University of Dayton
EN-3: Student Life

River Stewards The River Stewards program is the flagship program of the Rivers Institute administered by the Fitz Center for Leadership in Community at the University of Dayton. The three-year interdisciplinary program focused on leadership development and civic engagement is based on the model of learn, lead, and serve. River Stewards participate in weekly mini-courses, provide service to the community, and work together to develop a project their senior year. Interested students can apply to become a River Steward in the second semester of their freshman year. Currently there are over 45 River Stewards within three cohorts. The River Stewards come from over 25 different majors and represent all undergraduate academic units at the University of Dayton. https://www.udayton.edu/artssciences/ctr/fitz/academic_progs/river-stewards/index.php Sustainability Club Sustainability Club is a service and social action club with an emphasis on food, water, and waste on campus, and in the Dayton community. We have several waste collection programs in place that not only deter waste from landfills, but raise money for projects and feed the less fortunate. Social events include, local hiking trips, TED Talk nights, and organic and vegan cookouts. In addition to facilitating Sustainability Week and GreenSweep events, we educate ourselves and others about important environmental and sustainability issues as well as develop a collective language and vision among the students. We are also a resource to facilitate collaboration and help get project ideas off the ground. Other projects include: coordinating an annual energy competition within our 5 residence halls and promoting recycling awareness, a laptop drive for a local charity, and educational film screenings. Student-governed. https://www.udayton.edu/studev/leadership/involvement/student-life/org-sustainability.php RE-volv Student Ambassador Program RE-volv, a national nonprofit in San Francisco, was founded in 2011 to finance solar energy projects for other nonprofits. Through crowdfunding they raise the money for solar projects, and get paid back over time to pay for additional projects. RE-volv launched their Solar Ambassador Program last year at 5 Universities across the country (UD was one of the five) where students now plan and lead one solar energy project a year. Students at each school plan a 6 week crowdfunding campaign to raise the funds needed for the solar energy project. Currently UD’s team consists of five students. Student governed. https://re-volv.org

Lincoln Hill Farm The University of Dayton’s Hanley Sustainability Institute has partnered with East End Community Services and Mission of Mary Cooperative to initiate change within East Dayton through the development of a community green space and urban agriculture center. The Lincoln Hill Urban Agriculture Project will transform five acres of vacant land within the Twin Towers Neighborhood into a sustainable multipurpose site, featuring urban agriculture-based educational and recreational elements to serve both the UD and Greater Dayton communities. Student supported. http://flyernews.com/partnerships-build-garden-community-in-unexpected-place/ Mission of Mary Cooperative Mission of Mary Cooperative is an urban farming non-profit organization that works in east Dayton. They focus on the issues of food and economic social justice especially the issues of healthy food affordability and access. The work done at Mission of Mary aims to provide tangible benefits for the people of the community as well as the vacant and forgotten land of the neighborhood. http://udquickly.udayton.edu/scribblings/2015/12/taking-the-plunge/

Green Revolving Fund. A 2012 student-led research project suggesting the University establish a green revolving fund is promising a big payoff to the University in cost savings, innovation, learning opportunities and creating a greener campus. The University is investing $1 million to seed the new Green Revolving Fund, designed to encourage the community to look at the entire campus as a laboratory, classroom and testing ground for energy-saving ideas. The University started the fund with $1 million — primarily from rebates the University received from the Dayton Power and Light Co. and other organizations for already-implemented measures to save electricity. Ideas for projects can come from anyone on campus — students, faculty, staff, researchers — who work with facilities management to identify opportunities and develop the projects. Projects are given the green light based on projected savings in operational costs and are encouraged to include an educational component. When the project is up and running, energy savings are tracked and those savings are credited back to the Green Revolving Fund to build the fund's balance to fund the next project.

