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The University of Tampa recently received LEED® Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for its new Graduate and Health Studies Building, which was opened in August 2018.

The GHS Building is the sixth building on UT’s campus built in accordance with the rigorous standards set by USGBC’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building certification program. The other five buildings are the Science Annex and Jenkins Hall, which both achieved LEED Gold designation, and the Dickey Health and Wellness Center, the Maureen A. Daly Innovation and Collaboration Building and the Graduate and Health Studies Building, which all achieved LEED Silver designation.

The LEED rating system, developed by USGBC, is the foremost program for buildings, homes and communities that are designed, constructed, maintained and operated for improved environmental and human health performance.

The GHS Building is UT’s largest academic building. At six-stories and 91,000 square feet, the building houses UT’s programs in nursing and physician assistant medicine, as well as UT’s Office of Graduate Studies, classrooms, health science labs, a physics research lab, student gathering and study spaces, and faculty offices.

"The University is committed to providing healthy, safe and efficient buildings for all students, faculty and staff,” said UT President Ronald Vaughn. “The GHS Building is one of the best health sciences buildings in the country, and it is satisfying to have achieved LEED certification while also meeting our facility goals.”

"The University of Tampa’s LEED certification demonstrates tremendous green building leadership," said Mahesh Ramanujam, president and CEO of USGBC. “LEED was created to make the world a better place and revolutionize the built environment by providing everyone with a healthy, green and high performing buildings. UT’s GHS Building serves as a prime example of how the work of innovative building projects can use local solutions to make a global impact on the environment.” 

LEED is the foremost program for the design, construction and operation of green buildings. More than 78,000 commercial and institutional projects are currently participating in LEED, comprising more than 15 billion square feet of construction space in all 50 states and more than 160 countries and territories. 

The U.S. Green Building Council is a nonprofit membership organization whose vision is a sustainable built environment within a generation. For more information, visit www.usgbc.org.