LU Writing Center earns Sustainability badge

The Writing Center is one of the many resources that makes our university so exceptional. The sixteen trained employees offer free writing help to any student for any class via online or in-person sessions. In addition, the center recently received their GREEN sustainability badge from the Sustainability Committee for their efforts and advancements in making the Writing Center more eco-friendly! 

When Jennifer Ravey, now director of the Writing Center, joined the department in 2013, she noticed an excessive use of paper that was both wasteful and costly. “I really hate waste – for both time and resources,” says Ravey. “I decided to cut back as much as possible on our paper needs.” Within a year, she and the Writing Center team had gone paperless by moving their former paper process online and performing most of their work using computers.

Like most departments, the Writing Center had many of their sessions online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, they had already been offering online sessions since 2014 in order to serve as many students as possible.
 
The Writing Center did more than just go paperless. They purchased recycled and recyclable office supplies and pencils with refillable lead and made sure their equipment was certified as Energy Star compliant. They also handed out bookmarks with information instead of pamphlets that eventually would get thrown out and replaced the center’s furniture with chairs with metal parts that last longer. “We focus on the ‘reduce’ part of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ and have found that we rarely have to purchase anything because we make good use of what we have,” Jennifer Ravey explains. “These measures led the Writing Center to become more green-friendly and eligible for their badge.

Jennifer Ravey became a member of the Sustainability Committee when she was asked to join by Alicen Flosi, director of sustainability. “When Dr. Flosi came up with the badge idea, I knew I wanted to be leader in earning a badge,” says Ravey. “We are a small program, but we can make a big impact!” The LU Writing Center team is excited to be one of the first to earn a badge and is happy to be helping Lamar University go green!