FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The new Guide to 286 Green Colleges, published by The Princeton Review in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council, includes the University of Arkansas among its list of 286 colleges and universities with the most impressive campus sustainability programs. It was the only university in the state included in the guide.

According to The Princeton Review, the publication chose the 286 schools included in the Guide based on the “Green Rating” scores the schools received in summer 2009 when The Princeton Review published Green Rating scores for 697 schools in its online college profiles and annual college guidebooks. The Princeton Review’s “Green Rating” is a numerical score from 60 to 99 that’s based on several data points. The University of Arkansas got a 97 rating in the 2009 Green Rating.

In 2008, The Princeton Review began collaborating with the Green Building Council to help make the Green Rating survey questions as comprehensive and inclusive as possible. Of 697 schools that The Princeton Review gave “Green Ratings” to in 2009, the 286 schools in the Guide received scores in the 80th or higher percentile. The Princeton Review does not rank the schools in this book hierarchically (1 to 286) or in any of its books based on their “Green Rating” scores.

The Guide to 286 Green Colleges is free and available to the public. The University of Arkansas entry highlights the institution being a charter signatory of the American College and University President’s Climate Commitment, a public pledge to become a carbon neutral and zero waste institution. The publication also points out the efforts undertaken to complete a baseline greenhouse gas inventory that is publicly available on its sustainability Web site, as well as efforts by campus dining to provide fair trade coffee, cage-free eggs and hormone-free pork and chicken and the robust campuswide Razorback Recycling program.

“We’re proud to be listed among the nation’s greenest campuses,” Nick Brown, director of campus sustainability, said, “we will continue to work hard to maintain this distinction, and to provide a flagship campus that students, parents, and all Arkansans can be proud to support.

“The University of Arkansas is committed to reducing its negative environmental impact and we believe that all our efforts, large and small, taken by entire departments or single individuals, add up to make a big difference that affect us now and into the future.”