The University of Dayton's Roger Glass Center for the Arts earned a 2024 Local Market Leadership Award by the U.S. Green Building Council Ohio for its commitment to green building and sustainable practices. 

The center — which includes a 386-seat concert hall, a 244-seat experimental theater, a 2,000-square-foot art gallery, and a digital arts wing with TV, radio and news studios — holds a LEED Gold rating. 

Key design features for lighting, water usage, heat-recovery units, and using natural light and natural building materials, help the building with energy savings. 

The center, which revitalizes a former industrial brownfield site used by NCR, received recognition for using recycled materials or local materials to reduce shipping costs as well.

"By addressing quality of life, decarbonization and ecological conservation, the Roger Glass Center for the Arts exemplifies how sustainable practices can be integrated into community-enhancing projects," said Rick Krysiak, University of Dayton vice president for facilities management and planning. "With local materials, energy-efficient designs and a focus on pedestrian access, the project sets a new standard for green building in the Dayton area." 

This year’s recipients will be recognized during an awards reception at the U.S. Green Building Council Ohio's Building Transformation Forum on Dec. 12 in Columbus, Ohio. 

The University of Dayton has long been a leader in sustainability. 

UD holds a gold STARS rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). It is part of Second Nature's carbon and resilience commitments, which focus on carbon neutrality and climate adaptation to deal with a changing climate and resulting extremes; the Global Catholic Climate Movement and the U.N. Global Compact. The Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges: 2025 Edition names UD one of the most environmentally responsible colleges in the nation. 

In 2014, a $12.5 million gift from the George and Amanda Hanley Foundation, the largest in University history, boosted many sustainability education initiatives and established the Hanley Sustainability Institute. 

Read more about the University of Dayton's sustainability initiatives in its complete STARS report.

The U.S. Green Building Council is committed to a prosperous and sustainable future through cost-efficient and energy-saving buildings. According to the council, LEED is the most widely used and trusted green-building rating system with more than 100,000 certified projects worldwide. LEED buildings save money, consume less energy, use less water, use fewer resources and provide better indoor environmental quality than traditional buildings.  

For interviews, contact Shawn Robinson, associate director of news and communications, at srobinson1@udayton.edu, 937-229-3391 or 937-545-5421.