announcement at CMU-Q. “It is very meaningful that we achieved this within Qatar Foundation, where we are leading the charge to create a coordinated approach to environmental, social, and economic sustainability”.
In 2022, Jennifer Bruder, associate dean of research, and Elissar El-Akra Hajjar, director of facilities, became co-directors of the EcoCampus initiative. They mobilized a large community effort to transform the campus, focusing on three key areas: food equity, climate change, and campus waste management.
To receive the designation, Pramod Kumar Sharma, senior director of education for the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), traveled to Qatar to audit the campus.
“I'm happy to have our first EcoCampus Green Flag in the MENA region. Higher education is important in building a more sustainable future, because students at university can bring about a big change in a very short time”, he said. “Some people call students ‘future leaders’, but I say they are leaders now. They see sustainability as a value, not an action, and they will take this value to the workplace when they begin their careers”.
For Jennifer Bruder, the FEE Green Flag is simply a milestone in CMU-Q’s sustainability journey.
“This is an exciting time for our campus, because we see how dedicated our community is to promoting and advancing the UN SDGs at CMU-Q”, she said. “Over the next many years, I look forward to seeing the new ways CMU-Q can embrace these goals and inspire change in the world”.
CMU-Q offers undergraduate programs in biological sciences, business administration, computer science and information systems. In their coursework, research activities, student-led events and extracurricular opportunities, every student has the opportunity to learn about sustainability and effect change throughout their undergraduate years.
