Bucknell University
EN-3: Student Life

The Bucknell Students Government Sustainability Committee is a campus-wide elected body that works to educate the University and local community on environmental issues. The committee works as a team to create positive and sustainable changes in community culture. Bucknell Farm provides experience in local community development through small businesses, charitable organizations, and food security opportunities.

https://bsg.blogs.bucknell.edu/internal-committees/
https://www.bucknell.edu/life-bucknell/sustainability/bucknell-farm

At the Bucknell University Environmental Center, there is an organic garden consisting of 15 raised beds that contain seasonal vegetables, strawberries, and herbs. The garden also has an apple orchard and established grape vines. The garden is used as a laboratory for the course "Food and the Environment" and also serves as a communal garden for Bucknell staff who wish to grow their own food. The University is partnered with the Borough of Lewisburg in the continuation of the Lewisburg Community Garden, which has volunteer hours for students. The garden works to grow organic produce for local food access programs and to provide educational opportunities to the surrounding community about home gardening benefits and techniques. The University is in the process of constructing a farm on campus, which will be a public space for students, where they can learn about the most sustainable and effective farming techniques. Food from the farm will be used in our dining facilities on campus. Dreamcatcher Farms: a diverse 11-acre farm dedicated to deep organic and sustainable food production. In partnership with Geisinger Hospital, all of the crops are donated to a local food bank to promote community wellness programs. Wild Goose Farm: Partnership dedicated to teaching and learning about healthful and sustainable living practices.

https://www.bucknell.edu/life-bucknell/sustainability/bucknell-farm

The Bucknell University Green Fund provides start-up money for sustainability-focused projects that are proposed and implemented by students, staff, and faculty. Through the implementation of this revolving loan, we hope to continue to encourage Bucknellians to build a sustainable community. Additionally, Bucknell has a Student Managed Investment Fund (SMIF). This group manages a portion of the endowment currently valued at approximately $2M. This group has discussed divestment and has implemented ESGs.

https://www.bucknell.edu/life-bucknell/sustainability/green-fund

The University hosts an annual Sustainability Symposium, which includes faculty-led panels, keynote speakers, poster sessions featuring student work, creative displays, and student activities. Also annually host a Susquehanna River Symposium, which brings scientists and engineers together to discuss and host lectures on the challenges facing our watershed. We also recently hosted a renewable energy workshop.

The University has many creative events related to social and economic factors of sustainability. Since 2016, we have hosted the artist Fredman Barahona to give a talk and work with LGBTQ students to recreate a performance piece, Trans-Totem. We had a display by visual artist Ricardo Dominguez titled “Fearless Art in the Age of Fear: Electronic Disturbance Theater's Parrhesian Gestures”. There was a screening of African Italian documentary filmmaker Fred Kuwornu's film "Blaxploitalian". Filmmaker Nick Jones's film "Out of the Mouths of Slaves: Africanized Iberian Languages in Imperial Iberia" was screened. A concert titled "The Struggle to be Heard– Women Composers and the Symphony" was held, as well as "The Struggle to be Heard- Music of Social Justice".

https://www.bucknell.edu/life-bucknell/arts-performances

The first year common reading book always revolves around sustainability-related themes. Examples of books read by the previous 4 classes are: The Good Food Revolution, Loving Day, Just Mercy, and Antigonick. All revolve around ideas of inequality, while some include environmental issues and injustices. Upon arrival at campus, students discuss these books with their peers and faculty members.

https://www.bucknell.edu/life-bucknell/first-year-experience/first-year-common-reading

Bucknell offers first years the option to join residential colleges, where students choose a themed course that interests them, and live and learn with students who share this interest. Some of the resedential colleges incorporate sustainability themes, such as the Environmental College, which works to encourage students to consider the scientific, cultural, political, and ethical dimensions of environmental issues. The Food College partners students with local organic farms to engage them in these practices. The Global College examines human rights, sustainability, migration, and identity. The Social Justice college looks at marginalized groups and their challenges.

https://www.bucknell.edu/life-bucknell/first-year-experience/residential-colleges/social-justice-residential-college
https://www.bucknell.edu/life-bucknell/first-year-experience/residential-colleges/food-residential-college
https://www.bucknell.edu/life-bucknell/first-year-experience/residential-colleges/global-residential-college

Students can be hired as interns at the Office of Campus Sustainability, in Facilities (energy management), in the Office of Civic Engagement or Dining Services (sustainable food production), or by one of many offices promoting social sustainability/diversity. Students can also participate in paid research through the Bucknell Center for Sustainability and the Environment.

https://www.bucknell.edu/azdirectory/human-resources/student-employment

The Sustainable Design Program works to integrate sustainability throughout the school's curriculum and provide learning opportunities that are focused on the human connection to the natural world. The program also supports student research and analysis that contributes to increasing ecological, economic, and social sustainability practiced by the University. Additionally, the program provides direction and leadership to collaborative campus sustainability projects by creating linkages between curricular, administrative, and operational units across campus. The University has integrated research, teaching, and outreach focused on the Susquehanna River. The Place Studies Program provides opportunities to understand, represent, and engage natural and human communities by advancing understandings and applications of sustainability for rural communities, as well as exploring how to characterize and represent places in the digital age, and encouraging creative expressions and articulations of human-nature relationships.