Important Information and Reminders

• Most changes to benefits* can ONLY be made during Open Enrollment, May 1-31, 2013
  
• If you plan to WAIVE medical insurance, you must sign a new waiver each May

403(b) Retirement Savings Accounts

• There's a monthly meeting for those not yet participating in a retirement savings account
• It's a good idea to make an annual appointment with your retirement savings account provider
• Changes to retirement savings account contribution amounts can be made anytime in PeopleSoft

Benefits Materials Available

• FY2014 Benefits Overview (Open Enrollment Summary, pdf)

• FY2014 Healthcare Costs
• FY2014 Healthcare Benefits Summary (SBC)
• FY2014 Retiree Benefits Brochure (pdf)
• Expanded Autism Coverage
• New Mental Health Care Manager

*Participants who experience a qualifying life change event (birth, adoption, marriage, etc.) have a brief 20-day window following the event during which they can notify HRS to make changes to their benefits.

Questions? e-Mail Human Resource Services at HRSinfo@uvm.edu.

• Workplace Skills
• Supervisory Skills
• Software Skills
• Retirement Planning
• PeopleSoft
• Communication

Among the new classes offered are titles like these:

• Build Strong Working Relationships
• Effective e-Mail Management
• Introduction to Public Speaking
• Pivot Tables
• Advanced Formulas and Functions in Excel
• Beginning Access
• Introduction to Visio
• …and much more!

See the full schedule of classes on the HRS Learning Services website. All Learning Services classes are offered free of charge but registration is required and many classes fill up quickly.

Registration is accomplished through Self Service in PeopleSoft HR. If you need assistance, here are the registration instructions.

Depending on the nature of an individual's needs, The Wellness Corporation creates connections with long-term care through Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont (BCBSVT). When they do, mental health and substance abuse care management transitions to BCBSVT's care management program.

Announcing a New Care Management Program

BCBSVT is changing its Mental Health and Substance Abuse care management program. With the goal of improving service, they have partnered with the Brattleboro Retreat to form Vermont Collaborative Care, the organization that will handle UVM's mental health and substance abuse care management beginning July 1, 2013.

This new program will integrate the management of mental health and substance abuse with the management of other kinds of health care. This new care management model is expected to promote better health outcomes and a more efficient, convenient and satisfying experience for members seeking care. Because it does not separate mental health and substance abuse from an individual's other health care needs, it encourages treatment of the whole person, taking into account all of the conditions present.

For more information, read the details on the Accessing Mental Health and Substance Abuse Care page of the HRS website.

The initial SBC has been published for the health plan year beginning July 1, 2013. Subsequently, a new SBC will be published whenever coverage changes, or for each new plan year.

There are currently four distinct Summaries of Benefits and Coverage, depending on your relationship to the University. Read the descriptions below, then check the Group Number on your Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont insurance card to be certain you are reviewing the appropriate Summary.

1. Group Number begins with 80894. (SBC for active faculty and staff plus many retirees under age 65)
2. Group Number begins with 80892. (SBC for retirees on the J and J-Carve Out plans)
3. Group Number begins with 80893. (SBC for retirees on MediComp III)
4. Group Number begins with 80895. (SBC for United Academics Part-Time Unit)

We are working with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont to translate the active faculty and staff plan into both Bosnian and Vietnamese language versions. These translations will be posted at www.uvm.edu/hrs/sbc as soon as they are available.

If you have questions about a Summary of Benefits and Coverage or require a printed copy, visit HRS in Waterman 228, e-mail HRSinfo@uvm.edu, or call 802-656-3150.

• FY2014 Benefits Overview (Open Enrollment Summary, pdf)

• FY2014 Healthcare Costs
• FY2014 Healthcare Benefits Summary (SBC)
• FY2014 Retiree Benefits Brochure (pdf)
• Expanded Autism Coverage
• New Mental Health Care Manager

Important information and reminders:

• Most changes to benefits* can ONLY be made during Open Enrollment, May 1-31, 2013
  
• If you plan to WAIVE medical insurance, you must sign a new waiver each May
• There's a monthly meeting for those not yet participating in a retirement savings account
• It's a good idea to make an annual appointment with your retirement savings account provider

*Participants who experience a qualifying life change event (birth, adoption, marriage, etc.) have a brief 20-day window following the event during which they can notify HRS to make changes to their benefits.

Questions? e-Mail Human Resource Services at HRSinfo@uvm.edu.

