Beloit College created the Sustainability Fellows Program in response to the call for colleges and universities to move in the direction of environmental, economic, and social sustainability. This program engages students in community-based, faculty-mentored experiential learning through the design, evaluation, and implementation of sustainability projects at sites on the Beloit College campus and in the Beloit community.
Results/Conclusions
During the summer of 2010, six Sustainability Fellows performed energy analyses of campus buildings with the Director of the Beloit College Physical Plant, assessed the establishment of a new native species planting in the campus’ urban core with a Biology professor, developed and delivered environmental education activities for children at the Welty Environmental Center, explored the possibilities for launching locally-produced foods as new commercial products with Bushel and Peck's Local Market, and engaged in restoration management at the Nygren Wetland Preserve. Two weekly series reinforced the interdisciplinary focus of this program: a discussion-based Sustainability Seminar for the Sustainability Fellows and a speaker series sponsored by the Liberal Arts in Practice Center for all summer interns living on campus. The Sustainability Seminar focused on concepts of sustainability and ways to improve local sustainability. The speaker series addressed the pedagogy of community-based learning by helping students connect academic texts to contexts, explored ethical and professional considerations and skills, and helped student learn to read a community. This program was unusual in its inclusion of faculty-mentored opportunities on and beyond a college campus and its intentional support for community-based learning. Funding for the program was obtained from campus sources, a grant to support environmental studies at Beloit College from the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, a THRIVE grant to Bushel and Peck's Local Market, and the Natural Land Institute, owner of the Nygren Wetland Preserve.