the City College of New York Campus Climate Action Plan

Introduction 1
The City College of New York, the first
college of The City University of New
York, was founded in 1847 to offer
higher education to the children of the
working class and immigrants. Today, we
are a comprehensive teaching, research
and service institution dedicated to accessibility
and excellence in undergraduate
and graduate education.
CCNY prepares its diverse student body
with opportunities to achieve academically,
creatively, and professionally
through the College of Liberal Arts and
Sciences, the Bernard and Anne Spitzer
School of Architecture, the Grove School
of Engineering, the Sophie Davis School
of Biomedical Education/CUNY Medical
School and the School of Education. We
offer more than 115 undergraduate and
graduate programs, including doctoral
degrees in biomedical, chemical, civil,
electrical and mechanical engineering and
joint Ph.D. degrees in biology, biochemistry,
chemistry and physics with CUNY’s
Graduate School and University Center.
Ours is the largest undergraduate
research program in the New York metropolitan
area. It gives students the opportunity
to work closely with eminent
scientists in a wide variety of specializations.
As a public institution, our mission
includes contributing to the cultural,
social, and economic life of New York.
The campus occupies 35 acres along
Convent Avenue from 130th Street to
141st Street in Manhattan. It serves more
than 16,000 students and has approximately
2,000 faculty and staff.
The year 2007 marked the Centennial of
the opening of the campus in the historic
Hamilton Heights section of Harlem.
The five original landmarked buildings
are considered among the finest examples
of neo-Gothic architecture at any institution
in the United States. Some of the
landscape surrounding these buildings
also has landmark designation.
Today there are 16 buildings with approximately
three million gross square
feet on the campus. Two were re-built in
the last five years and feature energy-efficient
systems. One was erected during
the 1980s. The rest date back 35 years or
more. An additional 400,000 square feet
under construction on the South Campus
is projected to be completed by 2014.
The age of our oldest buildings – and
of the campus’ physical plant – renders
severe challenges to reducing our energy
usage.
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