Savings range from $90 to $305 per hearing aid. The Center will work with individuals to find the best fit for each unique situation, selecting durable equipment from among the best designed, most technologically advanced products. Satisfaction is guaranteed by means of a 45-day return period. 

This benefit is offered as a pilot project for three months, from March 1 to May 31, 2013. An appointment request and submission of required paperwork for hearing evaluation must be completed by May 31, 2013 to be eligible for the benefit. For those who need hearing aid(s), the benefit will be honored for one year from the date of hearing evaluation.

Visit the website for more information about the Eleanor M. Luse Audiology Clinic.

Questions? e-Mail Luse.Center@uvm.edu.

The name change may have sounded technical, or even trivial, but it marked a significant shift in the world of socially responsible investing, or SRI, at UVM. 

The old work group was mandated by its charter to wait passively for community members to present it with detailed, fully researched SRI proposals, which it often needed several semesters to deliberate on before it could act. The new, more agile advisory council will actively solicit ideas from the community, then move on them with relative dispatch, thanks to a more streamlined process and enhanced staff and resources. In addition to divestiture, the group will also have two more tools in its SRI toolbox – shareholder initiatives and proxy voting – to prod companies to act in a more socially responsible manner. 

UVM Today had a chance to sit down with Claire Burlingham, UVM controller, who spearheaded the evolution in UVM’s SRI approach, just weeks before the advisory council holds its first town meeting, a signature element of the new SRI order. The town meeting will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 20 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.in the Davis Center's Silver Maple Ballroom.     

SRI has a long history at UVM. Tell us about it.

SRI is not a new concept at UVM. It started in 1978, when the board of trustees established an ad hoc committee. Not much happened until 1985, when the apartheid and South Africa issue came up. Then in 1988, there was a resolution to Phillip Morris calling for the end of all advertising and promotion of tobacco products. The 1990s were slow from an SRI perspective. In the 2000s, things picked up again when the Darfur group STAND (for Students Take Action Darfur Now) made a strong proposal for divestment, which the university acted on. Shortly after that, SAW (for Students Against War) effectively argued for divestment from companies making cluster munitions and depleted uranium.

In all these cases, there was strong community support for the actions taken. But the next proposal wasn’t so clear cut. 

Yes, the real challenge came with the Israeli-Palestinian divestments (which called for UVM to divest from companies that supported Israeli activities in Palestinian lands). Until that point, for all of the proposals that were brought forward, it was easy to build consensus and to recognize community and university support. The Palestinian-Israeli proposal was the first one where there wasn’t consensus on either side of the issue. When there was a split in the community, our charge said we needed to come up with some way to find if there was consensus. We decided to hold a public hearing to solicit that input from the campus community at large. Not surprisingly, the university was divided straight down the middle. We recognized that we hadn’t really articulated our evaluation criteria for situations like this.

What happened? 

We tabled the proposal. And based on that experience, we recognized we had a kind of identity crisis and needed to come up with better operational guidelines -- to understand who we were, the role we needed to play, and what we could and could not do. In the fall of 2010, the trustees authorized a hiatus for us on the call for proposal process. They charged us with really looking at how SRI is handled and organized at other public and private institutions. So we embarked on that over an 18-month period and presented the board with our proposal in August, 2012. 

I think you focused on six public peer institutions and 12 private peers and aspirants, and visited a number of them. What did you learn?

Most of the publics had some sort of advisory committee structure, which was made up of representatives of constituency groups, who either advised the president or the VP. Upon request of the investment committee or administration, the advisory committee could research a particular interest or company. None of the public institutions we looked at solicited proposals from the university community.

What about the private institutions?

Most had an advisory committee structure. The issues usually arose from the administration or the investment subcommittee and were not a product of a campus-wide call for proposals. There were two cases, Stanford and Columbia, that did consider proposals from the university community.

So what did you recommend for UVM?

We recommended the SRI workgroup of the Board of Trustees be dissolved and that a new advisory counsel to the vice president for finance and administration, Richard Cate, be established with the same membership. We would make our recommendation to Richard, and he would decide whether or not to bring them to the Investment Subcommittee. 

How did you decide to handle community input? 

Unlike most of the other schools, we wanted to build our program around ideas that came from the community. But we decided to move away from having a call-for-proposal process and to have a town hall meeting twice a year instead, during each of the major semesters.  At the town hall meeting, the university community would be invited to bring forward issues of social, moral, and ethical concern that they wanted the SRI Counsel to review and hoped would be taken to the Investment Subcommittee for action.   

And if you learn that the community is divided on an issue?

