Attracting corporate help is critical because it broadens the base of support for such programs. And with pressures on the federal budget mounting from year to year, "it behooves us to seek out additional sources of support for environmental education so we don't allow all our eggs to be put in one basket," said Durett, who added, "It's very easy to point the finger at industry as the bad guy. But at the same time, industry is a key player in solving the problems.
"We need to build bridges between corporate America and the colleges and their communities. Corporate America has a bottom line and they can meet their bottom line by utilizing the skills and talents available on our campuses," Durett said.
DOE funding has infused environmental content into courses across the academic spectrum, according to consortium officials. Pleased with its performance during the first five years of its partnership, DOE has pledged to support the consortium for another five years. And as consortium schools shift their focus to more technology-intensive tasks, officials say they are optimistic that environmental interest will grow stronger at their schools.
"The emphasis has changed from one primarily of environmental education to one of technology development. We're getting to the bread-and-butter issue of cleaning up the environment. We've got to help DOE solve the problem," Bota said.
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