Ball State University
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Members of the Green Club at the Ball State Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics and Humanities presented a program for academy students on global climate change in the Academy's residence hall lounge in October 2014. It raised students' awareness of climate change and how it is and will affect them.

Examples of how the institution is using the campus as a living lab for Building: ARCH 402 (4th year undergraduates) are involved in the maintenance and repairs to the (Student Constructed) Straw Bale Eco Center located on Ball State's Cooper Field Station. Students are introduced to the principles of sustainable construction and introduced to alternative construction systems such as earth stucco. Ongoing demonstrations and tours take place at the Eco Center, which is the first load bearing straw bale building in Central Indiana and the first "off the grid" facility on the Ball State Campus. The project was designed and constructed by students working with professor Gray over the course of three semesters beginning in 2007. It has been an ongoing project since 2007. This project has received international attention and provides students with knowledge of alternative building materials and structures that could be useful in communities internationally. Muncie Makes Lab is a Department of Architecture project in a building that Ball State owns in downtown Muncie. Architecture students are involved in the reuse/repurpose of the building into a new function for Ball State's College of Architecture and Planning. In addition to restoration, the students are planning programming for the building. The experience gives students real-world practice in repurposing a building and making plans for its use. During the spring of 2015, the LEED Lab project placed students directly into the university's sustainability efforts by having them develop a comprehensive plan for LEED certification of the campus' existing buildings. In cooperation with Ball State's Facilities and Planning Department, the students inventoried and assessed the seven LEED buildings on campus, prioritized certification efforts, conducted a feasibility study and prepared to run a pilot LEED-EB building certification. Several items in the certification process were campus-wide, so the class began by determining the credits achievable on that level.

Examples of how the university is using the campus as a living lab for Dining Services: Dr. John Pichtel supervised a student M.A. project during the spring of 2015. The title of the paper was "Assessing the feasibility of composting food waste at Ball State University". The student interviewed key informants from Ball State and researched composting methods. He also examined five collegiate programs currently composting food wastes. The abstract notes "This study provides critical information for BSU to consider while continuing its mission of sustainability and positioning itself as a leader in higher education in the State of Indiana." The deliverable was a creative project available through the BSU library. Dining partnered in Spring 2015 with an anthropology class to create recycling icons/stickers to place on grab-n-go coolers. The project was initiated by the anthropology students, and Dining provided design services and distribution of the stickers. The project demonstrated to students how different groups can work together to achieve a goal.

The Department of Facilities Planning and Management and the dean's office for the College of Sciences and Humanities fund the use of student employees to make observations on the monitoring wells in the Ball State geothermal fields on campus. This project has been ongoing since 2012 and has involved numerous student employees in the Department of Geological Sciences. The goal is long-term data collection. The data collected helps the university evaluate the geothermal heating and cooling of the campus and provides students learning experiences that can be noted on their resume. Five students in Architecture 373 during the summer of 2015 developed three case studies using the Ball State campus. One study looked at the (ground source heat pump) GSHP district-scale geothermal heating and cooling system; another at the technical, economic and experiential comparisons of electric versus daylight in Ball Communications; and the third as a comparison of the operational performance and indoor (thermal, luminous and acoustic) environmental quality in the Letterman Building versus the Architecture Building. These studies have the potential of assisting the university in improving energy operations in these buildings.

1. A new inventory of campus trees was completed in 2014 with the help of a student employee hired through the Department of Facilities Planning and Management. There are 7,323 trees with 253 species/cultivars on the Ball State Campus. By the end of 2014 some 68% of the ash trees had been removed because of damage from the emerald ash borer and replaced with new trees. The experience the student gained from participating in the tree inventory can be transferred to work he will do after graduation. 2. Each fall semester since 2010, groups of 4-6 students in Wildlife Biology 483 create a land management plan for the Ball State Cooper Farm Property. Each group is assigned a species or species group for which they evaluate the habitat. They use the semester to create an extensive plan for managing the property to improve it for their species. These reports are reviewed by the BSU Field Station and Environmental Education Center (FSEEC). Over the years selected suggestions have been implemented to increase the general habitat quality at Cooper Farm.

Allegre, a student-run on-campus restaurant utilizes local business vendors for purchases, such as regional produce vendor Piazza Produce (Indy) and Muncie sources for meat (Lahody's and Muncie Meats). Piazza provides the ability to source locally grown produce and products when season and availability permit. Allegre also partnered to offer coffee from Muncie's Main Street Coffee prior to its buy out. Allegre faculty and students have been in talks to create a small BSU garden that would supply herbs and produce for Allegre operations. Students who choose to work in restaurants that locally source their food or grow their own food experience the systems they'll consider when working or operating their own restaurants. Such projects make the on-campus, student-run restaurant more sustainable.

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1. NewsLink Indiana, the student-run television station at Ball State, has contributed to environmental and economic sustainability by providing its anchor team with iPads and loading the script of each newscast onto those iPads. Previously student journalists in the newsroom printed multiple copies of the complete script. As a result, the newsroom is saving 150-200 sheets of paper every night. This is an excellent learning experience to prepare student journalists for their professional broadcast careers. Local and regional news stations have their anchors and reporters using iPads vs. paper. 2. Allegre, a student-run restaurant on campus, provides family and consumer science majors the opportunity to use and learn more about systems that arrange for leftover food stuffs to be donated to local food pantries and homeless shelters in Muncie. Students who choose to work in restaurants or catering operations can continue to donate leftover food to shelters.

