Consider including a sustainability-related service or civic engagement component in your courses in the spring semester!
In 2015, President Jordan renewed the St. Mary’s commitment to sustainability by signing the American Campuses Act on Climate Pledge. Students, faculty, and coursework can have a strong role to play in getting us there.
Sustainability can be incorporated in English, Math, History, Physics, Philosophy, and MORE!
A campus that is more engaged with sustainability benefits everyone: students, professors, research, cross-disciplinary connections, and the college itself.
The extent of this can vary. Past examples include:
- Holly Gorton (Contemporary Bioscience): Students were required to volunteer to help with the weekly compost operation.
- Jordan Price (Animal Behavior): Students were required to spend a night volunteering at Point Lookout State Park, banding Northern Saw-Whet Owls.
- Rebecca Kelly (Intro to Environmental Science): Dr. Kelly gave students incentives to go to environmental-themed lectures/activities or volunteer to collect data for Green Cup.
- Barry Muchnick (Applied Sustainability Practicum): Students completing service hours for the class stabilized one barn in HSMC and helped tear down and salvage materials from another.
- Alex Meadows (Survey of Math): A group of students developed a proposal and return on investment analyses for installing greywater systems in more buildings on campus. If they apply for funding from the Green St. Mary’s Revolving Fund, they have a strong chance to implement that water-saving change.
- Jennifer Cognard-Black (Books that Cook: the Literature of Food): Students were required to complete 4 hours of service at the campus farm over the course of the semester.
There is a lot of work to be done, at St. Mary’s and in the world; let’s prepare students to do that work by teaching them how to be engaged in their surroundings for the betterment of our community.
The Sustainability Fellow’s job is to connect programming and curriculum with on-campus sustainability projects to make sustainability both a learning experience and ongoing practice of the campus and community. The Sustainability Fellow and Interns are available to help match sustainability-related engagement and service opportunities to your courses at any level. Please contact sustainability@smcm.edu if you are interested in specific volunteer or engagement opportunities.