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News Release

Last modified: Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Indiana University Bloomington names first sustainability director

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 18, 2009

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indianapolis architect William M. "Bill" Brown, a leading Indiana figure in the design and construction of environmentally sustainable buildings, has been named the first director of sustainability for Indiana University Bloomington.

Brown has been an associate partner since 2006 with Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Architects. Responsible for library design and marketing for the 55-person Indianapolis firm, he has been Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) consultant on 10 projects in the past two years, including two projects with zero net energy consumption.

He is co-chair of the Indianapolis-Marion County Green Commission, chair of the Indiana Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council and secretary of the Indiana Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. From 1993 to 2006, he was with Veazey Parrott Durkin & Shoulders architects in Evansville, where served as partner. He was founding president of Sustainable Evansville, a group created to promote sustainable development.

Brown will start the new position March 2, helping create a campus sustainability program under the joint direction of Provost and Executive Vice President Karen Hanson and Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer J. Terry Clapacs.

"Indiana University Bloomington is indeed fortunate that Bill Brown will be its first director of sustainability," Hanson said. "His years of professional experience and deep commitment to conservation will serve us well as we integrate principles of environmental sustainability into all aspects of campus operations and academic life."

Brown said he is grateful to IU President Michael McRobbie, Clapacs and Hanson for having the strategic vision to create the position and provide the structure and funding for its success. He and his wife, Linda, a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at IUPUI, look forward to making their home in Bloomington.

"The Indiana University Task Force on Campus Sustainability, under the very capable leadership of Michael Hamburger and Paul Sullivan, provided a comprehensive road map to make Indiana University a national leader in campus sustainability, and I am honored to be chosen to move that plan forward," Brown said. "In order for this initiative to thrive, we will need the active participation of the entire Indiana University family, from incoming freshmen to life members of the IU Alumni Association, and I am eager to help catalyze their ideas."

McRobbie announced last fall that IU Bloomington would hire a full-time director of sustainability, building on work by the volunteer task force and dozens of student interns. After a national search, four finalists visited campus and lectured on sustainability in January.

"Indiana University is very lucky to have attracted a candidate with the credentials that Bill Brown presents," said Clapacs, who appointed the 15-member Task Force on Campus Sustainability in March 2007. "I'm confident he will do a terrific job as an advocate for sustainability and be able to marshal available resources and put them to good use right away."

As director of sustainability, Brown will help develop a coherent, campuswide sustainability program by coordinating academic, research, operations and student activities. He will develop and coordinate a program of environmental stewardship, energy conservation, applied environmental science and policy research, environmental literacy and community outreach.

"We are thrilled to have attracted someone of Bill Brown's caliber to take on the leadership of IU's new Office of Sustainability," Hamburger and Sullivan, the task force co-chairs, said in a statement. "Bill brings to the position a wealth of experience, ideas, and leadership that will help us engage IU's students, faculty and staff to work collaboratively toward the goal of a truly sustainable campus."

Brown is an advisory board member for the IUPUI Center for Earth and Environmental Science and served on the Greening of the White House National Task Group in 1993-94. His projects as an architect include the Oaklyn Library in Evansville, Indiana's only national award winning green roof building; the Lincoln Heritage Chrisney Branch Library, the first net-zero energy public library in Indiana; and the Ohio Township Public Library in Newburgh, Ind., which features advanced active and passive solar design strategies.

He has degrees in science education from IU Bloomington and in environmental design and architecture from Ball State University. Before becoming an architect, he was a high-school teacher and coach and co-owner of a family lumber company. He is a life member of the IU Alumni Association.

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