For the second consecutive year, the UI GreenMetric Ranking of World Universities recognizes North Carolina A&T State University as a world leader among universities in sustainability, placing N.C. A&T at No. 25 among 360 universities in 62 countries for 2014.

The ranking compares universities’ efforts in campus sustainability and environmentally friendly management. It is conducted by Universitas Indonesia (UI), which launched the program in 2010.

Results are drawn from information provided by universities online under six categories (and weightings): green statistics (15 percent), energy and climate change (21 percent), waste management (18 percent), water usage (10 percent), transportation (18 percent) and education (18 percent).

The University of Nottingham (United Kingdom) holds the No. 1 spot, followed by the University College Cork National University of Ireland and Nottingham Trent University. Rounding out the top 10 are: University of California, Davis; University of Oxford; University of Bradford; University of Connecticut; Universitat fur Bodenkultur Wien Austria; University of California, Berkeley; and Northeastern University.

A&T’s ranking also places it at ninth best among colleges and universities in the United States, second best among UNC system schools and first among HBCUs.

Dr. Godfrey Uzochukwu, professor and director of the Interdisciplinary Waste Management Institute (WMI) at A&T, says the university’s sustainability program is a collaborative team effort involving academic and non-academic units. Enrollment Management, Human Resources, Facilities, Budget Office, Division of Research, Parking Services, Center for Energy and Training, Auxiliary Services, Energy and Environmental Systems, University Farm and WMI contributed to last year’s survey.

On Wednesday, Feb. 11, undergraduate and graduate students from across the state will come to North Carolina A&T State University to compete at the third UNC 2015 Social Entrepreneurship Conference.

The conference will challenge students from the UNC system’s 17 campuses to identify some of North Carolina’s most pressing social problems, and then take a business-oriented approach to solving them.

About 40 teams will pitch ideas to a blue ribbon panel of judges from business and the nonprofit community. Cash prizes and technical support for implementation will be awarded to winners in both the undergraduate and graduate categories.

Students who are interested in competing can click here to register. If technical issues occur with registering, contact Pat White at whitep@ncat.edu or 336-285-3799.

The past two conferences drew more than 1,000 attendees to hear keynoters Mohammad Yunus and Tom Szaky. More than 70 student teams have competed with support from campus representatives and UNC’s Small Business Technology Development Center.

This year’s conference will be preceded on Tuesday, Feb. 10, by a one-day conference bringing together social entrepreneurs from across North Carolina to share ideas and strategies to develop stronger community capacity for social entrepreneurship. Organized by Forward Impact, this event will be the first of its kind in the state and will provide an exciting prelude to the student competition.

For further information about the conference, sponsorship opportunities or details of participation, contact Kelley Gregory at UNC General Administration.

In observance of National Go Red for Women’s Health and National Wear Red Day, North Carolina A&T State University has partnered with the American Heart Association (AHA) to present the fourth annual Aggies Go Red event, 10 a.m.–1 p.m., Friday, Feb. 6, in the Student Health Center on campus.

February is designated as American Heart Month. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of death in the United States.

African Americans and women are disproportionately affected by CVD. N.C. A&T health professionals say it’s imperative for the AHA and the university to raise awareness about risk factors and prevention of the chronic disease.

“It’s extremely important that we raise awareness and encourage our faculty, staff and students to adopt heart healthy habits,” said university health educator Kaye B. Ziglar. “We also want them to be aware of their family history and possible predisposition to this and other chronic diseases.”

This year’s Aggies Go Red event will feature community exhibits, health screenings, physical fitness demonstrations and a demonstration by Chancellor Harold L. Martin Sr., who will prepare a quick and easy heart-healthy recipe.

National Wear Red Day began in 2003 when the AHA and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute partnered to raise awareness of a disease that many believe affects more men than women.

Aggies Go Red is free and open to the public. For additional information, contact Janet Lattimore at janetl@ncat.edu or Ziglar at skziglar@ncat.edu.

With new construction projects closing the Memorial Union and Moore Gym parking lots has seemingly left a lot of students, faculty and staff who drive without a place to park. That is just not so, says Jacob Teagle, director of parking and transportation services.

“There are still underutilized lots on campus like the Luther Street lot,” he said.

Teagle points out that the spaces that do exist may not be convenient as the Luther Street lot and the Laurel Street parking deck do not offer quick access to buildings on opposite sides of the campus.

In an effort to combat those parking struggles, Parking and Transportation Services suggests drivers carpool, walk more around campus and park in the lots at War Memorial Stadium and Aggie Stadium and ride the shuttles to centralized locations on campus where they can either walk to their respective destinations or transfer to the campus shuttles of the Greensboro Transit Authority’s Higher Education Area Transit (HEAT) buses.

“This isn’t going to go away,” Teagle said.

At this time, parking services is testing a schedule for the Park & Ride shuttles as well as the campus shuttles to see how closely they can maintain it. Some of the shuttles have been outfitted with tracking devices so that riders can track shuttles on their smartphones using the Double Map application.

“We’re also looking at making parking more stringent on residential students,” he said. “Driving all over campus takes up parking spaces.”

North Carolina A&T State University is not alone in its parking problems. Where N.C. A&T has approximately one parking space per three vehicles. Other universities have as few as one per four or five vehicles.

Because more convenient parking on campus is becoming scarce, students who purchase a Park & Ride permit in the 2015-16 academic year will see a decrease in their cost while faculty and staff who purchase reserved and faculty/staff permits won’t see any price change at all. The only increase for parking that has been approved for the 2015-16 academic year is reserved and general parking in the deck to the tune of $75 and $40 respectively.

“The parking deck is eight years old and it isn’t supporting itself. The increase will go to maintain the deck,” Teagle said.

Other hindrances to campus parking include faculty and staff members who have reserved parking spaces who drive to another part of campus and park in reserved spaces or general parking spaces there as well as people who park on campus illegally.

“We all have to buy into doing the best with what we have. We don’t have any spaces to give away,” he said.

WNAA 90.1 is its reach by joining the historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) Channel 142 on SiriusXM in February.

The campus radio station will add three talk shows to the channel’s line up: “It’s a Matter of Your Health,” hosted by Dr. Veita Bland; its newest talk show, “The CORE,” hosted by Dr. Sharon Warren Cook; and “Head to Toe,” hosted by Ezinma Murphy. The shows will debut Wednesday, Feb. 4, at 4 p.m.; Thursday, Feb. 5, 10 a.m.; and Friday, Feb. 6, 4 p.m., respectively.

All three shows are 30 minutes in length. “It’s a Matter of Your Health” is a health magazine, while “The CORE” centers on a wide-range of diverse subjects and “Head to Toe” is a guide to ethnic hair, nail and skin care that includes celebrity interviews.

SiriusXM is the world’s largest radio broadcaster measured by revenue and has 26.7 million subscribers. SiriusXM creates and broadcasts commercial-free music; premier sports talk and live events; comedy; news; exclusive talk and entertainment; and the most comprehensive Latin music, sports and talk programming in radio. Visit HBCU Channel 142’s website for additional information.