This clearinghouse of sustainable activities at UW-Stout strives to be THE place to find out what's being done on campus.
For administrative activities go to the Sustainability Clearinghouse for Administration.
Please help us rally together the sustainability effort on campus by submitting your student, faculty or staff project to the clearinghouse coordinator at clarkra@uwstout.edu.
Student Projects/Reports/Challenges
Green Community-Freshmen Learning Community
Begining Fall 2008
Part of the First Year Experience, this learning community will link 25-30 students with a common interest in sustainability and protecting the environment. The students will be co-enrolled in Freshmen English Composition and a general education natural science course, Science, Society & Environment. This groups of students will participate in events that complement classroom activities and will be assigned to a specific floor in Antrim-Froggatt Hall when possible.
Contact: Denise Goers, Learning Community Coordinator, goersd@uwstout.edu
Residence Halls stage Energy Wars: Don’t Blow the Bulb!
During the month of In March 2008, 10 UW-Stout residence halls will hold a competition to decrease the number of kilowatts used per hall. Begining totals will be based on last years March totals.
Bulletin boards in each hall will have lightbulbs with the total from March 2007. Student from IRHA will update the number of kilowatts used on a weekly basis. The hall that decreases their number by the most kilowatts wins a pizza party for the hall.
Contact Amy McGovern at mcgoverna@uwstout.edu.
Jarron Freight presents solar energy idea at state Capitol (March 12, 2008)
From the Eau Claire Leader Telegram: "Student's solar vision: Stout sophmore pitches technology idea at Capitol...A UW-Stout sophomore is researching solar panel technology in an attempt to capture more energy. That could mean lower energy bills for consumers. Jarrod Feight, an applied science major from Eau Claire, was one of two UW System students chosen to speak during the annual Posters in the Rotunda event Wednesday at the state Capitol in Madison." Read the entire Eau Claire Leader Telegram story...
Graphics art students address pollution in India
Dec. 12, 2008, press release
Students studying graphic design at the University of Wisconsin-Stout are producing work for an international client: Vimlendu Jha, founder and executive director of Swechha-We for Change Foundation, based in New Delhi, India.
Jha is one of six individuals from around the world selected by CNN to participate in its “Be the Change” project. According to CNN’s Web site, each of the six individuals was selected because they affect change in the world by helping others.
Ambica Prakash, UW-Stout assistant professor of graphic design, is collaborating with Jha to give her students an international service-learning opportunity.
“I incorporate a service-learning opportunity each semester for my students in Graphic Design One,” Prakash said. “This is the first time that it’s an international assignment.”
Prakash spent last summer in India meeting with nonprofit agencies in need of graphic design work. Jha contacted her this fall, needing help with his agency’s Web site (www.swfc.org.in). Swechha, Jha’s organization, tackles India’s environmental problems.
“The larger call is to get young people to participate in the community, and not just be fence sitters,” Jha wrote on his Web site.
Prakash and Jha decided that UW-Stout’s students would design awareness posters targeting India’s youth for the Resources section of Swechha’s Web site, which focuses on the seven resources of waste, renewable energy, trees, energy, water, wildlife and global warming.
“This project has challenged students,” Prakash said. “Students are designing for an international audience and for an unfamiliar culture. They must think along the lines of cultural aesthetics to produce a design that isn’t offensive and hits home.”
During class critiques, Prakash and the students discuss “how Indian does it have to be” and “how Western can it be” for a target audience in India that is young, middle class and English speaking.
Prakash shared with her students contemporary advertising common in India, but each student conducted research surrounding the resource they were assigned. They researched their topics in the context of Indian culture and the global community.
“They learned how to build on a concept,” Prakash said, “how to avoid stereotypes and clichés, and to bring new, fresh perspectives to the topic of India’s resources. They are learning cultural awareness--world awareness--through design. Students are using subtle cultural influences in their work through the use of color, typography and style of illustration.”
Prakash shared the students’ works in progress http://art.uwstout.edu/~prakasha/) with Jha, who has provided his own feedback via e-mail.
Related articles:
ENVIRONMENT: Design for Social Change - a Wisconsin-India connection, a post on www.sajaforum.com, on March 04, 2008:
UW-Stout interior design students tour Duluth’s Eco-Home at Hawk Ridge
More than 30 students from the University of Wisconsin-Stout visited Duluth, Thursday, Feb. 6, to conduct research before designing the interior of an ecologically sensitive house.
The students received a two-hour guided tour of Eco-Home at Hawk Ridge, 2809 Snowy Owl Circle, by the project’s builder and architect. Michelle LeBeau of Women in Construction and Rachel Wagner of Wagner Zaun Architecture guided the students through the tour..
The UW-Stout students are studying interior design and have been challenged to design the interior of an eco-home that will be built this summer in northern Wisconsin.