We have a set of criteria, based on Our Common Ground, that allow us to narrow the ideas down to one or two per semester. One of the factors is that there has to be strong university consensus for us to take it up.

Were there other problems with the old process you tried to address?

Yes. Given our process, the way we were structured and the lack of resources we needed to do our own research, it was very difficult for us to move forward very quickly to make a recommendation. We often needed three or four semesters to be able fully vet the proposals and get organized enough to make a recommendation.

How does the new process help? 

The group felt very strongly that, in order to make a thoughtful and informed decision, we needed to employ the assistance of a graduate fellow to do the research our volunteer group wasn’t able to do. So, we were able to secure the financing for a graduate fellow in the Office of Sustainability to work with us full time.   

How many proposals to you think you’ll be able to move forward in this new arrangement?

We’re hoping that the new process and the resources of the graduate fellow will enable us to take action on at least one of the issues per semester, and perhaps two, depending on the complexity of the issue.

You’re hoping the new process will allow more opportunity for the community input than the old process did, right?   

Correct. In the old structure, the onus to do the research was really on the group making the proposal; the work group was looking for a very well thought out, vetted research proposal to come forward. And that was challenging for some people, and consequently a number of them decided not to pursue their proposal. Now, through the town meeting process and the research capability we have, we just want people to tell us what’s on their mind – to tell us what they believe we should be looking at or things that are important. So I think people will be more willing to come forward.

Are you confident that the one or two you choose will be representative of the community’s priorities?

Yes. The advisory council is meant to mirror the UVM community, with representation from the faculty, staff, undergraduates and graduate students. Each of the members serves a two-year term. For continuity’s sake, the membership stayed the same in the change from the work group to the advisory council. 

While divestment will still be a tool in your toolbox, you’re looking at making much more use of shareholder initiatives and proxy voting. What are those?

Any shareholder can submit a proposal to a corporation, and the company is required to put it on the agenda for a vote at their annual meeting. Ninety-nine percent of stockholders aren’t going to show up, but they still have the right to vote on the issue. So proxy voting ballots go out to all shareholders before the annual meeting. The ballots might ask shareholder to vote for directors or to approve an auditing firm, but proposals from institutions like UVM -- so called “shareholder initiatives” -- also get on the ballot and can gather significant support. Conversely, we can vote by proxy -- that’s “proxy voting” -- if we see a shareholder initiative on the ballot that the UVM community, with the approval of the board, has given us the ability to vote on.

Our research shows that shareholder initiatives and proxy voting seem to be what corporate America pays attention to, more so than just divestment. 

You have the first town meeting coming up on Feb. 20. What are your hopes for it? 

It’s our hope that the town meeting is inclusive, with as many individuals and groups university-wide participating as possible. We hope that it brings forth to the advisory council issues that are on the minds of the university community, whatever those issue may be that are of social, ethical, or moral concern and that relate to our investment policies.

The energy efficient LEDs will save an estimated 500,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually – enough to power 100 Burlington homes for a year – and prevent some 353 metric tons of CO2 emissions per year from being released into the atmosphere.

Thanks to rebates from the Burlington Electric Department for reductions in energy use and to UVM’s new green revolving fund, the investment benefits both the environment and the university’s bottom line.  

Payback of three years

After the rebates, UVM’s LED investment totaled $225,000.  According to calculations made by BED, the university will save at least $75,000 annually in electricity costs, resulting in a payback period of three years.  The average lifespan for the new LED fixtures is expected to be 12 to 15 years. 

“This is a showcase project for how organizations and electric utilities can partner to increase efficiency and reduce environmental impact,” said Richard Cate, UVM’s senior vice president for administration.

 "BED has been very impressed with UVM's commitment to energy efficiency,” said Burlington Electric general manager Barbara Grimes. “They have used our programs and received our rebates. We have been a good team over the years. UVM benefits with lower utility bills and the city as a whole benefits with lower usage."

Green revolving fund: a financial net positive

While the rebates, energy and maintenance savings, and reduced environmental impact make the LED investment an attractive one, UVM’s green revolving fund, established last year, provided the means for making a large investment in energy efficiency.

But far from taxing the university’s finances, the investment provides a net positive contribution to its bottom line.

Green revolving funds take monies that would normally be placed in conventional investment vehicles like CD’s or bonds and invests them in energy efficient technologies. Through savings in energy costs, the funds almost always pay a higher rate of return than standard investment vehicles. 

