Dow partnership brings new signers and support to the Green Chemistry Commitment  

October 6, 2020 Wilmington, MA – Green chemistry education nonprofit Beyond Benign partnered with Dow (NYSE: DOW) at the start of 2020 to encourage academic institutions to engage in the adoption of green chemistry in higher education. Green chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that generate the least amount of harm and waste possible while maintaining excellent quality. Since 2007, Beyond Benign has integrated green chemistry into K-12 and higher education institutions through teacher training, lesson plans, community networks, webinars, and events.

“The team at Beyond Benign is very excited to partner with Dow,” says Amy Cannon, Beyond Benign’s Director and Co-Founder. “Chemistry and materials science companies design the building blocks of all the products around us.  By supporting Beyond Benign’s Green Chemistry Commitment, Dow is demonstrating the importance of green chemistry skills and knowledge for their incoming workforce to enable the design of safer products and materials.”

Dow’s contribution through volunteer time and corporate sustainability expertise to engage academic stakeholders in companywide goals, as well as financial support, is allowing Beyond Benign to increase partnerships with university programs through its Green Chemistry Commitment program. The Green Chemistry Commitment program fosters a community of practice among higher education institutions to share resources and best practices in implementing green chemistry in their courses and programs. Currently Beyond Benign’s GCC program, includes signers from 70 institutions reaching over 1,300 faculty members who are united around a shared vision to:

• Expand the community of green chemists at their institutions,
• Grow departmental resources,
• Improve connections to industry and job opportunities in green chemistry, and
• Collaborate to affect systemic and lasting change in chemistry education.

“Dow is committed to advance the well-being of humanity through science, innovation and collaboration. It is vital that our university partners are aligned and engaged with Dow, across all our value chains, to help solve our world’s sustainability challenges. Our partnership with Beyond Benign aligns with our ‘Safe Materials for a Sustainable Planet’ goal by ensuring our incoming workforce is prepared to design sustainable materials for the marketplace,” says Eunice Heath, Corporate Director of Sustainability for Dow.

Beyond Benign’s Green Chemistry Commitment program is dedicated to integrating green chemistry and toxicology concepts into chemistry programs with the goal of providing students with the skills to design chemical products/processes that have reduced human and environmental hazards. Seven of Dow’s academic partners are signed on to Beyond Benign’s Green Chemistry Commitment: University of Minnesota, University of California Berkeley, University of California Santa Barbara, Michigan State University, Prairie View A&M University, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor and Wayne State University. To learn more about this program and which universities have signed the pledge, please visit Beyond Benign’s website:  https://www.beyondbenign.org/he-green-chemistry-commitment/

About Beyond Benign:

Beyond Benign, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, envisions a world where the chemical building blocks of products used every day are healthy and safe for humans and the environment. Beyond Benign is fostering a green chemistry education community empowered to transform chemistry education for a sustainable future. Beyond Benign’s continuum of sustainable science educational programs including, teacher and faculty training and curriculum development from K-20 are helping to build the next generation of scientists and citizens with the skills and knowledge to create and choose products that are safe for human health and the environment.  Over the past 13 years, Beyond Benign has an extensive history of service, having trained over 6,000 K-12 teachers in sustainable science and green chemistry, designed over 200 open-access lessons, reached over 25,000 youth and community members through outreach, & partnered with 70 universities to transform chemistry education.  Together we can catalyze the development of green technological innovations that result in safer products and processes in support of a sustainable, healthy society.

Find us on Twitter @beyondbenign, on Instagram @beyondbenign, and follow us on Facebook @beyondbenign or LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beyond-benign-inc/.

Press Contact:
Nicki Wiggins, Director of Development
Beyond Benign
Nicki_Wiggins@beyondbenign.org
978-229-5443