Colby-Sawyer College is pleased to announce it has received a $3,000 Campuses for Environmental Stewardship sub-grant from a four-state Campus Compact Coalition. These funds, awarded to the Coalition by the Davis Education Foundation, are intended to train an interdisciplinary team of faculty at each participating campus to design and implement courses which include service-learning components focused on environmental stewardship.

Colby-Sawyer’s grant will bolster ongoing innovative projects by students and faculty in its Sustainable Learning Initiative (SLI). The SLI is an experiential learning opportunity for Colby-Sawyer students to explore, design, and develop sustainable solutions to real and evolving community needs in Franklin. In fall 2016, the college intends to introduce a new three-year B.S. in community-based sustainability, which is also tied to the sustainable revitalization efforts in Franklin.

This spring, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Harvey Pine of Andover will dedicate a portion of the grant to developing a service-learning component in ENV 333: Fundamentals of Biogeochemistry. “Students will need to create presentations and other materials that inform residents about how the program works, potential chemical threats, and remediation techniques in an informative manner utilizing easy-to-understand language,” he writes in the proposal to the grant committee.

Bill Spear, associate professor of Business Administration, incorporated service learning into his Sales and Strategic Marketing class last semester; his students worked on marketing for CATCH Neighborhood Housing Project. This spring, his Consumer Behavior and Market Research students will identify factors for success as CATCH remodels its RiverBend Mill into a 45-unit residential building.

Assistant Professor of Social Sciences and Education Kate Turcotte will work with PermaCityLife, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving Franklin’s downtown community, the economy and environment, to assess the “intersection of the personal, social, economic, and environmental well-being of residents in Franklin.” Her sociology students will visit Franklin and examine its facilities, parks, and other resources and contribute to the city’s understanding of a broad vision of sustainability that encompasses all aspects of life.

Jen White ‘90 of Andover, Director of Sustainability and Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, says the funds will support the college’s evolving Sustainable Learning Initiative, which provides students hands-on opportunities to learn professional skills while solving real-life challenges. At the end of the spring semester, students will present their results to community stakeholders in Franklin, and faculty will attend a regional best-practices conference in September to relate their experiences.