UVM is funding its green revolving fund with a portion of its reserve cash, which it normally invests in low-risk, short and intermediate term instruments like money market funds typically earning a maximum 3 percent return.             

Since the payback period on the LED investment is under three years and the life of the bulbs is predicted to be 12 to 15 years, UVM expects its return on investment to be considerably higher than 3 percent.

“The green revolving fund gives us the resources to continue investing in energy efficiency at UVM in a way that’s financially prudent and sustainable,” Cate said.

Second project financed by fund – thermal blankets – underway

UVM has already embarked on its second green revolving fund project – the encapsulation of steam pipes, valves and fittings with reusable thermal blanket systems.  Traditional fiberglass systems are a one-time use application that degrade after pipes have been serviced or repaired. The new thermal blanket systems offer a reusable feature with a higher insulation value for even greater thermal savings.    

The university has done most of the major mechanical rooms on campus and is now embarking on installing thermal blankets in all of the forty-two exterior steam vaults and man-holes across campus. 

The project cost is $125,000 after rebates. Annual savings are projected to be $25,000, resulting in a payback period of five years.  A conservative estimate of the blankets lifetime is 15 to 20 years. Vermont Gas Systems has been a strong advocate for the initiative.  

Future green revolving fund projects at UVM may include an investment in LED lighting in the interior of UVM’s buildings, installing demand-controlled ventilation systems, and upgrading ventilation and lighting controls in older facilities like the Waterman Building. 

Last year, UVM joined the Sustainable Endowment Institute’s Billion Dollar Green Challenge, earmarking $13 million, the largest total in the country, for its  green revolving fund. 

The initial dollars would be spent over a 10 to 12 year period, Cate said.  

But because the fund is self-replenishing, its ability to fund projects should be indefinite. 

UVM’s Board of Trustees has mandated that all green revolving fund monies be paid back within seven years and pay a return of at least 5 percent, and that investments not exceed $3 million. 

UVM is partnering in the green revolving fund program with BED. All energy savings from UVM’s green revolving fund investments will be verified by the utility.  

Between 1992 and 2012 UVM spent about $8.6 million on energy reduction projects in partnership with BED with paybacks of around seven years.BED’s work with UVM over the years is one reason that overall electricity use in Burlington in 2011 was 4.7 percent lower than 1989, the year before BED began offering energy efficiency programs, BED officials say. BED’s energy efficiency investments cost about two times less than market electricity, saving money for all BED ratepayers over time.  Almost all of the dollars spent on efficiency re-circulate in the local economy, which adds even more value to the investment.

Vice president for finance and administration Richard Cate – a bullish advocate of Vermont-made products – had two words for his purchasing team: “Wrong state.” He asked them to look even harder for a Vermont firm that could submit a competitive bid.

At the last minute, Clear Lake Furniture of Ludlow, came forward. The company was not only happy to guarantee its chairs for 20 years, which few companies were, designers there had ideas about how to make them stackable, a key feature allowing the chairs to be moved out of Memorial Lounge and stored, so the space could accommodate events that needed open spaces.

Over the fall and summer, the 150 chairs the university ordered created a mini-economic development boom in the state's Okemo Valley that even Cate might not have imagined, says Brent Karner, Clear Lake founder, owner and chief designer. 

For starters, the project kept two of his most skilled employees busy building the chairs for three full months of 50-hour weeks. “This is a bad economy,” Karner says. “For me to keep two highly trained guys going for the summer is really important.” His brother also put in a month and a half finishing the chairs. The project also occupied Karner, who developed the chair’s design.

And there were ripple effects. The chairs provided work for Sheahan and Sons Lumber in Weatherfield, which took about 400 logs and turned them into 6,150 pieces of wood designed to Karner’s specs (each chair contains 41 pieces). The seats and upholstering busied another local company, Don Heaton Upholstery in Chester. And the chair’s cherry wood was harvested in Bethel. 

The final product – with its sculpted curves of rippled red wood and leaf-patterned seat – clearly demonstrates the artistry lavished on it by so many skilled craftspeople. Earlier in the fall, the Waterman Stacker, as Karner calls his creation, won first prize in the Vermont Fine Furniture and Woodworking Festival, beating out entries from the likes of Pompanoosuc Mills and Copeland Furniture.

At about $580 each, the chairs weren’t the cheapest the university could have bought, Cate says, although they were competitive with the other bids.

He views them as an investment. “We wanted to buy something that was nearly permanent, that would stand the test of time. These chairs are very well built.”

