WMU to celebrate green buildings with unveiling of LEED designations

KALAMAZOO, Mich.--An executive with the U.S. Green Building Council will join campus officials at 1:15 p.m. Monday, Nov. 24, in the lobby of Sangren Hall to celebrate the designation of five WMU buildings as certified through LEED--Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design--the national gold standard for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings.

The brief event will feature the simultaneous unveiling of LEED plaques--one at Sangren and one each taking place at the same time in the Lee Honors College and the Zhang Legacy Collections Center, all of which have been announced as LEED certified in 2014. The names of two additional buildings that have just been certified will be disclosed at the event. While the Sangren plaque is unveiled for the crowd at Sangren, the four other plaque unveilings will take place and be shown on large monitors in the Sangren lobby.

The event is believed to reflect the largest number of LEED designations ever celebrated at the same time. No other college or university in Michigan has achieved five LEED certifications in a single year. The two new buildings being announced as LEED-certified bring the number of such facilities at WMU to 12. An additional eight buildings are still in the certification pipeline.

Taking part in the unveiling at Sangren and making brief remarks will be:

• WMU President John M. Dunn
• Cheri Holman, executive director, U.S. Green Building Council-West Michigan, and
• Kelsey Pitschel, WMU mechanical engineering major who has earned her LEED Green Associate certification and managed a Design Challenge for outdoor education at WMU's Gibbs House.

Originally scheduled for Nov. 18, this event was postponed due to severe weather.

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