For Immediate Release
August 13, 2008

UCR Extension launches new certificate program in Sustainable Development and Green Design

RIVERSIDE, CALIF. – In 1987, the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) published "Our Common Future," a 374-page report that declared an ever-increasing population; rapid advancements in technology and limited natural resources would ultimately place our planet in peril. To protect future generations, the WCED announced that the world would have to shift to sustainable development – development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Rising gas prices, limited oil reserves, higher food costs, global warming and natural disasters are highlighting the need for a paradigm shift toward sustainable development. Qualified professionals will be needed to implement this shift in new and expanding industries.

To address this growing need for skilled employees, UCR Extension launches a new certificate program this fall in Sustainable Development and Green Design. In this program, students learn about the concepts and principles of sustainability through green building design, clean technologies and innovative approaches to achieving economic, environmental and social sustainability.

"UCR Extension is not only looking at the greener side of things. They're looking at the bigger picture," said Rick Burnham, assistant director for the Edward J. Blakeley Center for Sustainable Suburban Development at UCR.

This 14-unit program can be completed within 15 to 18 months. Required courses are: Green Building Design; Sustainable Planning, Design and Development; Economics of Sustainability; Sustainable Resource Management; Trends in Energy Efficiencies and Technologies; and the Public Policy Lecture Series: Sustainability Issues in Southern California.

These courses are offered using distance education and online technology, coupled with classroom and interactive real-time computer systems. UCR Extension values the goals of promoting networking, flexible scheduling, customer convenience and reducing environmental impact.

Land use planners, planning commissioners, architects, contractors and construction professionals, project and facility managers, government leaders, real estate professionals, engineers, interior designers, and consultants in related fields will find this program beneficial to their fields.

The certificate program in Sustainable Development and Green Design was developed with the active input of an advisory committee of professionals in the field, including Rick Burnham, assistant director of the Edward J. Blakeley Center for Sustainable Suburban Development in Riverside, California; Les Hamasaki, Senior Advisor for Green Institute for Village Empowerment, Inc. (GIVE), in Corona, California; and several LEED-accredited professionals, such as Rich Fochtman, manager of product development, Bernards, Inland Empire Regional Office in Ontario, California.

For more information about these classes, call (951) 827-5804 or e-mail sciences@ucx.ucr.edu.

To receive a free UCR Extension catalog, call (951) 827-3806. To register for classes, visit www.extension.ucr.edu or call (951) 827-4105 or toll-free at (800) 442-4990.

UCR Extension is the continuing education division of the University of California, Riverside. Extension offers more than 3,800 courses and 90 certificate programs in a variety of academic programs, including agriculture and landscape, arts and humanities, business and management, education, teacher's credentialing, English, environmental management, forensic investigations and public safety, geospatial analysis and technology, health services and behavioral sciences, information technology, languages, law and public policy, Native American studies, natural sciences, and yoga.