With a plush cushion and ergonomic curves, the chairs are also so comfortable -- compared with with their droopy seated, ramrod-backed predecessors -- they may even lead to a new era of productivity in Memorial Lounge, one of the most used spaces at the university. 

Cate won’t rule that possibility out. They could very well "result in more energy and engagement in the stimulating conversations that occur in that room," he said.

The PeopleSoft version 9.1 upgrade is complete and both the HR and Financials Systems are available for use. There are a few things you should know:

• Before logging in to PeopleSoft for the first time, be sure to clear your browser cache. You can find instructions on how to do this here and here
• If you were unable to enter time worked during the past week, you can now go into the PeopleSoft Timesheet and do so
• We have added a .pdf version of your paycheck, making it much easier to print it on a single sheet of paper
• Leave balances will only be viewable from within the Timesheet, which provides the most accurate count of paid leave available. You will no longer see balances on your paycheck.

Please visit the PeopleSoft 9.1 upgrade web site for more information including open labs. Thank you for your patience during the upgrade process.

In the interest of campus health and safety and in keeping with federal law, the University of Vermont maintains a robust emergency alerting system called CatAlert to notify the campus community that a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees is occurring on the campus. Since such events may originate beyond the borders of the campus, UVM Police, Burlington and South Burlington Police collaborate and share information on a daily basis.

Notifications of emergency conditions, including a description of any required actions (such as evacuate to a safe location or shelter in place away from windows), will be sent without delay to campus audiences that might be impacted, once UVM Police personnel or other officials have validated the situation, unless such notifications would compromise efforts to assist victims or to contain, respond to, or otherwise mitigate an emergency or situation 

We will be conducting a test of the UVM's CatAlert System next Thursday afternoon (9/27/12) between classes.  Every faculty/staff member will automatically receive an e-mail message. Those who have previously signed-up may also receive telephone (at work and/or home) calls, and/or cell phone voice or text alerts, depending upon the options you chose.

For more information about the CatAlert System, including how to register the first time, or how to update the information you provided previously, please click on:
 http://www.uvm.edu/~emergncy/?Page=catalert.html.

From:  Richard H. Cate, Vice President for Finance & Administration

Re:       Unionization Voting Results in Runoff Election

As you know, an election was held for eligible UVM staff members to vote this past Tuesday and Wednesday on the question of staff unionization. In short, none of the three choices on the ballot received more than fifty percent of the votes, so another election must be held in approximately two months. The scheduling of the next election will occur after the Vermont Labor Relations Board certifies the outcome of this week’s vote. Voters will be choosing between: (1) being represented by University Staff Union – NEA, or (2) not being represented by a union.

What follows is a summary of the results of this week’s election.

• 777 people were eligible to vote and 618 (79.5%) voted.

• Question 1: Do you want to be represented by a union? YES – 339 (55%); NO – 278 (45%); 1 invalid ballot

• Question 2: Do you want to be represented by

• NEA – 183 (30%)
• United Staff – 168 (27%)
• Neither – 260 (42%)
• Invalid – 7 (1%)

The fact that nearly 80% of eligible staff voted in this election is noteworthy, and it will be just as important for all eligible voters to participate in the next election.

When they returned last weekend, 134 gleaming solar panels, positioned in orderly rows, greeted them from the sloping rooftop. The panels will produce an average of 100 kilowatt hours of electricity per day, enough to power six medium sized homes and supply 8.5 percent of the research farm’s electricity needs.

The solar panels, installed between late June and early August, are the latest contribution UVM’s Clean Energy Fund has made to the university’s campus.

Launched in 2008 after a survey found that a large majority of students supported the idea, the fund assesses UVM undergraduate and graduate students a $10 fee each semester to establish new clean energy projects on and around the UVM campus, generating about $225,000 per year. Twenty-one projects have been financed to date.

“What impresses me most about the Clean Energy Fund,” said Rebecca Pincus, a doctoral student in UVM’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources and a member of the CEF selection committee, “is that a lot of small contributions from students can translate to a huge accomplishment.  This project really represents the power of what the community can accomplish by coming together.”  

The Spear Street solar panels are unique among Clean Energy Fund projects to date, said UVM’s director of sustainability, Gioia Thompson, because they link renewable energy and agriculture. "Students wanted to underscore the connection between renewable energy and agriculture,” she said, “as pressure increases to use agricultural land for energy, as well as food and fiber production, and as farmers struggle with rising energy costs."

The panels will produce the most electricity during the long days of summer, Thompson said, when electricity is at peak demand and the Northeast relies on the dirtiest forms of energy to meet its electricity needs.

