Envisioning Elon’s sustainability goals is a process of reflecting on strong collaborations and business practices that already exist.
Elon’s Sustainability Master Plan 2025 continues an ambitious goal: carbon neutrality by 2037. Across the university, implementation teams are collaborating to turn that vision into action. One of those teams, purchasing & technology, shows how sustainability can fit naturally into the work people already do by working towards 1) reducing the campus printing footprint by digitizing self-service options and encouraging electronic resources, 2) sourcing technology that uses environmentally conscious best practices and manage its lifecycle responsibly, and 3) educating and engaging the campus community about sustainable technology practices.
Those strategies might sound complex, but the team says most of the work builds on existing processes and collaborations. Adding sustainability often means asking one more question or making one small adjustment.
“We regularly partner with purchasing on contract management and business agreements,” said Pat Donohue, one of the team leads and the university’s deputy chief information officer. “Adding a request for sustainability transparency from our vendors is a natural improvement of existing processes to align with university strategic objectives. This is an example of how bold strategy can often be a minor adjustment in organizational behavior.”
Patrick Schwartz is the assistant director of procure to pay at Elon and one of the team leads for the purchasing & technology implementation team. He added, “Just by being part of this team, the collaboration between our two departments was already strong, and it strengthens every day.”
When IT evaluates vendors, the team already asks about data security, storage and compliance. Now, they also ask vendors to disclose their carbon footprint and energy consumption. It is a simple step that helps Elon make informed decisions about the products and services it uses.
In addition, Schwartz said the purchasing team can see the purchasing trends on the backend and, leveraging their strong relationship with IT, work together to assure that vendors are providing products to campus that are environmentally and fiscally sustainable and responsible.
Collaboration creates momentum
Collaboration has been key to success. Conversations about sustainability often uncover other opportunities to improve processes, strengthen partnerships and share resources.
Edith Smith shared one of those ideas. She serves as a purchasing agent at Elon and is a member of the purchasing & technology implementation team. She worked with Amazon to ensure that the first products displayed when employees search for a product are those that have sustainable qualities. In addition to this, Smith and others are looking into ways to encourage the university to increase its partnership with local vendors to reduce environmental impact and support the local economy.
“It can be difficult to put a list of vendors together for a campus with decentralized purchasing, but for me, it’s important to ask how we can encourage our colleagues on campus to use local vendors more regularly and to work with vendors that will cut emissions,” said Smith.
“The focus on sustainability gave us a framework to accelerate improvements we were already pursuing,” said Donohue. “It has been a clear example of how bringing together diverse mindsets with a shared purpose can improve service delivery, streamline business processes and create long-term value for the university.
Schwartz agrees with this sentiment and adds that the team is educating people to consider which sustainable products are offered by vendors.
“None of us can do this work on our own,” he added.
Fiscal responsibility meets sustainability
One of the most significant changes was extending the lifecycle of university-owned laptops and desktops to five years.
“We ensure an extended lifecycle by applying updates and doing necessary maintenance on the equipment throughout its usable lifecycle,” said Rebecca Black, director of campus technology support and member of the purchasing & technology implementation team.
When the lifecycle of the technology ends for us, it goes through a chain of disposal through an agreement with ethically responsible vendors, who repurpose the equipment or its components.
“The equipment we recover doesn’t just go into a waste facility. It has another, purposeful life afterward,” she added.
Donohue added that the proceeds from selling depreciated equipment is reinvested to subsidize advanced support of Elon computers.
“This benefits our community through faster repairs and maintenance while allowing campus technology support specialists to focus on high-value service delivery than hardware break/fix efforts. It’s a win-win,” he said.
The same principle applies to reducing the number of printers on campus. Fewer devices mean less energy consumption and less paper use, but the change also reflects a cultural shift. Convenience often competes with sustainability, and the team acknowledges that change takes time.
“There’s a fine line between doing what’s easy and convenient and making an extra, impactful effort towards sustainability,” Beck said. “We’re in the moment where this is a necessary priority.”
Schwartz added, “This is one of the best examples of how our work aligns together. We evaluated paper processes on campus and moved purchase card request forms and Adobe signatures to digital processes.”
In addition to the paper and cost-savings, Schwartz and Smith say that these processes also simplify and better organize employee workflows.
“When we thoughtfully scale technology resources in ways such as consolidating printers and encouraging digitization, we also reduce costs and free-up resources that can be reinvested into new innovations that benefit the university,” Beck said. “These efforts will also help us operate more efficiently and enhance the quality of services for our Elon campuses.”
About the Sustainability Master Plan
The Boldly Elon Strategic Plan calls on Elon University to “Engage the campus in sustainable practices to become carbon neutral by 2037 – invest in renewable energy, reduce campus energy consumption 20 percent, purchase offsets to make the global study program carbon neutral and continue to build LEED certified buildings – and prepare students to lead lives that build a sustainable future.” The 10-year Sustainability Master Plan 2025 is a roadmap for that bold commitment.