{"id":755,"date":"2016-09-16T13:34:16","date_gmt":"2016-09-16T13:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/?p=755"},"modified":"2016-09-16T13:34:16","modified_gmt":"2016-09-16T13:34:16","slug":"environmental-studies-at-owu-update-fall-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/?p=755","title":{"rendered":"Environmental Studies at OWU Update Fall 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_758\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-758\" style=\"width: 752px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/files\/2016\/08\/drone.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-758 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/files\/2016\/08\/drone-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"drone\" width=\"752\" height=\"502\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/sites\/93\/2016\/08\/drone-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/sites\/93\/2016\/08\/drone-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/sites\/93\/2016\/08\/drone-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/sites\/93\/2016\/08\/drone-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/sites\/93\/2016\/08\/drone-150x100.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-758\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">OWU Faculty member Nathan Amador (left) and Amy Work (OWU 2004, right) and various assistants hone in on a drone during an OWU Travel Learning trip to Costa Rica.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>An update on OWU&#8217;s\u00a0<strong>Environmental Studies Program<\/strong> as the fall 2016 semester starts.<\/p>\n<p>2015-2016 academic year developments are listed on an <a href=\"http:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/?p=675\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>earlier post<\/strong><\/a> on the OWU Environment &amp; Sustainability Blog.<\/p>\n<p>A few additional developments are worth noting:<\/p>\n<p>Of obvious importance is the proposal for transforming our nearly 40 year old Environmental Studies program into <strong>Environmental Sustainability,<\/strong> part of the campus-wide effort to expand enrollment. The proposal was compiled by a group of faculty, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.owu.edu\/academics\/departments-programs\/department-of-history\/faculty-staff\/ellen-f-arnold\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ellen Arnold<\/a>,<\/strong> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.owu.edu\/academics\/departments-programs\/department-of-zoology\/faculty-staff\/amy-l-downing\/\" target=\"_blank\">Amy Downing<\/a>,<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.owu.edu\/academics\/departments-programs\/department-of-health-and-human-kinetics\/faculty-staff\/christopher-l-fink\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Chris Fink,<\/strong><\/a> and <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/krygier.owu.edu\" target=\"_blank\">John Krygier<\/a>,<\/strong>\u00a0drawing from 5 years of efforts by ES faculty, staff and students, including content drawn from:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>2012 Environmental Studies Program Self Study<\/li>\n<li>2013 Environmental Studies External Program Review<\/li>\n<li>2014 Proposal &#8211; OWU Center for the Environment<\/li>\n<li>2014 Proposal &#8211; Sustainability Region<\/li>\n<li>2015 Program Case for Support<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Environmental Sustainability Major, if approved by faculty (the vote should happen at the Monday September 19, 4:30 pm faculty meeting), will have three tracks: Food, Climate, and Sustainability. All will involve a significant amount of applied work, theory-into-practice, and internships.<\/p>\n<p>Collaborative efforts with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.owu.edu\/academics\/departments-programs\/department-of-health-and-human-kinetics\/faculty-staff\/christopher-l-fink\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Chris Fink<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(HHK) over the past few years fleshed out the <strong>Food Track<\/strong> in the proposed new major. Much of this is embodied in the <a href=\"http:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/?p=728\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Food Minor,<\/strong><\/a> passed at the\u00a0last faculty meeting in the spring. We are formalizing connections with <a href=\"http:\/\/stratfordecologicalcenter.org\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Stratford Farm<\/strong><\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mtso.edu\/ecotheology\/seminary-hill-farm\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Seminary Hill Farm<\/strong><\/a> south of campus, where we placed a dozen or so interns last academic year.<\/p>\n<p>The addition of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0ahUKEwi-rIDYzuTOAhVmF2MKHRLeAMIQFggeMAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.glacierguynate.com%2F&amp;usg=AFQjCNH9CMY8o7o8-8QuHS5bZmQl_dRDzg\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Nathan Amador<\/strong><\/a> to the faculty was central in solidifying our <strong>Climate Track<\/strong> for the proposed major. Nathan and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.owu.edu\/academics\/departments-programs\/department-of-mathematics-and-computer-science\/faculty-staff\/craig-h-jackson\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Craig Jackson<\/strong><\/a> have led the effort on the Climate front.