NMU Featured in 2025 Sustainable Campus Index

Northern Michigan University is featured for the first time in the annual Sustainable Campus Index, which celebrates higher education institutions leading the way in sustainability. NMU appears in the Institutional Highlights section of "high-impact projects and transformative initiatives that exemplify leadership and innovation," primarily for its commitment to fully divest its endowment fund from the fossil fuel industry by 2028.

Northern's recognition in the index, published by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) since 2015, follows its ascent last year to STARS Gold Institution status from the AASHE through 2027.

"When we became gold, we became eligible to be featured in the index," said NMU Assistant Vice President for Sustainability Jes Thompson. "They review all the audits for all the schools and determined that our decision to divest, or remove investments associated with fossil-fuel related companies, was particularly interesting. Over the past year, we transitioned several of the University's investments, which is getting us much closer to that goal and much sooner than expected."

Thompson said NMU is one of only three STARS Gold schools in the state, and one of nine nationwide in the category of public, master's-granting institutions with fewer than 10,000 students.

"This helps put Northern on the map, and commitments like divestment really make us stand out," she added.

Beyond the decision to divest from fossil fuels, Northern's description in the Sustainable Campus Index also references the university's intent to increase sustainability-related investments by up to 15%. Such moves, it states, "align with NMU's core values and strategic priorities, which include a focus on building a culture of sustainability. It also expands on related initiatives such as implementing a carbon neutrality plan, creating a new assistant vice president for sustainability position, and enhancing trustee support for the EcoReps student organization."

According to Thompson, more recent sustainability-related efforts in progress include the development of an experiential learning forest and garden adjacent to the Woodland Park Apartments, and waste audits conducted by students toward the goal of becoming a zero-waste institution.

"I think zero waste is one of those initiatives that will be a real game-changer as well," she said.

For more information, visit NMU's Sustainability Hub for Innovation & Environment (SHINE) at nmu.edu/shine/sustainable-nmu. View the Sustainable Campus Index here.