Shedding light on solar’s potential

According to Chuck Ross, secretary of the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, one of the project’s most important functions will be to make a medium scale agricultural solar installation a tangible presence for Vermont farmers.

“Solar has an important contribution to make to farm viability in Vermont, but compared with other renewables, it’s still in an early adopter phase here,” he said. “An important aspect of the UVM demonstration project is that farmers can visit, see how the system was installed, understand its economics and the incentives that are available, and determine if the technology is feasible at their own farms.  UVM students deserve real credit for conceiving and funding this important education and outreach tool.”

Farmers and others will also be able to view the real-time energy output of the solar array online. 

With the help of state and federal incentives, solar is catching on in other Vermont business sectors, whose lead agriculture could follow, said Andrew Perchlik, director of the Clean Energy Development Fund, housed in the Vermont Department of Public Service. Between 2002 and 2012, net metering permits for solar projects grew over 10 fold, from 12 to 315, Perchlik said.   

Ten-year payback

The total cost of the UVM project was $135,990, said Thompson, with the Clean Energy Fund supplying $80,250 of the total. An incentive grant of $55,740 from the Clean Energy Development Fund made up the difference.    

Also contributing to the project’s economics is a solar credit program from Green Mountain Power, which supplies electricity for the UVM farm. For every kilowatt hour of electricity the solar array produces, UVM gains a value of roughly 20 cents: about 14 cents for the average retail price of a kilowatt of electricity it doesn’t need to buy plus a six cent solar premium that GMP pays for every kilowatt generated.

The credit program should generate about $8,000 per year, allowing UVM to repay its initial investment in 10 years, Thompson said.  

While the university’s incentive grant was largely because of the educational role the project can play, solar technology still makes financial sense for farmers, according to Perchlik. “Under current incentive terms, farms could expect a grant of between 10 and 15 percent,” Perchlik said. “However, the price of solar is decreasing, and the statewide solar adder program now makes solar net metering a good option even apart from the incentive."

Rooftop resource

Tom Vogelmann, dean of UVM’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, said the solar array is just the kind of project a land grant institution like UVM should be undertaking in the 21st century and thanked students for making it possible.

“As a land grant, we need to model the most innovative ways of contributing to the viability of agriculture in our state,” he said. “We hope the solar panel project will spark discussion about costs, sustainability and clean energy, as well as demonstrate the nuts and bolts of how and where solar panels can be installed. This is a great gift students have given us and the state’s agricultural community.”

The project also makes use of a much underutilized resource on Vermont farms, said Clark Hinsdale, president of the Vermont Farm Bureau – rooftops. “Most agricultural business have a lot of roof space,” he said. “Solar is a renewable resource that doesn’t have to use land and can be a nice supplemental income source for farmers.” 

The equine center’s roof, which is typical of many roofs found on Vermont farms, required no extra reinforcement to bear the weight of the panels, said Kirk Herander, owner of Vermont Solar Engineering, which installed the solar panels and secured the incentive grant from the Clean Energy Development Fund, although the racking to which the panels attach was strengthened.  

The solar panels will begin producing electricity in early September. 

Lieutenant Larry Magnant of UVM Police Services drove the car, a 2008 Ford Crown Victoria with 46,000 miles, to the Newport office from Burlington on Monday morning. 

To tide the office over while it works to replace the cruisers, five nearby police departments have lent vehicles to the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office, which covers all of Orleans County except for five towns. But two of the departments have said they will soon need their cruisers back. 

The UVM donation was especially appreciated, said Phil Brooks, chief deputy at the sheriff’s office, because insurance coverage will be enough to replace only three of the seven destroyed cars

“We’re grateful to UVM,” he said. “It’s a big help in more ways than one. It helps financially since this is a replacement vehicle we won’t have to purchase.”

New police cars cost about $26,000, Brooks said, with necessary extras like a light bar and security cage bringing the total closer to $30,000. The donated UVM vehicle is coming with all these extras, needing only a radio and a new decal. A used cruiser costs in the neighborhood of $5,000. 

“It also helps give us another car to get back on the road, so our officers can do their jobs,” Brooks said.

The UVM cruiser was due to be retired, said Magnant, who manages UVM Police’s fleet of seven marked cruisers, two unmarked ones, a pickup truck and a motorcycle. 

The idea to donate the cruiser was Magnant’s, who approached UVM police chief Lianne Tuomey with the proposal. Tuomey liked the idea and went directly to the university’s senior administration, who quickly approved it.

