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NACAS Innovative Achievement in Auxiliary Services - 2009
Session 1 Presentation Notes
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Typically this award is given for a specific process or program that improves service, saves money, and makes for a better
customer experience. Rather than submit for one primary program or process, the award submission text below tells more
of an overall story highlighting many different passive and active efforts we are making here to both save money in some
creative ways and educate our campus community and guests with regard to how we live up to our responsibilities as
inhabitants of the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold Certified student center in the
country. There is a lot of information here and only a few key components will be able to be highlighted at the NACAS
presentation so you are encouraged to spend some time looking over the entire submission and any of the related links that
are of interest. The comprehensive list of links and supporting websites has been moved to the top of this document in case
you just want to dive in and click on various topics.
Supporting Websites:
Davis Center homepage:
http://www.uvm.edu/~davis/
Davis Center interactive green building tour:
http://www.uvm.edu/~davis/?Page=interactive.html&SM=tourmenu.html
Davis Center audio green building tour:
http://www.uvm.edu/~davis/?Page=audiotour.html&SM=tourmenu.html
Davis Center green building documentary video:
http://www.uvm.edu/~davis/?Page=enviro_doc.html&SM=enviromenu.html
Davis Center Annual Report:
http://www.uvm.edu/~davis/?Page=annualreport.html&SM=historymenu.html
Davis Center photo tour:
http://www.uvm.edu/~davis/?Page=photo_tour.html&SM=tourmenu.html
Building Dashboard: http://buildingdashboard.com/clients/uvm/davis/
Sodexo Sustainability Site: http://uds.uvm.edu/social.html
Hyperlinks:
The University of Vermont’s Dudley H. Davis Center
Davis Center mission
Green Building Council
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®)
WTW Architects
TruexCullins
William A. Berry
Vermont Brick Company
Green roof
Poly-Whey
31% less electricity
Event survey
Dashboard format
green-building stories
Auxiliary services
NACAS College Services Article
Sodexo
Vermont Fresh Network
Intervale Center
Champlain Orchards apple orchard
Sodexo local recognition
“Made in Vermont” (ACUI Bulletin cover story, July 2008)
Building Dashboard: http://buildingdashboard.com/clients/uvm/davis/
Picnic tables
Metal worker and UVM alumna Kat Clear
Alumni-owned concrete business
Community Development and Applied Economics
Growing Vermont: a student-run business
Department of Plant and Soil Sciences
UVM FeelGood
The Hunger Project
Sourcing toilet paper - UVM Kleercut: Forest Crimes Unit
UVM Recycling Program
EnerNOC
Mini Bin program
Davis Center Mini Bin image
Office of Sustainability
Techno trash bin
Women Helping Battered Women
Cooking oil and grease recycling
Environmental signage and online links
Eco-Rep waste sort
Micro fiber cleaning
Hope for Women cards
Wooden nickel program
Water bottle refill stations
Davis Center green audio tour
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Introduction
The University of Vermont’s Dudley H. Davis Center brings students, faculty and staff together in a way never before
experienced on the UVM campus. In fulfilling the role of UVM’s first true campus center, the Davis Center involved
students, staff, faculty and community members in the early years of program planning and design, as well as in the
definition of the core mission for the building – a focus on students, environmental stewardship, social justice, and
academic integration. The Davis Center team believes that it is important to be a leader in sustainability and social
responsibility, efficient facility operation, and in partnering with both the on and off campus community to attain the Davis
Center mission.
The building’s core values encourage its staff to go beyond the design concepts of green building and campus sustainability
to pursue an active life as environmental stewards. While sustainability and stewardship are not mutually exclusive
environmental stewardship goes further by evoking a significant trust that:
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individuals actively question and acknowledge the impact behaviors and choices;
stakeholders shape the overall operations of the building in a way that is consistent with values;
leaders, educators and role models encourage patrons to live a life that respects the concept of environmental care
and social justice.
The Davis Center is the first student center in the country to receive Gold-level recognition from the Green Building
Council. By incorporating core values in policies and practices, staff have successfully connected with the environment,
community partners, and the campus ensuring that the Davis Center is far more than a recognized building. It is a dynamic
place where stewardship and education are successfully intertwined.
Green Building Council LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold Certification for New
Construction
The Green Building Council’s points-awarded review process comprehensively assesses the overall environmental impact
of new construction and renovation projects. WTW Architects of Pittsburgh, PA and TruexCullins architects of Burlington,
VT in partnership with William A. Berry construction managers, numerous sub contractors, and UVM staff members
worked diligently to capture and document the necessary points to achieve gold status.
Important stories lie behind each LEED point earned by the Davis Center. These stories bring the Davis Center to life
during building tours, conference presentations, and formal and informal visits from local, regional, national, and
international campuses (including guests from Qatar). Below are a few of the incredible stories regarding reduced
construction costs and increased revenue generation for the local economy.

