UMass Amherst Goes Green with a Permaculture Garden and Gets Top Votes in White House Campus Champions of Change Challenge

The post below is being updated on Monday, March 5, with the link on the good news noted in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
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The votes are in and it looks as though UMass Amherst, which reached the finals of the White House College Campus Champions of Change, has garnered the greatest number of votes for a total of 59, 850 with the voting ending yesterday.

The results are in and the UMass Amherst Permaculture Initiative, led by Ryan Harb, should be congratulated.

The UMass Permaculture Initiative is a unique and cutting edge sustainability program that converts unproductive grass lawns on campus into ecological, socially responsible, and financially sustainable permaculture landscapes that are easy to replicate.

The top five vote getters will be invited to an event at the White House. They will also be featured by mtvU and MTV Act and be given the opportunity to host an episode of mtvU’s signature program, “The Dean’s List.”

UMass Amherst is in good company, followed by the University of Arkansas, Grinnell College, UCLA, and the University of Chicago.

UMass Amherst issued a nice press release on this challenge and even the Isenberg School highlighted some of its alums who were involved.

What also impressed me is that, among the student committee members, are several undergraduates who are majoring in my departmental majors of Finance and Operations Management!

Congrats to all involved -- wonderful to have such hard and important work recognized in such a significant way.