[397] Green Expo at MTSU Highlights Environment, Jobs April 21

Release date: April 2, 2010


News & Public Affairs contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-5616 or jweiler@mtsu.edu
Green Expo contact: Karen Austin, 615-898-5732 or kaustin@mtsu.edu

Green Expo at MTSU Highlights Environment, Jobs April 21

(MURFREESBORO, TN) – Conscientious Consumption Day is one of several events involving MTSU’s Students for Environmental Action during Earth Month and Earth Day activities in April.
In its effort to be conscientious, the student environmental group will partner with the Career Development Center to hold the first Green Expo on Wednesday, April 21, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Keathley University Center Knoll.
The goal of Green Expo is to host an exposition of sustainability projects, carbon-footprint reduction efforts or environmental-awareness programs, said Karen Austin, associate director of MTSU’s Career Development Center.
“We (SEA) ask students to think about how their consumer choices affect the environment,” said Brandy Potter, SEA co-chair. “The Green Expo on the Knoll will be filled with green vendors students can become familiar with.”
MTSU’s Center for Environmental Education, the student chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, SEA and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy will be among the participating vendors, Austin said. The MTSU Recycling Program will provide containers.
Austin said there is an open invitation to academic and administrative departments, along with employers and “green” nonprofits in Murfreesboro and Nashville, to attend this expo “to showcase what they are doing in the areas of sustainability, education and green initiatives.” No fee is required, although sponsorships are available.
While most colleges and universities are calling the same type of event “green career fairs” and charging fees to participate, Austin said she “thinks it’s counter-productive” and believes it’s best to “broaden it to an educational event. I think it will only get bigger.”
“It’s our first endeavor,” she said. “It potentially could be a great program if we have community participation.”
Austin added that some vendors will have internship and job opportunities to discuss with students. 

“I want people to walk away and say, ‘I didn’t know we did that,’” she said. “Through planning this, I learned MTSU is the No. 1 consumer of green power from TVA and so much more that I didn’t know we’re doing around here.”
Cynthia Allen, natural resources coordinator for the Center for Environmental Education, said their expo plans include promoting the Tennessee Stormwater Association along with internship and job opportunities.
TNSA membership includes designated municipal separate storm sewer systems, or MS4s, that take in city and county governments, universities, military installations and other entities, such as the Tennessee Department of Transportation. Associate members include environmental advocacy groups, consultants and vendors. To view SEA’s scheduled April activities, visit www.sea-mtsu.org.
If there’s rain, Green Expo will move inside the KUC to the first floor. For more information, call 615-898-5732 or e-mail kaustin@mtsu.edu.

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Media welcomed.

With three Nobel Prize winners among its alumni and former faculty, Middle Tennessee State University confers master’s degrees in 10 areas, the Specialist in Education degree, the Doctor of Arts degree and the Doctor of Philosophy degree. MTSU is ranked among the top 100 public universities in the nation in the Forbes “America’s Best Colleges” 2009 survey.


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