More than 92% of the construction waste was reused or recycled.

More than 95% of the two buildings deconstructed for this project was recycled or reused. For example, concrete
rubble was reused as underlay for paths and roads surrounding the building.

The Davis Center used three times the minimum LEED requirement for local building materials. In the end, 66%
of the building materials was sourced or manufactured within a 500-mile radius of UVM funneling close to $6.4
million into the local economy.
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The 300,000 exterior bricks came from the Vermont Brick Company in Highgate Center, VT. Placing the
order ahead of time allowed the Company to keep many of their staff working through the slower winter
months.
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The slate on the roof came from Fair Haven, Vermont (86 miles to the south of Burlington).
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The maple trees used for accent panels in the main atrium and ballroom were harvested from the
Bostwick Farm in Shelburne, VT, manufactured into veneer at the Vermont Veneer Company, and sent
then made into wood paneling by the Vermont Plywood Company.

Waterless urinals are working well and save approximately 500,000 gallons of water a year.

The green roof mitigates and manages storm water run off and insulates the loading dock below.
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Wooden benches in the building were made from Japanese Larch planted in UVM’s Jericho Research Forest in the
1940’s as part of an academic effort to look at sustainable tree farming. The benches were treated with Poly-Whey
(a by-product of cheese production – a renewable resource that is non toxic, low VOC, low odor, and developed
by a UVM alumnus).

Infrastructure elements that add to the Center’s green factor include: integrated recycling stations throughout the
building; a dedicated cooler in the loading dock to store compost; and a glycol system that heats a 19,000 square
foot loading dock like a radiant floor. Snow and ice removal costs are eliminated and corrosive salt related wearand-tear on the facility is avoided.

Lighting is designed to use 31% less electricity than a conventional building of the same size (186,000 square
feet). Auto dimming lights near windows minimize energy use during the day. Computerized lighting control
systems automatically adjust light levels and shut off lights when rooms are unoccupied.

Heating and cooling systems are designed to use 59% less energy than a conventional building of comparable size.
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Carbon dioxide sensors in meeting rooms detect minute changes in carbon dioxide from occupants and
signal the room's heating system to shut off when the room is vacant. Similarly, when a window is
opened, computerized sensors send a signal to shut off the heating or cooling in that area.
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The heat recovery ventilation systems on the roof capture heat from air as it is exhausted from the
building using several large desiccant wheels. This captured heat is used to increase the temperature of
cold intake air so that steam energy can be conserved. On warm days, the process is reversed and the cool
exhaust air is used to pre-cool the warm intake air so additional energy can be conserved.
While the Davis Center has many green-building stories, this submission emphasizes the staff’s dedication to innovations
that inspire daily changes in behavior that affect the immediate and long-term health of our communities (local, state and
global) and make the Davis Center a more efficient facility.
Enhancement of Customer Service
Campus center “customers” include students, staff, faculty, parents, alumni, community members, and guests of the
university. Unlike many individual auxiliary services with a specific business practice or campus service, the Davis Center
provides a home base for a number of auxiliary services as well as a top shelf conference and event facility for campus and
outside customers.
To measure success and determine opportunities for improvement, the Davis Center Operations office created an event
survey which is sent after each meeting or event to assess service. This survey provides tangible feedback and indicates in
a dashboard format and free write responses where progress is made each month and where continued process improvement
efforts should or will be focused.
Innovative Partnerships
After competing the construction process, staff shifted partnerships from architects and builders to customers, tenants,
academic programs, student organizations, artists, university departments, local primary and secondary schools, and locally
owned businesses.
The Davis Center auxiliary services include the 2002 NACAS award winning CATcard Office as well as the UVM
Bookstore and Convenience Store. Both have been featured in the October 2008 issue of the NACAS College Services
magazine (“True to Its Roots: UVM Bookstore”).
The Davis Center uses the environmental stewardship and social justice values as consistent rationale for much of its work.
For example:

Sodexo Dining Services
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BRAND FAIR: Early in the planning stages the design team listened to a variety of campus constituents
about the food service options planned for the Davis Center. In cooperation with Sodexo, the team
coordinated a “Brand Fair” to have 250 interested students, staff, and faculty taste test 16 vendors (10 of
which were local businesses) who expressed interest in sub-contracting with Sodexo, which holds the
exclusive contract for food service at UVM. Out of that initiative, three local food vendors (Ben &
Jerry’s, Sakura Sushi, and alumni-owned New World Tortilla) partnered with Sodexo for daily food
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operations. As such, these tenants operate within the same environmental stewardship values as the
building.
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LOCAL AGRICULTURAL PARTNERSHIPS: Sodexo continually works toward partnership
development with local vendors and growers. It is a member and ardent supporter of the Vermont Fresh
Network, which helps Vermont farms and restaurants team up to provide the freshest local food at
restaurants. Sodexo developed a direct farm-to-campus relationship with a variety of farmers, from
helping to plan the spring planting schedule with Arethusa Farms in Burlington’s Intervale Center to
supporting a UVM alumnus’ apple orchard. Sodexo’s level of commitment to Vermont products has
earned both local recognition and national recognition (e.g. in ACUI’s July 2008 Bulletin as the cover
story “Made in Vermont”). Going local has done much to reduce the environmental costs of shipping a
percentage of their inventory. Sodexo also maintains several student internships to help identify new
suppliers and track their current local food efforts. All coffee served in the Davis Center is fair trade.
Used cooking oil is collected and converted locally into bio diesel fuel.
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SUSTAINABILITY GALLERY: The Sodexo Sustainability Gallery continues to grow as a mechanism
for teaching visitors about two principal areas: how the building is “behaving” (via both the web site as
well as an interactive touch screen kiosk in the gallery) and in how the building functions consistent with
good stewardship practices. Building consumption is presented through an innovative “building
dashboard” interface that taps into a large number of building sensors to report the use of electricity,
heating, cooling, and natural gas. Stewardship practices are told through profiles of Sodexo’s local
partners.
Vendors
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FURNITURE: A variety of options for furniture within the building was considered. Options focused on
“green” vendors and a daylong “tush test” of seating options was held to get feedback from community
members about the most comfortable, most stylish, and environmental choice. In addition, all of the
dining and coffee tables in the Davis Center were constructed in Vermont, including picnic tables which
were constructed by Burlington-based UVM alumna Kat Clear (UVM ’01) who fabricated the metal
bases and in turn partnered with a local and alumni-owned concrete business.
Academic Partnerships
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COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND LIFE SCIENCES:
 The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Community Development and Applied Economics
(CDAE) Department emphasizes entrepreneurship. The Davis Center worked with department
faculty and staff to help CDAE establish Growing Vermont, which is located in the Davis
Center. Growing Vermont is a one of a kind student-run business that sells only Vermont
products. The academic program allows students to experientially learn about sourcing products,
hiring and managing staff, marketing, and many other challenges of running a small business.

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Plant and Soil Sciences: The plants within the building have been selected, purchased and
maintained by the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences and the Horticulture Club. This
“contract” was created to allow students to understand how contract plant services should be
managed while providing a more aesthetically pleasing building.
Student Clubs and Organizations
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FeelGood is a student organization that strives to “end world hunger one grilled cheese at a time”. A
small space within the building is provided to this student group at no cost, and during their first year of
operation in the Davis Center they raised $39,500 in net profits that were donated to The Hunger Project.
Since its inception, UVM FeelGood has contributed more than $75,000 towards the sustainable end to
world hunger.
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UVM Kleercut: Forest Crimes Unit –. This activist student group raised a question about sourcing toilet
paper for campus. The University of Vermont purchases about 32 tons of toilet paper a year. The Davis
Center served as a test site for finding a more responsible product made from 100 percent recycled paper,
bleached without chlorine, to meet more stringent environmental standards.
UVM Departments
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PHYSICAL PLANT: The Davis Center works with Physical Plant in areas such as:

With the support of the physical plant’s energy management experts, the Davis Center continues
to improve the energy efficiency of lighting throughout the building. Swapping in LED lights for
many of the fluorescent lights originally installed reduced power consumption by as much as
$1,500 a year. A second and much larger partnership between the Davis Center, UVM Physical
Plant, and EnerNOC (Energy Network Operations Center), a business that works with clients to
harness unused generator capacity, led to the establishment of a very lucrative relationship. The
Davis Center is on of a growing list of facilities that receive income for reducing energy usage
during periods of peak demand and sharing unused generator capacity. In the first year of this
EnerNOC partnership, UVM generated an additional $15,000 in new revenue. These new
dollars are now being funneled back into additional energy saving projects in the Davis Center
and elsewhere on campus: a real win-win arrangement.