UD Speaker Series The 2015-2016 UD Speaker Series hosted Ellen Gustafson (sustainable food system activist); Eric Liu (teaching the art of effective and creative citizenship); Elijah Anderson (the “cosmopolitan canopy” and the unique opportunities for cross-cultural interaction); and Michael Pollan (sustainable food advocate). https://www.udayton.edu/provost/speaker_series/index.php Divest/Invest Conference This conference engaged Pope Francis’ call to action in his compelling encyclical, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home. Conference panels addressed theological and ethical underpinnings of divest/invest initiatives, strategies for engaging senior institutional leadership, financial mechanics of fossil fuel divestment and investment, the student divestment movement, communication and media strategies, and ecumenical coalitions for institutional responses to climate change. https://www.udayton.edu/news/articles/2015/10/divest_invest_conference.php Human Rights Week 2016: Climate Change and Human Rights Human Rights Week is a weeklong series of events that students design to expose, educate, and create discussion opportunities for the UD community regarding human rights issues. This year’s speaker series: Patty Gillis, From the Garden of Eden to Pope Francis: Catholics and Ecology; Susan Kinne, Curing the Earth - Closing the Power Gap; Robert Brecha, Climate Change and Justice; Jacqui Patterson, Climate Change and Race: A Civil Rights Issue. Student-governed. https://www.udayton.edu/artssciences/academics/humanrights/oaa/human_rights_week.php Everything is Connected: Teaching Pope Francis' "Integral Ecology" Internationally recognized theologians, ethicists, economists and scientists discussed the vision of environmental interconnection in Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si and his call to action to the world during a Spring 2016 University of Dayton conference. The conference began with a free, public talk by Ottmar Edenhofer, chief economist of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. In addition to Pope Francis' encyclical, Edenhofer discussed the recent United Nations Conference on Climate Change and the future of climate policy. https://www.udayton.edu/news/articles/2016/02/laudato_si_encyclical_conference.php Rivers Summit The River Summit is a regional endeavor to link cities, farmland, communities, and individuals, to develop a regional strategy which leverages Dayton’s most unique asset, the Great Miami and Mad Rivers. Recognizing the need to bring communities together around the river and the watershed, the Rivers Institute at the University of Dayton and the Ohio's Great Corridor Association (OGCA) collaborate to help communities realize the untapped potential the River Corridors have for the region, both economically and socially. https://www.udayton.edu/artssciences/ctr/fitz/rivers_inst/summit/index.php

It’s Your Nature, Sustainability Artist-in-Residence How do you convince 11,368 students that sustainability is a personal as well as global issue? Turn to an artist with a reputation for thinking out-of-the-box, for working across disciplines, and for bringing people together. Michael Bashaw, well known in the Dayton community, is an award-winning musician, sound-sculptor, arts educator and environmental activist. He serves this year as an artist-at-large, collaborating with students and faculty on special projects. Bashaw starts by working with the Rivers Institute in August during their orientation for their new River Stewards. Work this academic year includes installations, theater, music, and classroom sessions. https://www.udayton.edu/artssciences/endowedchair/graul/rrw/event-series/bashaw-residency.php Sustenance In this choose-your-own-adventure performance installation experience, your team will have a mission — will you accept the challenge and survive? An interactive original play that will have the audience moving through the performance spaces and grappling with how to sustain ourselves and our planet. Sustenance features kinetic sound sculptures from University Artist-in-Residence Michael Bashaw. https://www.udayton.edu/artssciences/endowedchair/graul/rrw/events/0219-sustenance.php A Tenuous Balance The exhibition, A Tenuous Balance, curated by Emily Sullivan Smith, features the works of Michael Loderstedt, Taryn McMahon (image above), Lori Kella (image at right, "All is Quiet," 2012), Veronica Ceci and Mark Schatz. The collection of works examines the relationship between the natural world and human existence, directing the viewer toward the tension that lies in their collision. Each of these artists’ works is imbedded in a dialogue of social and environmental consciousness. The works play with notions of real and artificial seeking to engage the viewer in the dialogue. https://www.udayton.edu/artssciences/endowedchair/graul/rrw/events/0924-a-tenuous-balance.php Living Glass installation Celebrating the history of stained glass and the power of light, this exhibition demonstrates the power of place and memory to serve as touchstones for communal and personal identity. Showcasing artworks created by UD faculty and student artists that reflect the distinctive Marianist charisms of the University of Dayton, the artworks each use the reclaimed stained glass windows removed from the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception as source material. The stunning two and three-dimensional artworks displayed highlight the intersections of theology, sustainability, and art. https://www.udayton.edu/artssciences/endowedchair/graul/rrw/events/0225-living-glass.php