1. Student members and student employees of the Ball State Energy Action Team assisted Dining Services with its "Take Back the Tap" campaign in the fall of 2013 by walking around with placards in dining areas on campus. More than 820 students and employees took the pledge to drink tap water. The survey results after the event are as follows: 100% of respondents had used the container they received or planned to use it 61% thought they would use the container often instead of disposables; 39% thought they would use it occasionally 63% said signing the Take Back the Tap pledge made them more open to the idea of using a reusable container 79% said signing the pledge caused them to think about the merits of drinking tap water instead of bottled water Students got involved and learned behaviors can be changed through information and special events. 2. Student members of the Resident Life and Housing social media team and the Ball State Energy Action Team produced a video during the 2012-13 school year on using less water. Producing a video is a skill that all students can use in their future careers.

1. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Report for Ball State has been produced in 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012. Ball State is one of only two universities in the nation that produce such a report. It involves a student team that prepares the sustainability report for Ball State under the guidance of a professor. The report covers the university's environmental, economic and social impacts as defined by the G4 Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Guidelines. These guidelines are widely accepted and used by the largest 250 global companies. The Council on the Environment at Ball State partners with the team of students for this project. The report provides a benchmark for Ball State to understand its current sustainability performance and as a guide for needed improvements. Students interested in sustainability management might be expected to create such a report for their organizations in the future. 2. In 2014-15 the Honors College Sustainability Plan was developed and approved by the Student Honors Council and endorsed by the Honors College. The experience emulates actions in the professional world and provides students with opportunities to gather information and make recommendations for achieving sustainability targets.

A dietetics major developed a slow cooker cookbook and then provided demonstrations along with an educational presentation to help low income families using commodity foods/common food pantry items. Information about the project has been presented at a state meeting. The results have been submitted to a nutrition journal for review as of spring semester 2015. The experience is similar to what a registered dietician will be expected to do as a professional. The Ball State Opera Theatre stores its sets, scenery, and props in the basement of the Music Instruction Building. These items are used year after year in new opera productions students produce. Students learn about theatre management practices that can be applied at all levels.

Professor Josh Gruver taught an NREM course in the spring of 2015 with a student project involving Ball State's Burris Laboratory School. The problem investigated was pesticide use on lawns and planning for future site design changes to landscape. Parents of students at Burris had raised concerns about pesticides used and their effects on their children's health. The students collaborated with landscape architecture students and faculty to re-envision and redesign the Burris landscape. The project resulted in seven stakeholder meetings and presentations. The deliverables were professional quality landscape and stewardship plans for Ball State's Burris School. The project is representative of what students might do after graduation as consultants. A graduate assistant position in the Nutrition Assessment Lab works for Ball State's Working Well program. Each year (since 2005), an RD-eligible graduate student who works 20 hours/week provides nutrition counseling, education and assessment in an effort to improve the health of the BSU faculty, staff and significant others. The Nutrition Assessment Lab offers blood lipid screenings, blood pressure screenings, anthropometric assessment (including weight, height, BMI, body fat analysis) dietary analysis and nutrition education. The graduate assistant also provides dietary messages consistent with the American Dietetics Association and would generally include messages that encourage eating more fruits and vegetables. When appropriate, the graduate assistant provides information and guidelines to individuals interested in a vegetarian diet. Monthly activity reports are filed. Every GA hired has subsequently been hired as a dietician; the experience has helped the campus and them.

Sociology capstone students created, administered, analyzed and reported findings for an online survey for Ball State's Council on the Environment during the spring semester of 2015. The objective was to gauge campus awareness of, and support for, carbon divestment of the university foundation holdings. The students can use the research and presentation skills in a wide variety of workplace settings, and the experience accurately mirrored what it would be like to work on a research team with a client.

In the spring of 2014, the Ball State Symphony Orchestra and Jazz Lab Ensemble presented a public performance of Oliver Nelson's "The Kennedy Dreams". Oliver Nelson, Jr. narrated and discussed John F. Kennedy's visions and how they are relevant today. Part of the discussion included sustainability. Protecting and continuing to make music accessible to audiences is a life-long mission of music majors at Ball State. Two journalism graphics students and an architecture student worked with Ball State's Center for Energy Research/Education/Service (CERES) to create a Sustainability Guide for Ball State. It was published the summer of 2015. The students experienced creative work as they would in the professional world.

The Department of Journalism started teaching a special topics course, science writing, during the spring of 2013. It was offered again the fall of 2014. It is scheduled to be taught about once every three or four semesters. In the course, students write a blog about a sustainability issue of their choice, write stories covering sustainability events at Ball State and in Muncie and do a multimedia project on a sustainability topic of their choice. Students interview Ball State experts as part of the way that they gather information for their stories and blogs. Students receive feedback from the instructor and experience peer editing, which would be representative of the editing process that takes place in the professional world. The students are encouraged to find a media outlet for their stories. Some of the stories have been published in the student-run newspaper, the Ball State Daily News, while others have been published in the local Muncie newspaper, The Star Press.