Elise Amel presented about sustainability to the GALE Advisory Board September 29, 2015.

1. Office of
Sustainability Initiatives
Faculty Director, Elise Amel
Program Manager, Maria Dahmus
http://www.stthomas.edu/gale/sustainability
/

2. OSI Mission
Our mission is to create
opportunities for experiential,
community-engaged learning
across undergraduate and graduate
programs through the Sustainable
Communities Partnership and to
facilitate the integration of
sustainability across the
curriculum.

3. Office of
Sustainability Initiatives
• Sustainable Communities Partnership
• 2 years of Strategic Initiatives funding
• Sustainability Across the Curriculum
• Designating sustainability courses on Murphy
• Potential Home for Future Initiatives

4. Sustainable Communities
Partnership
SCP partners with a city for a year
to advance their high-priority, self-
identified quality of life and
sustainability projects, linking
existing graduate and
undergraduate courses or program
requirements to these city-
identified projects

5. SCP Advisory Board
Charlotte Berres
St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity
Patricia Jensen
College of Leadership & Counseling
Avinash Malshe
Opus College of Business
Kundun Nepal
School of Engineering
Ande Nesmith
School of Social Work
Debra Petersen
College of Arts and Sciences

6. The Aspirational Model

7. 2015
ASHOKA
Innovation Awardee

8. Historical Precedent
ACTC Consortium

9. ENVR Capstone
Residential Impervious Cover Assessment
A research, analysis, and recommendation
project helping the St. Paul Department of Safety
and Inspections define “impervious surface” and
determine whether amendments to the City’s
maintenance code for residential lots are
required to eliminate conflicts and redundancies.
Students addressed possible need to set
minimum green space requirements for
residential lots citywide to combat water resource
degradation.

10. Urban Ecosystems
Community Garden Compost Survey
A research and survey helping Saint Paul’s
Recycling & Composting program assess
whether community gardens could manage
and sustain increased volumes of compost
and potentially become neighborhood
compost drop-off sites. Students paid special
attention to the needs of community
gardeners, the nutrient capacity of the
gardens’ physical space, and the level of
organic waste produced by households.

11. Psychology & Work
Volunteer Park Patrol Project
Research, analysis, & recommendations
for implementing a new ‘job’.
Students created an HR system for
developing and implementing a program to
recruit, manage, and retain volunteers in
the city’s parks

12. 2014
Sustainable St. Paul Award
Sustainable Partnership

13. Working Model

14. SCP Program Manager
Maria will provide collaborative support
throughout the semester including:
•Curriculum development consultation;
•Funds for course materials necessary for
project completion;
•Obtaining available data from the city for
projects;
•Logistical support (e.g., students’ visits to
cities, managing deliverables);
•Problem solving or trouble shooting
project needs.

15. SCP: Benefits
For Students:
• Uses the best practices of Service
Learning
• Collaboration with Community to
address their needs
• Academic Reflection
For Communities:
• Addresses underlying systems
For Faculty:
• Enriches teaching experience

16. For Program:
• Dedicated Funding for Program Manager
• Engaged City Liaison
For Students
• Managing workload perceptions
For Communities:
• Needs v. Ideas
• Timing of Academic Semesters
For Faculty:
• Timely matching of courses & projects
• Preparing the Deliverables
SCP: Challenges

17. SCP: Next Steps
• Pilot Partner(s)
• Build Faculty Database
• Future Funding

18. Questions?