Bryant University
EN-3: Student Life

Enactus is an international non-profit organization of students, faculty and corporate leaders that focus on creating entrepreneurial sustainable solutions for community issues. Using business concepts, our group uses business solutions to develop community outreach projects to shape a better, more sustainable world. Bryant University's chapter of Enactus focuses our community projects to assist our local community of Rhode Island with social, economic and environmental issues. One of Enactus' projects is called 'Green Team' which focuses on green initiatives on campus and off campus Another student group on campus is the Student Sustainability Ambassadors. The mission of the Student Sustainability Ambassadors Program is to serve as a support and training program for students who have leadership characteristics and have a passion for creating positive change in the community through hands on experience. Ambassadors serve as the primary student educators and coordinators for campus and community related sustainability initiatives ranging from energy and water conservation and waste diversion to sustainability in the supply chain and food and dining. Ambassadors can take on various levels of involvement from project development and management, communications, marketing, research, and more! This year the Ambassadors conducted a Game Day Recycling Challenge, and in depth recycling audits of the residence halls on campus to enhance the recycling infrastructure and educate students on recycling.

Many of the programs in the Science & Technology Department’s Speaker Series (now running for about four years) have a theme related to sustainability issues. Some examples of these programs would include visits from the Wolf Preservation Center, South Salem, NY, a presentation on Owls in Rhode Island by the Audubon Society of Rhode Island, a presentation from a representative from Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management on environmental careers in the government sector, speakers from China representing new technology used for environmental studies, and a presentation on anthropological studies in Africa, and a discussion of coral reef degradation and research studies. Special Earth Day presentations have occurred, along with special sessions at the University REDay (Research Day) each Spring. See the follow website for information about REDay 2016: http://www.bryant.edu/academics/curricular-philosophy/research-and-engagement-day.htm During REDay, some students gave sustainability-related presentations. Please see the link below: http://intranet.bryant.edu/resources/reday/files/reday-2014-program.pdf

The Student Sustainability Ambassadors created a water bottle statue to demonstrate how the amount of plastic bottles used at Bryant University. This statue was prominently displayed in the student center.

The Department of Science and Technology, sometimes working in conjunction with the U.S./China Institute sponsors an annual outdoor field study. In the past, these programs were supported by NASA grants, which have enabled students to visit and study environmentally significant locations in the United States. Recent trips have included field visits to the Redwood forests on the California coast, fossil sites in Idaho, coastal areas of Louisiana, and a Florida Evergreen forest. In these settings, students are able to observe the ecological dynamics and the need for protective programs for these unique sites. Sound environmental practices are incorporated into the trips. The Coastal Environments class requires two field trips each Fall semester, a study visit to a salt marsh, harbor, barrier beach, and rock pool site, along with a boat excursion sponsored by Save the Bay, a Rhode Island environmental NGO, to observe the unique composite of a commercial harbor and protected lands along the upper Narragansett Bay. In addition, the Bryant Outdoor Adventure Club promotes involvement in outdoor activities including kayaking, hiking, apple picking, scuba diving and caving.

The IDEA program for Freshmen that occurs in the January Break, just before the start of Spring Semester classes, has often included team activities that have strong sustainability themes, as demonstrated by the 2014 program http://www.bryant.edu/news/news-articles/2014/01/27/idea-take-risks-fail-try-again/

Some Honors Capstone experiences have focused on exploration of sustainability goals. In the Science & Technology Department two recent examples featured studies of coastal resilience in Rhode Island, and on Sustainable Food Management on the Bryant campus. The Corporate Social Responsibility in Global Supply Chain Management course focuses on the strategic impact of corporate social responsibility on the global supply chain. The goals of this course are to provide students with an in-depth knowledge of the various types of supply chain events that are connected to corporate social responsibility and the strategic best practices to mitigate these events.

Each year some students who are majors or minors in the Department of Science & Technology work with professors to conduct research on a variety of topics related to pollution monitoring and abatement, climate change studies, coastal ecology, and studies of the Blackstone River. Additionally, there are summer research programs funded by NSF (EPSCoR), NIH (INBRE) and NASA, wherein, students receive fellowships for their studies (SURF – Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships). The laboratories of the following professors are involved in these and other studies: Professors Blais, Crowley-Parmentier, Langlois, Leng, McNally, Reid, and Yang. These projects often result in presentations at regional, national, and international conferences, and subsequently lead to jointly-authored publications in the scientific literature. When the grants provide stipends, the students are “employed”, whereas, when the research is structured as a course, the students receive academic credit.

The Sustainability Marketing course explores marketing sustainability from an international perspective. The course is built around assessing sustainable practices of international companies with a focus on the supply chain and how these practices compare to those in the United States. The course emphasizes communication, consumer sentiment and regulation regarding sustainability. There is a travel component for this course to provide students with a true global and experiential learning experience. Students are abroad anywhere from 8-10 days. We visit sustainable coffee, chocolate, vanilla bean, and banana farms, and stay at varying levels of sustainable hotels. We learn about the LEAVES certification which can be somewhat compared to LEED for buildings. We get behind the scene tours of all facilities and work on some of the farms. Once students return, they work on providing best practices to Bryant and its community from Costa Rica on some aspect of sustainability, like energy or waste. Students are asked to keep journals, give presentations, and keep a consistent social media presence in an effort to inform and educate their community. Here is a link to one of the blogs from the course: http://sustmkt385.blogspot.com/