CWU cements status as sustainability leader with two national recognitions

The work Central Washington University does every day to uplift, promote, and advance sustainability on campus and in the community is a central part of our university’s mission — and national associations are taking note.

This fall, CWU’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) rating was upgraded to Gold by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). The rating, which rewards a comprehensive, university-wide approach to sustainability, was announced last month, following CWU’s submission of a self-evaluation report in July. The upgrade reflects three years of hard work and innovation since the university earned a Silver rating in 2022 and a Bronze rating in 2019. 

Sustainability Director Jeff Bousson knows this level of success could not have come about without broad support for the initiatives driving it, both on campus and around Ellensburg.

“I would like to express a heartfelt thank you to my team and all the staff, faculty, and students who contributed to our 2025 STARS report,” he said. “I would also like to recognize and thank my counterpart, Yolanda Cieters, and her team at Seattle University’s Center for Environmental Justice for peer reviewing our STARS report, which helped contribute to our overall score.”

CWU is only the second public higher education institution in Washington to receive an AASHE STARS Gold rating, after UW Bothell.

“Since many of us sustainability practitioners in the higher ed space look to other universities’ STARS reports for inspiration and guidance, CWU will now serve as a model for other universities seeking to improve their performance in sustainability,” Bousson said.

In addition to the STARS Gold rating, CWU was honored with the Thermal Horizons Award at last week’s Geothermal Rising conference in Reno, Nevada. The award spotlights progress-driving geothermal innovation in higher education, a field in which CWU is investing heavily as part of our campus’ Climate Action Plan, Decarbonization Plan, and North Academic Complex (NAC) construction project. The work includes an open-loop geothermal system, which will heat and cool four campus buildings with a minimal carbon footprint.

As the largest geothermal project on a public college campus on the West Coast, the work will serve as a model for other schools wanting to pursue this powerful approach to decarbonization, according to Director of Capital Planning and Projects Delano Palmer, who accepted the Thermal Horizons Award at the October 28 ceremony.

“We are learning more and more about geothermal on a daily basis,” he said. “Everything we’re doing with the NAC and the GeoEco plant is a learning opportunity, and documenting that for ourselves and our peers is key to maintaining our position as a thought leader in this space.”

The NAC GeoEco plant is just the beginning, as the state has allocated additional funds for a secondary geothermal well next to Samuelson Hall, which will help expand CWU’s capacity to regulate temperatures in a sustainable way in more buildings on campus.

“This is a testament to our pursuit of this alternative energy, and it’s going to be a great opportunity for the university,” Palmer said. “Because we’ve been forward-thinking and confident in our push for support, we have the funding we need to make this a reality.”

While it might be tempting to consider the boxes checked after this much success, Bousson knows that the only way to truly build a more sustainable and resilient campus community is to keep aiming higher.

“Now that we have established a strong foundation for sustainability programming and initiatives at CWU, the work doesn’t stop here,” he said. “We will continue to do everything we can to inspire action, support CWU’s Strategic Plan, and help improve the environmental, economic, and social well-being of our campus and broader community while preparing our students for the 21st century workforce.”