UVM’s Recycling Program is integral to the successful first year of operation when Davis
recycled or composted over 52% of the building’s waste, notably diverting 98 tons of food
scraps from the landfill through robust composting in dining operations. Staff continue to work
with the Recycling staff to implement and test new initiatives for the campus and fully expect
the second year to be even more successful.
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BUILDING TENANTS: A number of partnerships have been developed with occupants of the Davis
Center. Most of these initiatives have addressed environmental aspects of individual tenant operations,
such as the innovative Mini Bin desk trash program. The Mini Bin program provides a small desktop
trash can on each staff member’s desk and a recycling container at each workstation. Occupants are
responsible for taking their trash and recycling to a centralized collection location in each office area
reducing custodial time and costs for cleaning occupant work areas while raising awareness of the daily
amount of trash generated. Given the current financial environment, UVM, like so many colleges and
universities, is looking at ways to become operationally leaner and meaner. After two years of serving as
a successful pilot study for this mini bin program, UVM administration informed the rest of campus that
all areas will now be asked to follow this program in a major move to save significantly on custodial
expenses for the entire UVM campus.
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OFFICE OF SUSTAINABILITY: The University recently established an Office of Sustainability.
Although this is a new office, the individuals staffing this office have been long term partners in the
building’s design and operational implementation. Davis Center staff frequently rely on their participation
in key green initiatives including the development of the Sodexo Sustainability Gallery and program
planning such as Focus the Nation and Earth Week.
Innovative partnerships and campus connections have accomplished so much in such a short time. The staff time dedicated
to sustainability and stewardship initiatives is significantly magnified by the power of many.
Stewardship Programs and Practices
Successful stewardship programs and practices have resulted from active partnerships as well as from a number of
initiatives lead by Davis Center staff. The results of annual surveys yield valuable information. The university community
has assumed “ownership” of the Davis Center illustrated by the fact that 25% of both the student body and faculty and 40%
of the staff respond to the online survey– all numbers higher than any other previous campus-wide surveys.
Programs and practices follow the core values of environmental stewardship, social justice, student centeredness, and
academic integration. In addition to the innovative partnerships that have yielded key environmental programs and
significant savings, a large number of other programs focus on social justice and other important social issues. Below is a
sampling of some unique stewardship programs and practices that help contribute to the building’s ethos.

Recycling – Staff have successfully improved efforts to recycle paper and cardboard in both the front and
back of the house. Other initiatives include:
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Student Building Managers collect fliers from the bulletin boards (which are cleared every
Sunday). The UVM Print and Mail Department uses this paper, which would otherwise go
directly into the recycling process, to create colorful quarter sheet notepads for Davis Center
offices.
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A techno trash bin has been developed to recycle cell phones, batteries, and other electronic
“junk”. The Davis Center Information Desks collects cell phones for Women Helping Battered
Women, the largest service provider for battered women in Vermont.
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Used cooking oil and grease from the kitchens are collected regularly and hauled to Winooski,
VT and converted to bio-diesel fuel by a local company for heating, transportation, farming, and
maple-sugaring.
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Food and supplies packaged on wooden pallets are delivered to the Davis Center regularly. The
pallets are picked up from the loading dock and taken to the McNeil Generating Station in
Burlington where they are burned to generate electricity for the Burlington Electric Department,
from which the Davis Center buys its electricity.

Composting – The design of the building includes a dedicated refrigerator in the loading dock to store
waste for composting. Locally, the Intervale Center has a very active composting operation that accepts
compost material. Student Eco-Reps are active members of front of house composting educational
efforts. Sodexo has become an important player because much of the back of the house composting
originates from food operations. In addition to training staff to compost food scraps, Sodexo also offers
compostable takeaway containers or china for all catered events. Programmatically this commitment has
enabled June First Year Student Orientation program to serve all compostable materials at a number of
events (earning the title of a zero-waste program). In addition, one recent and large week long summer
conferences (1,500 people at 3 meals a day) used all compostable dining utensils in the Davis Center as a
method to create a kosher level of service and reduce the total conference waste.

Signage – Staff installed informative signage throughout the Davis Center with corresponding
information on the website (click on Features) to highlight many of the environmental aspects of the
building as part of the teaching mission. In addition, LEED Gold certification seals are placed at every
major point of entry for the building. Vermont Fresh Network signs appear on doorways leading into
Sodexo dining operations.

