Discover how a liberal arts education stirs students to seek solutions for challenges impacting our planet and encounter our community in new ways in the March edition of the Ursinus Magazine.
The Environmental Studies Department kicked off Homecoming Weekend with an alumni event at the campus farm. So fun to catch up with some of our students and hear about life after Ursinus.
Another fun Harvest Fest
Written by: Lauren Davis, Program Associate in the Office of Sustainability
Every fall, The Ursinus Office of Sustainability gathers as a community on the Campus Farm to thank our farm fellows’ dedication and hard work from the previous summer with the Harvest Fest. On Saturday, October 21st, around 50 people came together in celebration of the festival! Thanks to our farm fellows, Elwood Harney and Teague McCormack, our community was able to share and honor the products of their hard work over the summer. Harvest Fest is something that everyone can look forward to each year because it allows us to look back on how we care for the environment on campus. This event is a great way for our farm fellows to relish the rewards that their summer-long devotion to care has brought to the Campus Farm. We celebrated this with pumpkin carving, plant pot painting, delicious snacks, and cool tunes. The Campus Farm allows us as students and staff to practice one of Ursinus’s core questions: “How should we live together?”. Harvest Fest is a symbolic way to conclude the crop season on the farm, giving thanks to anyone that lent a helping hand.
Dr. Berry is ensuring students not only learn about theory, but also experience the places and meet the people who put these ideas into practice. - P. Hurley
Ursinus College continues to join a national (and international) effort to assist migrating birds on their journey this Fall.
Did you know that every year, billions of birds migrate south in the fall? The majority of them fly at night and when they pass by heavily populated areas they can become disoriented and lose their way.
In 2022, Ursinus College became the first liberal arts institution in the world to sign the international Okanagan Charter, signifying a holistic commitment to the well-being of people, places, and planet. Partnerships such as the one that has developed between the environmental studies department and the Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy is just one example of this commitment in action. (Pictured: Jessie Kemper ’12 and Beth Myers ’17 with Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy Executive Director Ryan Beltz)
President Robyn Hannigan joined Pennsylvania State Rep. Joe Webster to discuss riparian buffer legislation, which builds upon efforts to manage stormwater throughout Pennsylvania.
The Ursinus College Office of Sustainability is now accepting student applications for 2023-2024 Sustainability Fellows. Fellowships will start in the fall 2023 semester and end at the conclusion of the spring 2024 semester. The Office of Sustainability will accept applications until 11:59 pm on May 4th. To view open Fellowship positions, click here. To apply, click here.
Staff members Dee Singley, Kate Keppen, and Joanna Timmerman represented Ursinus at the University of Pennsylvania on March 10th, delivering two presentations on the innovative work happening on campus.
Over the course of the Spring 2023 semester, Dr. Brie Berry’s Circular Economies class has been thinking, reading, and talking about circular economies. These economic systems are meant to eliminate the concept of waste by reducing materials throughput, fostering reuse, and promoting recycling and recovery over disposal.
Global sustainability issuesaren’tjust a problem for environmental scientists to solve.Students from Ursinusare learning that—just like anything else—they are best viewed through a multidisciplinary lens...one perfectly suited for a liberal arts education.
Ursinus College is the first liberal arts institution in the world to sign the international Okanagan Charter, signifying a holistic commitment to the well-being of people, places, and planet. Two stories in this issue examine how a liberal arts education contributes to a sustainable future.
Biology major, Studio Art minor, Science and the Common Good minor
Sustainable action is a means to creating more imaginative, resourceful connections with the Earth. That’s why Kayla Cayemitte ’23 takes pride in being a Sustainability Fellow.
Ursinus College leadership provided key remarks on stormwater management and its impact on infrastructure before the Pennsylvania House Democratic Policy Committee.
We are excited to let you know that the Ursinus BikeShare program is open for the 2022-2023 year! This program allows you to sign up and utilize bikes as you need them. To sign up for the program, please visit the BikeShare webpage. Feel free to read the below infographic to learn about how the program works. Bikes are housed on the right-side of the Wismer Center and need to be returned at the end of the day (sunset). Please feel free to email ucbikeshare@ursinus.edu with questions!
Can college students live a sustainable life while living on a college campus? Yes you can! Take this short survey to answer questions about your everyday practices and learn how to be more eco-friendly while at college! Your score will reflect the sustainable activities in your life and you will be assigned a bear (yes, a bear) on a Green Living Certificate!
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has awarded Ursinus College a 2021 Environmental Education Grant that will enhance outreach and participation in sustainability programs for first-year students.