“The students toured Duluth’s Eco-Home to experience a meaningful precedent,” said Kris Recker, senior lecturer of interior design.
Eco-Home at Hawk Ridge is a solar model home that demonstrates energy efficiency, renewable energy and green building techniques. The home is used for demonstration and educational purposes and serves as an example of how to build low-energy, high-performance homes with attention to conservation and the health of people and the environment.
As the students toured the home, they noted its features for their own project. The students will work on the interior designs for their client during the rest of the semester.
For more information, contact Recker at reckerk@uwstout.edu or (715) 232-2557.
Originally printed in the Stoutonia Online at http://www.stoutonia.com/.
Related article:
Feb. 2, 2008, Northland's NewsCenter
"Eco-Friendly Living: If you are looking to build or remodel your home, let the Eco-Home at Hawk Ridge lead by example. Meteorologist Shannon Murphy tells us how this house became a classroom for dozens of students from the University of Wisconsin Stout in 'Your Green Life.'" Read the whole article and watch the video...
Student Project: Recycling Education
Student Project:"Recycling Education: the Knowledge, the Resources, the Answer. A Program Focused on What and How to Recycle for the Improvement of On Campus Waste Management," Jessica Van Der Werff. This project will help determine if an educational recycling workshop will change recycling behavior among college freshmen. Students received a 25 minute presentation describing major environmental issues, do's and don'ts of recycling, where to recycle on campus, and importance of recycling. Data about the volume of recyclable plastic, glass, tin, aluminum and paper is being collected this semester (Fall 2007). A written report will be submitted to the Stout research journal at the end of next semester (Spring 2008).
Architectural Design student presentation to Price Commons administrators
As part of a 2007 Fall class project, students from AEC-233 presented ideas for sustainable renovation on the second floor of the Merle Price Commons. Students: Amber Beal, Dana Wells, Carin Jaeger, Tina Greene. Professor: Mitchell Spencer.
Merle M. Price Commons Rennovation PowerPoint Presentation
Class Project: 2007 Ecoimagination Challenge
Contact Noah Norton, Associate Professor, UW-Stout, for more information.
Student paper: Sustainable Development Movement
Paper: "Sustainable Development Movement: Current Efforts in Higher Education," Andrew J. Barrette. Click here for PDF of report. (Summer 2007)
Faculty Reports/Projects
Peak Oil
(also listed in the administration clearinghouse)
A group of faculty concerned with the concept of peak oil included John Wesolek,
Jim Erdman,
Krista James,
Bill Wikrent,
Barb Flom,
Jim Hubbard,
Shirley Klebesadel, Drew Barrette and Robert Salt. The group and it's members have given the following presentations:
- November 2006 PowerPoint presentation to the Chancellor's Advisory Committee
- January 2008 PowerPoint presentation to the Menomonie Rotary Association
Abstract Submission for the National Convention of Industrial Designers Society of America
Noah Norton and Jennifer Astwood, instructors in the Art & Design department, have submitted an abstract to the IDSA's national convention, due to be held in September 2008. The paper's working title is "Influencing Eco-friendly behavior through product design." For more information, contact Noah Nortan at nortann@uwstout.edu.
Other Events
America Recycles Day
(also listed in the administration clearinghouse)
On November 12, 2007, facult, staff, students, local government and community groups collaborated to host the first Recyclable Art Competition in honor of America Recycles Day.
The national recognized America Recycles day is dedicated to encouraging Americans to recycle and buy recycled products. Co-sponsors included Blue Devil Productions, GreenSense, Sustainable Dunn, and Dunn County Solid Waste.
View the winners and photo gallery from the 2007 Reyclable Art Competition.
Read the November 12, 2007 article in the Dunn County News.
RecylceMania (also listed in the administration clearinghouse):
Academic Custodial, faculty and students collaborated on the 2007 RecycleMania competition. This press release followed UW-Stout's participation in the 2006 RecycleMania competition:
University rank first in RecycleMania
The first-time participation in a national recycling championship among college campuses earns Stout a green thumbs-up in Wisconsin.
In comparison to other Wisconsin campuses, Stout ranked first in the categories of Per Capita Classic (No. 88 in the nation), Paper (No. 41 in the nation), Corrugated Cardboard (No. 71 in the nation), and Bottles and Cans (No. 54 in the nation). The other Wisconsin campuses included UW-River Falls, UW-Eau Claire, UW-Marinette, and the College of the Menomonee Nation.
Nationally, Cal State San Marcos was crowned the RecycleMania "Grand Champion."
More than 41 million pounds of recyclables and organics were recovered across all participating campuses. The amount recovered during the competition prevented the release of 15,583 metric tons of carbon equivalent. In real-world terms, this reduction in greenhouse gases is equivalent to eliminating the impact caused in a year by 12,367 passenger cars; electric generation to power 7,335 households; or the consumption of 6,507,707 gallons of gas.
