IBE’s Online Green Building Certificate Program Concludes | Institute for the Built Environment Blog

After three years, CSU’s Online Green Building Certification Program wraps up, making room for new offerings*. The Institute for the Built Environment (IBE) pioneered the certificate program 7+ years ago when green building was just catching on. Taught by Brian Dunbar and a cadre of local industry professionals, our program experienced overwhelming success in the State of Colorado by offering the certification in a face to face environment. Realizing the need for a larger audience they hired on graduate student Cody Farmer and The Institutefor Learning and Teaching (TILT) to produce, coordinate, and package the education.

The program has grown every offering since 2010, with this most recent class of 28– some of the best Green Building students ever. We’ve seen students from Brazil, Japan, Costa Rica, Canada, and Germany to name a few. Classes commonly engage people at all levels of education: Military, Associates, Bachelors, Professional Engineers, Doctorates, and others who have held experienced positions in the construction and real estate fields. All of them energized, intrigued, and ready to pay-it-forward Green Building style.

Students get to banter about LEED navigation, and their frustrations working with the bureaucracy, while at the very same time arming themselves with valuable contributions to help solve those exact problems. There is a refreshing light students gleam around week three, and what transposes into a final report around week 10 (out of 12 weeks) is amazing. Student projects range from outdoor stadiums designed utilizing biomimicry, historic preservation projects informed by principles of sustainability, and high-performing homes designed to thrive throughout time in harsh humidity and weather swings.

The final report, a reflection on a project in its entirety unifies the thought process required for integrated design and sustainable building. At-large, students learn how to participate and identify their own place in the Green Building gamma. Something that we at the IBE call a sense of place.

Surround yourself in it, and blossom.

*Please note: As a result of the LEED 2012 delay, it is possible this program may be offered one last time in response to demand. Please contact Cody Farmer with your interest.

Student Testimonials:

“Thanks, Cody. The class was great, and I’ve decided to take the LEED GA exam soon. Good luck with the IBE there in Colo.”

“Thanks Cody, I thoroughly enjoyed the course…even thinking about transferring to the grad program for construction management at CSU. Keep up the good work!”

“Hi Cody, I have enjoyed the course and have been inspired to pursue building differently when residential construction picks up again and I return to General Contractor duties.”

Brigid McCreery