Eco-Reps – The UVM Recycling Program initiated a student Eco-Rep in each residence hall a few years
ago. This student’s goal is to increase the environmental ethic in each residence hall through education
and action. The Davis Center connected with the Eco-Rep program shortly after opening to see about the
possibility of extending this program to the Davis Center. Since then an Eco-Rep was assigned to the
building to develop active educational programs such as the student initiated waste monitoring events,
where students staff the garbage receptacles in the busy Marketplace dining area and guide fellow
community members through the daunting process of choosing the right bin. The Eco-Rep and UVM
Recycling programs also co-host an annual waste sort of the Davis Center’s trash in front of the building.

Green cleaning products – The Davis Center made a conscious decision to push effective green cleaning
efforts as far as possible and to strive to be campus leaders in green cleaning. Ninety-two percent of the
cleaning products are considered green, and our custodial staff has become a vital part of the Davis
Center’s “green team.” They took the lead on the UVM campus to implement microfiber cleaning
systems for all cleaning in the building. Annual costs for washable and reusable micro fiber cloth come
to $1,250 vs. $19,500 for traditional paper towels and wipes (a 93% savings annually). Microfiber
equipment is lighter to use and reduces stress on custodial staff. While set up costs for a high efficiency
front load washer and dryer had an initial outlay of funds, the cost to replace floor cleaning supplies is
approximately $500 less than buying traditional wet mop heads each year. Lastly, buying and cleaning
micro fiber products versus renting and having someone clean them costs $2,045 versus $8,320 each
year. As a result of all these pioneering efforts, substantial savings are realized over the traditional
custodial practices for the rest of the campus.

Product sourcing – The Davis Center continues the efforts initially undertaken as part of the LEED
certification process to source uniforms, marketing materials, and food products from environmentally
and socially responsible providers. There have been times when the decision might be a bit more
expensive, but the Davis Center has stayed consistent with core values and purchased products that
represent those values as closely as possible. For example, instead of purchasing conventional stationery
for thank you notes/cards, the staff partnered with a local Burlington business, Hope for Women, a
member of the Fair Trade Federation, to custom imprint handmade cards.
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
Varietal programs – The Davis Center produces a wide variety of covert and overt programs to drive the
environmental agenda. A sampling include:
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Our ‘Wooden Nickel’ Program covertly recognizes individual efforts to pick up litter, refill a
refillable mug, or just be kind to another person. The Wooden Nickel provides the recipient a
free cup of fair trade coffee. The nickel is passed to another environmental Samaritan.
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The University developed a campaign for campus community members to bring a refillable cup
for beverage purchases – “One Less Cup”. Reusable cups and bottles are given away at the start
of the school year to provide students with a free vessel for their beverages and discounts are
given when they are used. The Davis Center publically tracks the number of refillable mugs that
are brought to the busy Café each month and challenges folks to trend up!
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Water bottle filling stations have been installed at all water fountains. This low-budget
suggestion – only about $150 to purchase and install – originated from a custodian who noticed
students struggling to refill their bottles. This retrofit to drinking fountains was an easy
improvement that several visiting college union representatives have since adopted in their
facilities.
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Three flagpoles stand outside the main entrance. One is used for the United States flag, the
second is for the Vermont state flag, and the third is used for special building related programs
with the Whole Earth flag as the default flag to represent the commitment to the principals of
environmental stewardship.
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Students in UVM professor Logan Brown's ENVS 195 class created an audio tour of the Davis
Center, with a focus on the green elements of the building.
Conclusion
The staff at the Davis Center believe they have done a remarkable job in their efforts to teach, act, and plan with
stewardship and sustainability in mind. They also acknowledge that there are continuing opportunities for improvement as
they strive to operate the building consistent with the Iroquois concept of making decisions that benefit seven generations
into the future. Many efforts in the Davis Center have lowered building operating costs and perhaps more importantly,
these efforts help educate the UVM community and guests to better understand, embrace, and adopt greener and more
sustainable practices outside of their time in the Davis Center and UVM. Much like the NACAS theme “The Connections
That Count,” the Davis Center has been very successful in its first two years of operation to maximize the innovative
connections with the UVM and surrounding community.
Additional Press Coverage:
WCAX TV coverage of Ethan Bond-Watts Emergence
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=9660613&nav=menu183_2
Chronicle of Higher Education:
http://chronicle.com/blogs/architecture/index.php?id=621
Principal Contacts:
Allen Josey
Director of Operations
[email protected]
(802) 656-1204
Pat Brown
Director of Student Life and the Davis Center
[email protected]
(802) 65-2060
Kate Strotmeyer
Marketing Coordinator
[email protected]
(802) 656-2060
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