River Stewards Students in this leadership program follow Leave No Trace principles on their kayaking trips in the Great Miami River watershed. This group is not student-governed. Wilderness Retreat, Campus Ministry (Allison Leigh) Outdoor Adventure Club Epsilon Tau Pi / Eagle Scout Fraternity

SEE Integrated Learning Living Community The Sustainability, Energy & the Environment ILLC is for students of any major. Students are invited to think critically about the myriad approaches to sustainability, energy, and the environment by integrating material from several different disciplines throughout two semesters. Humanities Commons courses will share readings and attend events together, and students and faculty in all of the courses will interact and integrate activities. The first-year seminar features guest lecturers from across the University and also includes community leaders, giving students the opportunity to explore sustainability, energy, and environmental themes from different points of view and to contribute their own ideas through projects and student-initiated events. The SEE ILLC is part of UD’s Sustainability, Energy & the Environment Initiative. https://www.udayton.edu/llc/integrated_llcs/sustainability_llc.php

Rivers Stewards. The River Stewards learn the sustainable life skill of experiencing the interconnectedness of the water cycle, the watershed’s land-water connections, and sustainable water usage. This group is not student-governed. SEE Integrated Learning Living Community. The Sustainability, Energy & the Environment ILLC is for students of any major. Students are invited to think critically about the myriad approaches to sustainability, energy, and the environment by integrating material from several different disciplines throughout two semesters. Humanities Commons courses will share readings and attend events together, and students and faculty in all of the courses will interact and integrate activities. The first-year seminar features guest lecturers from across the University and also includes community leaders, giving students the opportunity to explore sustainability, energy, and environmental themes from different points of view and to contribute their own ideas through projects and student-initiated events. The SEE ILLC is part of UD’s Sustainability, Energy & the Environment Initiative. https://www.udayton.edu/llc/integrated_llcs/sustainability_llc.php

Fitz Center of Community Engagement The Fitz Center offers student internships. In 2016, Fitz offered a paid student intern position to develop and support the University of Dayton’s partnership with Mission of Mary Farm. The intern works with staff and volunteers at Mission of Mary Farm to develop and implement projects which help Mission of Mary Farm work toward its mission while incorporating the involvement of UD student volunteers. The intern will monitor the need for student volunteer placements at Mission of Mary Farm. The intern commits to necessary learning and training to become knowledgeable about Mission of Mary Farm – its mission, organization, and purpose - in order to serve as a resource to both the organization and the students serving at the site. The Fitz Center encourages student interns to contribute to the Fitz’s Center of Community Engagement by growing each partnership initiative using creative problem solving ideas for better partnership outcomes. Rivers Institute. The Rivers Institute employs graduate assistants, interns, and students in Summer Leadership positions. Students may engage in social media, communications, event planning, outreach and education, and maintaining the RiverMobile. School of Engineering: Graduate assistants, student assistants, internships with the following programs: Industrial Assessment Center; Ohio Lean Buildings; Building Assessment Center; Algae Lab; ETHOS (unpaid) https://udayton.edu/engineering/centers/industrial_assessment/index.php https://www.udayton.edu/engineering/centers/building_energy/index.php Hanley Sustainability Institute The Hanley Sustainability Institute offers graduate assistantships, post-doc opportunities, student assistantships, and internships, supporting students gaining experience promoting sustainability initiatives, green building design, food justice partnerships, and sustainability planning on campus.

The Graduation Pledge The Graduation Pledge is voluntarily signed by graduating students from University of Dayton. "In accordance with the University of Dayton's tradition to learn, lead, and serve I pledge to explore and take into account the social and environmental consequences of any job I consider and will try to improve these aspects of any organization for which I work." https://www.udayton.edu/ministry/csc/beyond_ud/grad_pledge.php

Campus Plunge: Center for Social Concern, Campus Ministry Plunges are day long immersion experiences raising awareness of a social justice issue and making learning a form of service. Plungers visit places where social injustices are seen clearly and talk to people affected by them. Although participants may see injustice that can lead to hopelessness and apathy, they also are shown opportunities to live out one’s Christian faith through service and advocacy. Current year plunges include: River Plunge (water sustainability); Urban Farming/Local Food Plunge; and the MLK Social Justice Plunge. https://www.udayton.edu/ministry/csc/plunges.php