U.S. Green Building Council joined by Kansas State

MANHATTAN, Kans.—Kansas State University College of Architecture, Planning and Design has established membership in the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

The nation’s foremost coalition of leaders from the building industry, the USGBC works to promote buildings that are “green”—environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work.

Current K-State faculty member Stephanie Rolley, landscape architecture/regional and community planning, and her husband, Rod Harms, contributed funding to make the college’s membership a reality. Both received the bachelor of landscape architecture from K-State in 1982. Harms owns the Civitas Group, a construction and development company in Manhattan, Kansas.

According to Rolley, motivation for the contribution was provided by several K-State students who worked on a project for Civitas. “Rod and I were willing to fund the USGBC membership in appreciation of the exceptional work done by Gabe McKee, in particular his leadership on the Earthship structure for the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, as well as the work done by students Michael Verseman and Philip Schmidt.”

Photos of the work can be viewed at www.purpleprairie.net. McKee has completed his fourth year of architecture studies and is from DeSoto, MO; Verseman has completed his fourth year of landscape architecture studies and is from Chester, IL; and Schmidt has finished his fourth year in architecture and is from Overland Park, KS.