Enviance, Inc. and Environmental Leader recently named Montana
State University as one of the “Sustainable 16,” a group of 16 colleges and
universities exemplifying excellence in environmental academics in the
first-ever March Madness Tournament for Environmental Studies.

“The ‘Sustainable 16′ has been selected from a highly competitive field of
colleges and universities who responded to our survey looking for the top
environmental studies programs in the country,” said Lawrence Goldenhersh,
CEO and president of Enviance, and a tournament judge.

“These are the institutions that will prepare the next generation of
environmental professionals to lead environmental compliance, sustainability
and social responsibility programs for some of the world’s largest
companies,” Goldenhersh said.

Based in Carlsbad, Calif., Enviance is a leading provider of environmental
enterprise resource planning software, with more than 17,000 users in 49
countries. Environmental Leader is a daily trade publication for corporate
executives on energy, environmental and sustainability news.

MSU has a range of programs committed to sustainability and environmental
sciences, including the Associated Students of Montana State University
Sustainability Center, the Department of Land Resources and Environmental
Sciences, degrees in environmental engineering, environmental studies, and
sustainable food and bioenergy systems. Bruce Maxwell, College of
Agriculture professor in the Department of Land Resources and Environmental
Sciences, oversaw MSU’s application to the competition.

The March Madness Tournament for Environmental Studies was designed to
evaluate colleges and universities on their academic and sustainability
prowess as it relates to the environment, in a format similar to the NCAA
Men’s College Basketball Tournament. The tournament sponsors sent surveys to
more than three dozen of the country’s top environmental universities and
also accepted open submissions from other qualified schools.

In order to be considered for the Sustainable 16, schools were required to
fill out a survey covering topics related to curriculum, graduation rate,
facilities and student retention, which was then evaluated by a panel of
expert judges.

Judges for this year’s tournament included:

Peter Fox, principal & chairman of The Brattle Group
Velislava Ivanova, director of global sustainability at CH2M HILL
Larry Goldenhersh, CEO & president of Enviance
Nick Johnson, managing consultant at Trinity Consultants
Don Cuffel, manager of environmental engineering at Valero/California

The Sustainable 16 are (alphabetically):

1. Baylor University
2. Colby College
3. Colorado State University
4. Cornell University
5. Duke University
6. Humboldt State University
7. Montana State University
8. Ohio State University
9. Purdue University
10. Rochester Institute of Technology
11. Temple University
12. University of California, Davis
13. University of Florida
14. University of Michigan – Dearborn
15. UNC Asheville
16. University of Texas at Arlington