ASU named one of nation’s best and greenest colleges

Arizona State University has been named one of the country’s best institutions for undergraduate education, according to The Princeton Review in its 2011 annual college guide, “The Best 373 Colleges.” ASU also made the “Green Honor Roll,” rating as one of the nation's 18 "greenest" universities, and is named among the top 120 Best Western Colleges.

Only about 15 percent of America’s 2,500 four-year colleges and two Canadian colleges are profiled in the book, which is The Princeton Review's flagship college guide. It includes detailed profiles of the colleges with rating scores for all schools in eight categories, plus ranking lists of top 20 schools in 62 categories based on The Princeton Review's surveys of students attending the colleges.

"We commend Arizona State University for its outstanding academics, which is the primary criteria for our selection of schools for the book,” said Robert Franek, The Princeton Review's senior vice president of publishing and author of the guide. “Our choices are based on institutional data we collect about schools, our visits to schools over the years, feedback we gather from students attending the schools, and the opinions of our staff and our 28-member National College Counselor Advisory Board."

In the profile on Arizona State University, students praise the university for its "seemingly endless opportunities and resources to not only help uncover what you are passionate about, but also to allow you to pursue those dreams and desires."

This is the third year in a row that ASU made The Princeton Review’s list of most environmentally friendly institutions – a list that salutes the institutions that received the highest possible score, 99, in this year's rating tallies.

The university was cited for its School of Sustainability, the first of its kind in the U.S.; its transdisciplinary degree programs taught by more than 60 faculty members representing more than 40 disciplines; its student-run bicycle co-op; and its energy-providing solar panels – the largest collection on a single U.S. university campus.

“Arizona State University is honored to be included in this year's Green Honor Roll. We are grateful for this recognition of the efforts of ASU faculty, staff and students to incorporate the principles of sustainability into every facet of campus life,” said R. F. "Rick" Shangraw, Jr., senior vice president for Knowledge Enterprise Development and director of the Global Institute of Sustainability. “Through our research endeavors, the design and operation of our campuses, and a curriculum that carries sustainability into all disciplines, we join our peers in higher education in rising to the challenge of creating a sustainable future.”

In addition to ASU, 17 other colleges were named to the honor roll including (in alphabetical order):

• College of the Atlantic
• The Evergreen State College
• Georgia Institute of Technology

• Harvard College

• Northeastern University

• Northland College

• State University of New York at Binghamton

• Unity College

• University of California-Berkley

• University of California-Santa Barbara
• University of California-Santa Cruz
• University of Georgia

• University of Maine

• University of Maryland, College Park

• Warren Wilson College

• West Virginia University
• Yale University

The Princeton Review developed the Green Rating in consultation with ecoAmerica, a nonprofit environmental organization. The criteria for the rating cover three broad areas: 1) whether the school’s students have a campus quality of life that is healthy and sustainable; 2) how well the school is preparing its students for employment and citizenship in a world defined by environmental challenges; and 3) the school's overall commitment to environmental issues.

Franek noted the rising interest among students in attending green colleges. Among 12,000 college applicants and parents of applicants The Princeton Review surveyed this year for its annual "College Hopes & Worries Survey," 64 percent of respondents said they would value having information about a college's commitment to the environment.

ASU earlier this year also was named among the 50 Best Value Colleges-Public.