UMR received word on June 29 that its environmental management system was approved for registration to the international standard known as ISO 14001. This means that UMR joins the ranks of several Fortune 500 companies and other businesses that manage their environmental programs by this global standard. The goal of this certification is to reduce an organization's adverse impact on the environment, while ensuring that the organization complies with all environmental regulations.

UMR is the first university in the nation to become ISO 14001-certified.

"This ISO 14001 certification recognizes our campus' desire to set a standard of excellence in environmental stewardship," says Dr. Gary Thomas, UMR's chancellor. "We want to measure our environmental management practices by this international standard to ensure that we are in compliance with state and federal regulations and, most importantly, to prepare our students for their future in a business world that is becoming more environmentally conscious."

UMR's registrar, National Quality Assurance USA Inc., based in Boston, conducted the ISO 14001 audit of UMR's environmental management system in February and in May. NQA recommended UMR's ISO 14001 registration to the International Organization for Standardization in late May.

"We have been working on the project for three years, but we still have many improvements to make," says Amy Gillman, UMR's environmental management system coordinator. "The focus of our environmental management system is continual improvement, and you can't actually continue to improve unless you have a sense of what needs to be improved. We've worked hard to put a plan in place that allows us to measure our performance as we make the improvements."

UMR already has experienced some tangible benefits from the process of implementing the system. Enhanced environmental awareness across campus is a major benefit, says Dr. Harvest Collier, professor of chemistry and associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, who chaired the campuswide implementation effort. "The entire process has raised the level of awareness of environmental issues across campus," Collier says. "Even the faculty and staff in those departments that don't have major environmental issues to contend with are more environmentally conscious as a result of this certification process."

Creating the environmental management system also has improved relations with regulatory agencies and improved compliance with environmental laws and regulations, Collier adds. It also results in cost savings due to better compliance and waste reduction efforts.

"It is a constant challenge to maintain compliance because we are like a small municipality, in a sense, and we are a research institution, so our activities change frequently," Gillman says. Other campuses face similar challenges, and must find a way to address environmental compliance issues, either through ISO 14001 or some other model, she adds.

UMR has established the UMR Institute for Environmental Excellence to share the campus's expertise with others. The institute's purpose is to continue the progress made toward environmental awareness and protection on campus, to support environmental research at UMR, to help integrate environmental management practices into UMR's curriculum, and to provide assistance to other campuses, businesses, local governments and other organizations wanting to improve their environmental management systems.