“I’m happy we’re able to help the sheriff’s office both manage their financial resources and protect the citizens of Orleans County,” said Magnant. “We are the state’s university. When an opportunity comes along to show that, it’s very gratifying.”

To: Non-Represented Faculty and Staff

From: Richard H. Cate, Vice President for Finance and Administration

Re: Post-Retirement Medical Benefits Update

At the end of the calendar year, I wrote to communicate the essence of changes in Post-Retirement Medical Benefits, to take effect on July 1, 2014. In the ensuing months, we have refined the description of the changes as we worked through the final details of agreements with UVM’s collective bargaining representatives. 

While we believe we have responded to the questions posed by the University community regarding administration of changes to this complex benefit, we will continue to refine the information that is available to you through the Human Resource Services PRMB website. The website has been updated to clarify the details of the post-retirement medical benefit that now apply to both represented and non-represented faculty and staff; I suggest that you visit the site for further information.

I encourage you to make an appointment to meet with an Employee Advisor in Human Resource Services (656-3150) if you want to discuss the impact of these benefit changes on your own plan for retirement. In addition, representatives of UVM’s retirement plan vendors, TIAA-CREF and Fidelity, are available on campus regularly to meet with you to review your retirement savings account.

For faculty and staff who are represented by unions, a description of Post-Retirement Medical Benefits is included in the applicable collective bargaining agreement.

To: UVM Faculty and Staff

Date: June 1, 2012

Re: University Budget Director

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Alberto Citarella as University Budget Director upon the upcoming retirement of Ted Winfield.

Alberto has most recently served as the budget director of Champlain College, and prior to that as Vice President for Finance at a non-profit organization in Boston and in finance positions at two private sector firms. He holds a BA from Williams College and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Alberto will begin working at the University on July 22nd. Please join me in welcoming him to the UVM community.

Richard H. Cate
Vice President for Finance & Administration

The 97,000 square-foot, $56 million building -- home to the Departments of Plant Biology and Plant and Soil Science, both in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences -- is the sixth on campus to achieve LEED Gold status. Other projects that have earned Gold include 438 College Street, University Heights Residential Complex, Dudley H. Davis Student Center, Bertha M. Terrill Building and the Given Courtyard. The renovation and addition to the George D. Aiken Center is on track to receive the highest level of certification, LEED Platinum.   

The aspiration to achieve LEED Gold status for Jeffords Hall was in keeping with the “Environmental Design in New and Renovated Buildings” policy originally approved in 2005 by the UVM Board of Trustees, and upgraded in 2007 to set a goal of achieving at least LEED Silver status for new buildings and major renovation projects when possible.  

“We set Silver certification as the minimum standard, but we’ll always try to push as far as we can beyond that without creating additional expense,” says Robert Vaughan, director of capital planning and management. “Wherever it’s appropriate to meet criteria to take the project to a higher level we will. Silver is the minimum, but gold is the goal. That’s our mantra.”

Jeffords houses seven cutting-edge teaching labs and three general purpose classrooms on the first floor for undergraduate and graduate students in the life sciences programs. The upper two floors contain research laboratories and offices. Its modern laboratory facilities provide high-quality experiential learning opportunities in molecular, ecological and environmental research that touch on a wide range of disciplines.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, scientists and technicians from the State Department of Environmental Conservation (18 from the Environmental Biology Lab and six from the Environmental Chemistry Lab) were moved to two large labs in Jeffords where they have continued to monitor the state’s air, water and soil quality.

More than $5 million of the project budget went toward the expansion of the underground central steam and chilled water system, completing a loop around Jeffords Hall and connecting into the mechanical room of the Health Science Research Facility. The building is projected to use 35.7 percent less energy (measured in MBtu) than conventionally designed laboratory buildings (29.4 percent less energy measured by cost) and 49.4 percent less water.

Additionally, more than 90 percent of construction and demolition waste was diverted from the landfill, and a cutting-edge occupancy system for lighting and ventilation was installed. The use of local and regional products was a priority in the construction of Jeffords with more than 40 percent of the total cost of materials coming from Vermont, and approximately 72 percent of the construction value performed by Vermont sub-contractors.

Supporting the new building were $10 million in state funds, $3 million in federal funds secured by Senator Patrick J. Leahy after Senator Jeffords’ retirement from the U.S. Senate, and private donations that included $1 million from Vermont's Lintilhac Foundation.

And what a commitment it was.