RecycleMania, which ran from January 27 to April 17, is supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's WasteWise program and the National Recycling Coalition; it is coordinated as a project of NRC's College and University Recycling Council. Over the 10-week period, more than 200 college campuses competed to see which institution could collect the largest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest amoung of total recyclables and the least amount of trash per capita; and garner the highest recycling rate.
Winning schools earned "bragging rights" and special awards made out of recycled materials.
January 31, 2007 article in Dunn County News.
UW-Stout is now enrolled in the 2008 RecycleMania competition. Two student coordinators will be working with Science, Society and the Environment (BIO 111) students to organize educational and promotional activities throughout the Stout campus during the ten week RecycleMania competition.
A residence hall kick off event will take place on Monday, January 28th at Red Cedar Hall from 7-9PM. Students on the different floors will compete to see which floors can find the most recyclables.
For more information about RecycleMania, please contact the Stout RecycleMania Student Coordinators: Mandy Mulder (muldera@uwstout.edu), Heidi Behnke (behnkeh@uwstout.edu).
Courses/Programs
New Course proposal: SUST-730-Sustainable Futures
This course would cover concepts of sustainable design and development; Explore methods/tools for assessing sustainable products and processes from economic, environmental, and societal perspectives; Policy and regulatory impact and cost benefit analyses; Industrial applications exploration through case study analyses. Contact Danny Bee at BeeD@uwstout.edu.
New Course: Environmental and Natural Resources course
(Econ 350), Rula Qalyoubi Kemp, Ph.D. First offering in spring 2008
Principles underlying use of natural resources including demand and supply; efficiency; cost effectiveness and benefit-cost analysis; sustainability; optimal pricing; and management of renewable and non-renewable resources. Principles are applied to the examination of pollution control, preservation vs. development, recycling, and other environmental and natural resources issues and policies.
Prerequisite:ECON-201 or ECON-210
New Minor: Sustainability Design & Development
Feb. 18, 2008, press release
The University of Wisconsin-Stout will offer a new minor in sustainable design and development, beginning fall 2008. The new minor will be offered through the department of engineering and technology.
The new minor is an interdisciplinary approach that integrates the natural and social sciences with technical course work in a variety of disciplines associated with environmental issues. Skills and knowledge learned through the minor will appeal to students in programs such as manufacturing engineering, electrical and computer engineering, plastics engineering, engineering technology, construction, graphics communication management, applied science, art-industrial design and packaging.
Interest in sustainability, or the meeting of current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, is growing in industry as manufacturers consider multiple uses of products throughout the products’ life cycles. This trend is driven primarily by European Union directives, and other industrialized countries are expected to soon follow the lead of the EU. As a result, manufacturers and other corporate enterprises are now beginning to make decisions based on a “triple bottom line,” which considers people, profit and planet — not just profit.
“Given the increasing importance of sustainability, it is incumbent on academia to educate future engineers and other decision makers on sustainability topics,” Danny Bee, the new minor coordinator and the program director for the Master of Science in manufacturing engineering, said. “With UW-Stout’s unique mission and relationship with the industrial sector, it is important to provide education in sustainability to all Stout graduates. Students in this minor will add a serious credential that companies and communities will value as they strive to achieve a triple bottom line approach to business and community sustenance.”
For more information on the new minor, contact Bee at beed@uwstout.edu or (715) 232-5247.
Environmental Studies Minor
UW-Stout continues to offer an Environmental Studies Minor. View the minor's webpage at http://www.uwstout.edu/programs/minors/es/ or Contact Chuck Bomar at bomarc@uwstout.edu.
Biology 111 Science, Society and the Environment (4 cr.)
NSCI LFSC LAB GLP Fall, Spring and Summer
Relationship of humans to the natural environment. Ecological principles in relation to contemporary problems such as resource utilization, species extinction, human population dynamics, waste, and pollution generation and control.
In 2008, as a service learing project, Bio 111 students helped to coordinate UW-Stout's participation in the national Recyclmenia competition.
LIT-275 Environmental Literature (3 cr.)
HUM/LIT ESB
Literary and critical analysis of environmentalist discourses. Exploration of literary works that treat land use and co-existence among life forms.
Prerequisites: take ENGL-102 ENGL-112 or ENGL-113.
FCSE-380 Consumer Economics (3 cr.)
Spring
Personal and family consumer economics for family and consumer education programs; management of human and non-human resources in achieving personal, family and community goals.
Prerequisites: take ECON-201 or ECON-210.
FCSE-385 Family Housing (3 cr.)
Fall
Individual/family's housing needs and resources as a basis for family and consumer education programs. The impact of historical, environmental, social, cultural, and technological, aesthetic, and design influences.