Arkansas Tech University has achieved the Tree Campus USA designation from the Arbor Day Foundation for a fourth consecutive year.
Tree Campus USA is a national program created in 2008 by the Arbor Day Foundation to honor colleges and universities for effective campus forest management and for engaging staff and students in conservation goals.
Arkansas Tech achieved the title in 2016 and maintained it in 2017, 2018 and 2019 by meeting Tree Campus USA’s five standards, which include maintaining a tree advisory committee, a campus tree-care plan, dedicated annual expenditures for its campus tree program, an Arbor Day observance and student service-learning project.
The Arbor Day Foundation is a non-profit conservation and education organization with a mission to inspire people to plant, nurture and celebrate trees.
Arkansas Tech began a tree planting program during the 2009-10 academic year. The trees are a continuation of a long-term landscaping beautification program made possible through the generosity of Arkansas Tech alumni Robert and Sandra Norman of Tulsa, Okla.
The Normans’ philanthropy has led to the planting and care of more than 1,100 trees on the ATU campus in Russellville over the past decade.
