Furman University has been recognized as one of the top 10 overall performers in the 2018 Sustainable Campus Index, claiming the seventh spot in the national rankings among baccalaureate institutions.

Furman also achieved a top performer rating in the Research category this year among all types of institutions. Only two universities in the Southeast earned perfect scores in the research category; the other was the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The 2018 Sustainable Campus Index, a publication of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), recognizes top-performing colleges and universities overall and in 17 sustainability impact areas, as measured by the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, & Rating System (STARS). The report also highlights innovative and high-impact initiatives from institutions that submitted STARS reports in the most recent calendar year.

AASHE’s STARS program is the most widely recognized report card in the world for grading sustainability performance in higher education. Furman currently holds a STARS “Gold Rating” in recognition of its sustainability achievements, and is one of just a few institutions in the Southeast to reach this rating.

“Over the past few decades, Furman has established itself as a sustainability leader in higher education, both in terms of its curriculum and its campus operations,” says Weston Dripps, executive director of the David E. Shi Center for Sustainability. “Being recognized as a top sustainability performer nationally speaks to our ongoing hard work, efforts, and sustainability achievements.”