Challenge Recognizes Organizations for Being Green, Healthy and Involved in Community

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – Tennessee State University has once again been recognized by the city for service to the community when Mayor Carl Dean announced the 2015 recipients of the Mayor’s Workplace Challenge Awards.

The University received platinum recognition for community involvement and as a local well-being healthy advocate, and gold recognition for activities and attentiveness to the environment.

“It’s wonderful to receive the environmental and community involvement recognition from the Mayor’s office,” said Dr. Linda Guthrie, director of the Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement. “We have a long history of service to our local community, promote an active and healthy workplace, and strive to become a leader in sustainability while reducing our environmental footprint. These awards recognize the hard work and dedication of the entire TSU community to make the city we live in a better place.”

Started in 2012, the Mayor’s Workplace Challenge encourages and recognizes places of work to excel in three areas that contribute to a high quality of life: being green, healthy and involved in the community. It is the first three-tiered challenge of its kind in the country, and other cities are replicating this initiative in their own communities. This year, over 235 workplaces representing more than 105,000 employees in Nashville participated in the challenge.

“I applaud the continued success of these workplaces in being environmentally friendly, promoting healthy choices among its employees and encouraging a culture of service through volunteerism,” Mayor Dean said. “The responses to the Workplace Challenge continue to be impressive and further exemplify why Nashville is such a great city to live and work.”

New to the challenge for this round was the Diamond level, which 20 workplaces achieved. Nearly all the participating workplaces, including TSU, were honored with either a diamond, platinum, gold, silver or bronze seal of recognition for their success in one or more of the three categories this past year.

The Mayor’s Workplace Challenge builds on the momentum of other city initiatives to improve the quality of life in Nashville, including health challenges like Walk 100 Miles with the Mayor, the Mayor’s Challenge 5K Walk/Run and Kids’ Fun Run, and Mayor’s Field Day; green efforts such as the Nashville Open Space Plan and Nashville Energy Works energy-saving initiative; and community engagement through the Cities of Service Impact Nashville program to increase volunteerism and Excellence in Volunteer Engagement.

Department of Media Relations

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About Tennessee State University

With more than 9,000 students, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a comprehensive, urban, co-educational, land-grant university offering 45 undergraduate, 24 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.