Thanks to a resolution by the university’s Board of Trustees that passed Saturday, UVM will earmark $13 million for the fund, making it the largest challenge to date. Harvard’s $12 million green energy revolving fund had been the largest.

The Billion Dollar Green Challenge was launched in Oct. 2011 by the Sustainable Endowments Institute and 15 partners. The program invites colleges to invest a total of one billion dollars in energy efficiency upgrades delivered through self-managed revolving funds. To date, colleges have committed nearly $80 million in total.

The concept underlying revolving green energy funds, which are growing in popularity, is that the funds replenish themselves with savings accrued by reduced energy spending, allowing institutions to make a long-term commitment to energy efficiency and environmental protection that is financially sustainable and even attractive.

“The trend is clear both in terms of money saved and reduced energy consumption,” said Mark Orlowski, executive director of the Sustainable Endowments Institute, which released a report last year titled “Greening the Bottom Line: The Trend toward Green Revolving Funds on Campus.” (PDF)

“The number of green revolving funds has more than quadrupled since 2008,” he said. “A major incentive is the financial benefit. Our survey found a median annual return on investment of 32 percent.”

Vermont governor Peter Shumlin took notice of UVM’s decision, applauded it and hoped it would have a ripple effect.

“Vermont has long been a leader in energy efficiency, and revolving green energy funds are an important way to continue the progress our state has made in energy conservation,” Shumlin said. “I applaud UVM’s decision to establish such a robust fund and hope the decision inspires other schools, businesses and institutions like local and state government to try this approach. The rewards in cost savings and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions make this a true win-win.”

Monies in UVM’s fund will come from cash on hand from tuition payments and other revenue sources, which is normally invested for short periods in low-risk financial instruments before it is spent on operating expenses such as wages, utilities and supplies.

The $13 million represents less than 10 percent of the total cash UVM typically has at its disposal.

“We think investing our cash in energy efficiency projects, which have a better rate of return than many of our current investments, is a fiscally and environmentally sound way to put our money to work,” said Richard Cate, UVM’s vice president for finance and administration.

UVM’s financial commitment to the fund is as large as it is, Cate said, because there are so many potential candidates for energy upgrades on campus, projects that could lead to substantial cost savings in the mid and long term. The program also underscores the university’s deep commitment to the environment, Cate said.

At Friday’s Board of Trustees meeting, Cate shared examples of potential projects the new fund could finance. They included installing demand-controlled ventilation systems in buildings, similar to those in the newly renovated Aiken Center; replacing external lighting across campus with energy efficient LED fixtures; and upgrading ventilation and lighting controls in older facilities like the Waterman Building.

The university has established two major criteria for projects to be eligible for financing, Cate told the board. They must have a payback period of no more than seven years and cost $3 million or less. The university is setting a goal of a five percent return for the investment.  
Cate expects upgrades could begin as early as next fall.

UVM is partnering in the effort with both Efficiency Vermont, the statewide energy efficiency utility operated by the non-profit Vermont Energy Investment Corporation, and the Burlington Electric Department (BED), UVM’s electricity provider.

While the university is developing its own prioritized list of projects it will target, it will rely on BED and Efficiency Vermont to verify the selection and its assumptions about cost and payback period. BED may also assist with energy audits and will provide financial incentives for any new energy-reducing equipment the university needs, lowering its cost.

“We are very happy to be working with two Vermont institutions that have national reputations for their expertise and innovative approaches to energy efficiency and conservation,” Cate said. “We hope our decision helps other Vermont institutions become aware of this important tool for saving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

“With today’s announcement, UVM is establishing itself as a national leader in using innovative green energy financing to save money and save energy,” said Jim Merriam, director of Efficiency Vermont. “The revolving loan fund is a very effective tool for making investments in energy efficiency, and Efficiency Vermont looks forward to partnering with UVM and other Vermont institutions to take advantage of this innovative approach.”

“UVM and BED have been strong partners in energy efficiency for the past twenty years, and the establishment of UVM's innovative Green Revolving Loan Fund will greatly enhance the ability to leverage deeper energy efficiency savings on the campus benefitting all ratepayers,” said Chris Burns, BED’s director of energy services.

Between 1992 and 2012 UVM spent about $8.6 million on energy reduction projects in partnership with BED with paybacks of around seven years.

The Sustainable Endowments Institute was founded in 2005 as a special project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. The Cambridge-based nonprofit organization has pioneered research and education to advance sustainability in campus operations and endowment practices. For a list of the partners in the Billion Dollar Green Challenge, including Efficiency Vermont, see greenbillion.org/about/.