TSU to Receive Tree Campus USA Designation From Arbor Day Foundation

Tree Planting and Recognition Ceremony Takes Place Sunday, Oct. 6

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – Tennessee State University will host a tree-planting event to promote and increase the University’s commitment to building a healthy urban forest by planting trees on the campus.

Sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation through the Tree Campus USA program, the event is scheduled to take place Sunday, Oct. 6 when students, faculty and staff, and community volunteers will plant more than 30 Crepe Myrtles, Red Maple and Nuttal Oak trees around campus.

The program, which is funded by Toyota, is planned to commemorate both TSU and Trevecca Nazarene University’s commitment to promoting healthy urban forest management, and engaging the campus community in environmental stewardship.

The day kicks off at 9 a.m. with an educational workshop sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education in the Farrell Westbrook Complex (Barn). The AASHE will discuss sustainable landscapes on university and college campuses around the country.

A special recognition ceremony takes place at 10:45 a.m. in the Barn Auditorium when TSU and Trevecca will receive the Tree Campus USA distinction.  Tree planting and volunteer work begins at 1 p.m.

Now in its fifth year, Tree Campus USA recognizes the best practices in campus forestry throughout the United States.  The goal of the program is to honor college campuses and leaders of their surrounding communities for promoting healthy urban forest management and engaging the campus community in environmental stewardship.  TSU and Trevecca will become two of the more than 190 universities taking part in the program.

The Arbor Day Foundation and Toyota have helped campuses throughout the country plant hundred of thousands of trees, and Tree Campus USA colleges and universities $23 million in campus forest management last year.

For more information, contact Jen Svendsen, Arbor Day Foundation programs project manager, at 402.473.9574 or jsvendsen@arborday.org.

Department of Media Relations

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With nearly 9,000 students, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university and is a comprehensive, urban, coeducational land-grant university offering 38 undergraduate, 22 graduate and seven doctoral programs. TSU has earned a top-20 ranking for Historically Black Colleges and Universities according to U.S. News and World Report, and rated as one of the top Universities in the country by Washington Monthly for social mobility, research and community service. Founded in 1912 Tennessee State University celebrated 100 years in Nashville during 2012. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu