2008 Woodie Awards
Committee issues suggestions to reduce paper consumption
By: Courtney Hime
Issue date: 11/9/07 Section: News
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The Academic Technology Advisory Committee (ATAC) has come up with suggestions to reduce the amount of paper used by the University.
The committee sent out an e-mail to faculty and staff with two specific recommendations in an effort to reduce paper consumton, said chairman Bruce Sanders: to change default printing settings and to encourage electronic submission of papers.
The suggested changes to default printing settings included reducing margins from 1" on the top and bottom and 1.25" on the sides to 0.75" all around; changing the default font from 12 pt. to 10 pt., changing paper-spacing defaults from double spacing to 1.5 spacing, and to continue the initiative to print pages double-sided instead of single-sided.
Sanders also said there were many programs available to allow professors to make their comments and suggestions electronically. He mentioned features in Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat Professional and Digital Ink as future possibilities.
"I think everyone should encourage electronic submission of papers, because then there's no paper at all," he said.
This initiative, Sanders said, came after a faculty member asked the committee to look into ways to save paper in a fall faculty meeting. He said after doing a quick Google search, he came across an initiative done by Penn State University. Their study asked only for the reduction of margins. That move alone, according to the Mueller Report done by Penn State, would save 72 acres of forests as well as $123,011 for the university.
"I looked at this and it looked like a win situation all around," he said. "Less paper. Less money. No real ramifications for students or professors in terms of what's being produced."
He modeled the committee's recommendations after the Penn State study. ATAC, in an effort to further reduce paper Sanders said, also suggested the changes to font size and spacing. Sanders said he felt DePauw's size would make it easier for the implementation of electronically submitting papers, as opposed to a larger school like Penn State.
The committee sent out an e-mail to faculty and staff with two specific recommendations in an effort to reduce paper consumton, said chairman Bruce Sanders: to change default printing settings and to encourage electronic submission of papers.
The suggested changes to default printing settings included reducing margins from 1" on the top and bottom and 1.25" on the sides to 0.75" all around; changing the default font from 12 pt. to 10 pt., changing paper-spacing defaults from double spacing to 1.5 spacing, and to continue the initiative to print pages double-sided instead of single-sided.
Sanders also said there were many programs available to allow professors to make their comments and suggestions electronically. He mentioned features in Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat Professional and Digital Ink as future possibilities.
"I think everyone should encourage electronic submission of papers, because then there's no paper at all," he said.
This initiative, Sanders said, came after a faculty member asked the committee to look into ways to save paper in a fall faculty meeting. He said after doing a quick Google search, he came across an initiative done by Penn State University. Their study asked only for the reduction of margins. That move alone, according to the Mueller Report done by Penn State, would save 72 acres of forests as well as $123,011 for the university.
"I looked at this and it looked like a win situation all around," he said. "Less paper. Less money. No real ramifications for students or professors in terms of what's being produced."
He modeled the committee's recommendations after the Penn State study. ATAC, in an effort to further reduce paper Sanders said, also suggested the changes to font size and spacing. Sanders said he felt DePauw's size would make it easier for the implementation of electronically submitting papers, as opposed to a larger school like Penn State.
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