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, the <strong>Sustainability Track<\/strong> in the major is the result of the work of faculty, staff and students over the past decade. In particular, Sean Kinghorn (sustainability coordinator, 2012-14), B&amp;G\u2019s Peter Schantz, Chartwell\u2019s Gene Castelli, staff in Res Life and other folks who helped guide well over 100 student sustainability projects.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.owu.edu\/academics\/departments-programs\/department-of-botany-microbiology\/faculty-staff\/laurel-j-anderson\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Laurie Anderson\u2019s<\/strong><\/a> efforts have been central to all three tracks in the proposed program, and sustainability on campus in general.<\/p>\n<p>Recent past <a href=\"http:\/\/snc.owu.edu\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Sagan National Colloquiums<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0have also infused our proposal with ideas: <strong>Sustainability<\/strong> (2008-09), <strong>Food<\/strong> (2012-13), <strong>Climate<\/strong> (2013-14), <strong>Water<\/strong> (2014-15) and <strong>Waste<\/strong> (2015-16). All brought an array of scholars to campus, driving home the point that all these environmental and sustainability issues are of significant importance.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nathan Amador<\/strong> and student <strong>Todd D\u2019Andrea<\/strong> spent several weeks in southern Costa Rica this summer, collaborating with <strong>Amy Work<\/strong> (OWU \u201904) on what we hope will be a long-term component of the Environmental Sustainability program, looking at the local impacts of global environmental change. Nathan organized and led a travel learning course (Fall 2015) that had students working with Amy over the semester break (2015-16) and we plan to return with another travel learning course in the fall of 2017. More info on Amy\u2019s efforts are <a href=\"http:\/\/geoporter.net\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Thanks to all who have contributed to our efforts over the years: your work is now part of the Environmental Sustainability proposal.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/?page_id=119\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Sustainability Task Force<\/strong><\/a> (STF) initiated in 2008 has been instrumental in moving sustainability forward on campus. Contact <a href=\"mailto:nsamador@owu.edu\"><strong>Nathan Amador<\/strong><\/a> for the date and time of the next STF meeting (and let him know if you want to be added to the STF mailing list). It is open to all.<\/p>\n<p>Students in my Spring 2015 and Spring 2016 <strong>Sustainability Practicum<\/strong> not only managed a bevy of ongoing sustainability projects on campus, they also developed a <a href=\"http:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/files\/2014\/10\/SustainabilityPlanOWU.pdf\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>40 page overview<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(Spring 2015) of past and present sustainability that was reformed (Spring 2016) into a proposed <a href=\"http:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/?page_id=196\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>OWU Sustainability Plan<\/strong><\/a> in collaboration with the STF. We also consulted with OWU alumni who work in the field of sustainability.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Finally, last academic year, <strong>Jim Peoples,<\/strong> <strong>Nick Crane<\/strong> (now at the University of Wyoming) and I managed the <strong>Luce Foundation<\/strong> funded initiative on Sustainability in Asia and the West, with a focus on waste and discard studies. This effort, a collaboration between OWU&#8217;s\u00a0<strong>East Asian Studies<\/strong> and <strong>Environmental Studies Programs,<\/strong> moves forward with an implementation grant we are currently writing. Obviously this effort will sync nicely with the proposed Environmental Sustainability Program. It also corresponds nicely with the development of a <strong>Global Studies Center<\/strong> on campus, headed up by Jeremy Baskes, and part of the GLCA\u2019s <strong>Global Crossroads<\/strong> program.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Again, thanks for all the\u00a0efforts on what has been a great cross-disciplinary collaboration between faculty, students, staff and alumni over the past five years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An update on OWU&#8217;s Environmental Studies Program as the fall 2016 semester starts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,13,47,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-life","category-courses","category-internships","category-sustainability-task-force"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=755"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":786,"href":"https:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755\/revisions\/786"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}