The Philadelphia region—including Collegeville, Pa.—is along the Atlantic Flyway, a path over which birds migrate hundreds or thousands of miles. Ursinus College will be joining a national effort to assist them on their journey this spring.
Ursinus College has been selected as one of the nation’s 393 most environmentally responsible schools included in The Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges: 2021 Edition.
Thecourse ENV 299“Food Access in Literature”served up virtual “food for thought” on Wednesday, April 29, 2020in the event entitled“Hungering for Change: A Live Q&A on Food Access.”Originally intended to be an Oxfam Hunger Banquet,this event was reworkedinto a virtual forumbyDr.Sylvia Grove(Modern Languages), Katie Turek (UCARE), and KateKeppen(Office of Sustainability)whenCOVID-19madehaving the eventin-personnot possible. A recording of the event can be accessed in the Ursinus Digital Commons.
While Ursinus is developing a sustainable food forest at the WERS farm, Sarah Becker ’20 is spending the summer on an educational component for the public.
An event that is marked around the world, Earth Day has been observed on April 22nd since 1970. Ursinus Office of Sustainability held events for the week leading up to Earth Day for the Ursinus community.
Jess Greenburg ’21 took her research on the road to mountainous and snowy Wyoming over two weeks in March, when she visited two of the country’s great national parks, Grand Teton and Yellowstone, and co-led a workshop for ecosystem educators.
Can college students live a sustainable life while living on a college campus? Yes you can! Take this short survey to answer questions about your everyday practices.
With this spring’s revival of the Office of Sustainability comes the revival of the Sustainable Hidden Menu! You can once again expect weekly blog posts to help you make creative, healthy, and sustainable food choices on Ursinus’ campus. This week, Vanessa Scalora outlines how to create your own Mediterranean Quinoa Salad and the importance of protein in our diets.
Ursinus is a national winner in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Food Recovery Challenge. The student group Wismer on Wheels is part of the successful program.
Does planting a tree forge a connection with the forest? Environmental Studies capstone seminar students seem to think so. As stewards of Hunsberger Woods, they led a cadre of volunteers in planting 130 trees this past weekend.
Sustainability Week, which is in full swing on campus, will conclude with a fall festival at the Ursinus Organic Farm, which was recently ranked No. 12 on a list of the Top 30 sustainable college-run farms.
As the region looks toward Pope Francis’s visit, Ursinus students saw a teachable moment. A diverse group of students held an interfaith dialogue on the environment.
Every second 412,227 K-Cups (or K-Cup style coffee pods) are thrown away. Learn more about why the inventor of the K-Cup, John Sylvan, doesn’t even own one of these machines!
Ursinus College was honored with 2014 Tree Campus USA® status for 2014. This is our first year applying and being recognized for our care of trees. Tree Campus USA honors colleges and universities and their leaders for promoting healthy trees and engaging students and staff in the spirit of conservation.
The Ursinus College Sustainability Committee and the Sustainability Fellows have posted signs on the paper towel dispensers in most campus bathrooms this spring that encourage users to limit the amount of paper towel that they use each time they wash their hands.
Office of Sustainability filed the first progress report on our Climate and Sustainability Action Plan (CSAP) with the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment.
Dr. Rebecca Roberts, associate professor of biology and co-coordinator of the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BCMB) Program came to Ursinus College in 2001. Roberts became interested in the field of BCMB field while at Clark University getting her undergraduate degree.
Collegeville Borough completed its sustainability plan with help from the Montgomery County Planning Commission. Steering committee members included faculty and staff from Ursinus.
Axel Gonzalez ’16 is an American Studies major concentrating in history. When he’s not in the classroom, he works as the Organic Farm Director at Ursinus. On these very cold Collegeville nights, he suggests keeping body and soul nourished by cooking with as many organic ingredients you can find.
Sustainability Fellows gathered recently at the home of Shannon Spencer, Campus Sustainability Planner, to harvest honey produced by the bees at the campus organic farm. Brandon Hoover, Sustainability Program Coordinator, led the way, demonstrating the proper technique.
Ursinus College is in the process of transitioning to blue recycling bins on campus. The process has started, and will continue in the coming years as we replace bins.
Richard L. Wallace, an Ursinus College Environmental Studies professor whose blend of academic and applied learning teaches students to be lifelong problem solvers, is the Pennsylvania Professor of the Year.
Connor Murphy has worked hard to engage students with the BikeShare program. There are more than 120 members in the Ursinus BikeShare program, with 50 people signing up in the first month of school.
Ursinus College is among 332 of the most environmentally responsible colleges in the U.S. and Canada, according to The Princeton Review, which has released its fifth annual edition of The Princeton Review’s Guide to 332 Green Colleges.