For Immediate Release
Glendale Community College, Glendale, AZ
May 9, 2022---Glendale Community College has become an affiliate of the Bee Campus USA program, designed to marshal the strengths of educational campuses for the benefit of pollinators. GCC is the only college in Arizona to be named as a Bee Campus and joins with other cities and campuses across the country that are united in improving their landscapes for pollinators.
To earn this designation GCC has shown that it works to minimize hazards to pollinators by using nearly no neonicotinoid pesticides, glyphosate herbicide, or other potentially dangerous pesticides. The college facilities team also incorporates native plants into the campus landscape, being mindful of their bloom time and habitat needs. GCC's actions as a Bee-friendly campus include the following.
- Create and enhance pollinator habitat on campus by increasing the abundance of native plants and providing nest sites.
- Reduce the use of pesticides.
- Offer courses or continuing education opportunities that incorporate pollinator conservation.
- Offer service-learning projects to enhance pollinator habitat.
- Report on annual activities.
Bee City USA and Bee Campus USA are initiatives of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, a nonprofit organization based in Portland, Oregon, with offices across the country. Bee City USA’s mission is to galvanize communities and campuses to sustain pollinators by providing them with healthy habitats, rich in a variety of native plants, and free of pesticides. Pollinators like bumblebees, sweat bees, mason bees, honey bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, flies, hummingbirds, and many others are responsible for the reproduction of almost ninety percent of the world's flowering plant species and one in every three bites of food we consume.
Glendale Community College provides 41 Associates degrees, 61 certificate programs, and a range of non-degree offerings, all available to students in traditional, online and hybrid formats. Founded in 1965 to serve the northwestern part of the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, the college is part of the Maricopa County Community Colleges District, has two campuses and enrolls approximately 26,000 students annually, and employs approximately 1,000 resident faculty, staff, and administrators with an operational budget of $83 million.
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GCC Media contact: John Heckenlaible, (623) 845-3809 John.heckenlaible@gccza.edu