Mammel Hall
going up green
The College of Business Administration's new facility,
Mammel Hall, will be a green building. Designed to meet the standards of the
Leadership in Energy and Design (LEED) green building rating system,
certification will mean the new facility achieves specified levels of energy
efficiency.
LEED certification mandates best-practice standards in
materials and resource usage, indoor environmental quality, water efficiency
and sustainability. A rigorous third-party commissioning as part of the
certification process guarantees that the highest standards of environmental
responsibility have been met.
"'Going green' is the right thing to do," says Dean Louis
Pol. "LEED certification demonstrates to our constituents, specifically the
Mammels, Scotts and taxpayers of Nebraska, that the College of Business
Administration is a respectful steward of the resources provided to us."
According to the U.S. Green Building Council,
LEED-certified buildings:
• Lower operating costs and increase asset value;
• Reduce waste sent to landfills;
• Conserve energy and water
• Provide a healthier and safer environment for occupants;
and,
• Reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
The LEED process will be used as a teaching tool, one that
is well-suited to future leaders of the business community. "One reason we are
pursuing LEED certification is to demonstrate to our students the importance of
managing scarce resources responsibly over the long term," says Pol. The
construction and maintenance of Mammel Hall will serve as a laboratory for
students in business administration and in architecture and engineering.
Mammel Hall will be the first LEED-certified building on
the UNO campus and one of only four across the University of Nebraska system.
LEED certification is one more element differentiating UNO's CBA from other
business schools. "Going forward, business must focus on sustainability as a
component of responsible business practice," says Pol. "CBA is leading by
example by investing precious resources in this priority. LEED certification
will provide evidence of our commitment, and we expect it to help attract
top-tier students, faculty and staff to our college."
Pictured, from left: CBA Professor Emeritus Kim Sosin,
Amy Burk, teacher and contributing reviewer from R.M. Marrs Magnet Center, and
CBA's Mary Lynn Reiser.
UNO Web site a boon
to economic teachers
UNO's Center for Economic Education plays a key role in
helping K-12 teachers across the globe identify and adopt high-quality teaching
materials about economics.
The Center administers a new Web site,
http://EconEdReviews.org, designed to serve teachers seeking first-rate,
"proven" materials for economics-related lessons. UNO's Center collaborated
with the National Council on Economic Education to create the website. Its
development and maintenance are funded by a grant from the Calvin K. Kazanjian
Economics Foundation, which owns the site.
EconEdReviews.org was developed as a resource hub for
teachers seeking age- and topic-appropriate materials for K-12 economic
education. The site includes online materials from numerous sources, including
the National Council on Economic Education (NCEE), state economic education
councils and centers, the national Jump$tart Coalition's clearinghouse, the
Foundation for Teaching Economics, JA Worldwide, the Federal Reserve Banks, AP
Economics, and others.
Research found that teachers value resources organized by
economic concept, national and state standard, grade level, and course subject,
so the Web site is searchable by each of these criteria.
In its second year of the three-year project, the Center
for Economic Education is recruiting teachers to review materials to "seed" the
site, helping other teachers make informed decisions about materials provided.
Reviews also assist the source organizations revise and develop more effective
teaching materials. Anyone may use site reviews but teachers must register
before they can submit reviews.
Director of the grant project is Dr. Kim Sosin, professor
emeritus of economics in CBA and webmaster of the Center of Economic
Education's widely utilized website, http://ecedweb.unomaha.edu. Co-director of
the grant is Mary Lynn Reiser, co-director of UNO's Center and recipient of a
2008 YWCA Tribute to Women Award.
