Overall Rating Bronze - expired
Overall Score 38.93
Liaison Veronica Johnson
Submission Date May 10, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Southwestern University
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 Keara Hudler
Student Sustainability Coordinator
Environmental Studies
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Air & Climate 

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Air & Climate?:
Yes

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to Air & Climate:
Dr. Edwards of the Physics Department and Environmental Studies Program releases weather balloons with many of her classes to gather weather and climate data.

Buildings  

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Buildings?:
Yes

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to Buildings:
Environmental GIS students and Capstone students have researched how to make the campus' buildings more sustainable. This has included research on rooftop gardens and bird-friendly window stickers. During the Fall of 2015, one student mapped out every trash can on campus and determined whether or not that trashcan had a recycling bin next to it. She then worked with Physical Plant to ensure that every building be equipped with recycling bins next to trashcans.

Energy 

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Energy?:
Yes

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to Energy:
Students have used GIS technology and the information available from the university's Physical Plant to conduct research on energy use in buildings in relation to window structures, area of roof space, and relation to micro heat islands, such as parking lots without shade. Some students have used their research to write proposals for rooftop gardens, new window panes and/or screening, and increase treetop cover.

Food & Dining 

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Food & Dining?:
Yes

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to Food & Dining:
Each semester, students in Environmental GIS conduct research on the food miles accumulated in Southwestern's dining hall. Students work with dining services to find out where a few major food items are sourced from and then use GIS to map the route from those sources to the university.

Grounds 

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Grounds?:
Yes

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to Grounds:
Property owned by the University is utilized by students in EcoLab for testing water and soil quality. Some classes--such as Chemistry and the Environment--also use this land for lab work. Plots in the campus community garden are also used by chemistry and biology students for labs and research (these plots are not used to grow food for student's to eat). Chemistry students conducted a lab that observed how the same plant grew using pesticides and herbicides, organic methods of management, or no interference at all.

Purchasing 

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Purchasing?:
No

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to Purchasing:
NA

Transportation 

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Transportation?:
Yes

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to Transportation:
The Pirate Bike Sharing program is used by many students on campus. This program has also been the subject of capstone and research projects for Anthropology and Sociology students who analyze how often this program is used by the campus community, as well as if certain types of people use the bikes more than others. These studies have shown that the Pirate Bike program is very successful and helps reduce the amount of driving for students who don't like to walk across campus.

Waste 

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Waste?:
Yes

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to Waste:
Every year during Earth Week, Students for Environmental Activism and Knowledge partners with the university's Physical Plant to collect the trash from academic buildings over the course of one day. The amount of regular trash is compared with the amount of trash in recycling bins to highlight how much trash is produced on campus that goes to a landfill. During this event, SEAK opens one trash bag and separates what could have been recycled from the bag to educate the campus on how to recycle more efficiently.

Water 

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Water?:
Yes

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to Water:
The university uses greywater to water athletic fields on campus. The garden also utilizes a rainwater collection system to water food plots so that tap water is not being wasted there. As mentioned in Grounds, EcoLab and some classes use creeks on university land to test water quality and determine how safe unfiltered water is compared to the tap water in Georgetown. SEAK has worked this year on removing plastic water bottles form campus. In addition to this, the Green Fee grant has been used to install more Elkay EZH2O machines in the academic buildings on campus in order to reduce the need for one-use plastic water bottles. These machines record how many plastic water bottles were not used by using the machines instead, and collectively, Southwestern has saved over 30,000 water bottles in the past year.

Coordination & Planning 

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Coordination & Planning?:
Yes

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to Coordination & Planning:
The Sustainability Committee was formed in order to have a governing body that promotes sustainability on campus. Through this committee, positive Green Fee grants have been approved and have already helped to make the campus more sustainable (i.e. raised garden beds and Elkay EZH2O machines).

Diversity & Affordability 

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Diversity & Affordability?:
Yes

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to Diversity & Affordability:
Students and professors from the Anthropology and Sociology departments conduct surveys and research on the campus climate as it is perceived by the students of Southwestern. They use the survey results to compare how racially, sexually/gender, religiously, and economically diverse the campus actually is with how students feel that it is. These research projects are used to help promote more events, organizations, and education based on diversity awareness.

Investment & Finance 

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Investment & Finance?:
No

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to Investment & Finance:
NA

Public Engagement 

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Public Engagement?:
Yes

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to Public Engagement:
Student organizations and academic departments host many events on campus that are open to the Southwestern community as well as the greater Georgetown community. Many of these events are also focused on sustainability education. For example, SEAK hosted an Environmental Justice Film Festival to help educate the campus on how environmental issues are related to those of social justice. SEAK and the Environmental Studies department worked together to host a Georgetown Climate March, and many Georgetown residents attended. The Environmental Studies capstone class of Spring 2016 worked on a survey of the campus that assessed the campus' knowledge of sustainability initiatives at Southwestern as well as how they felt about environmental issues.

Wellbeing & Work 

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Wellbeing & Work?:
No

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to Wellbeing & Work:
NA

Other Impact Areas 

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to other areas (e.g. arts & culture or technology)?:
Yes

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to other areas:
Some courses in the Fine Arts address issues related to sustainability. Most directly, "Theatre Sustainability" is a course that discusses best practices in costume creation, construction of sets, props, set design, and lighting. The course also engages environmental issues in plays. Students and faculty have also worked together to make the Jones theatre completely powered by solar panels on the top of the Fine Arts building.

Optional Fields 

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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