Connecticut College
PRE-2: Points of Distinction

Professor Chad Jones and alumnus Rocky Ackroyd '83 have collaborated with students through independent study and formal coursework to design two solar arrays for our campus. One of these arrays was installed on our Service Building and came online in August 2021. Students led all aspects of this project from the design of the solar array, to working with the city Building Department on permits, to actually installing the solar panels on the roof. This experience provided the students with practical skills in solar energy and three students worked for the partnering solar company after graduation. Rocky Ackroyd, the owner of a solar company, mentored the students during the course and continued to work on implementing the project after the course ended. He provided the panels and other supplies to the College at cost and donated his labor and expertise to the project. This allowed us to fully fund the project through our Sustainability Revolving Fund and the sale of the ZRECs. The solar array was installed on April 30 and May 1, 2021 by a combination of students, alumni, faculty and staff. The project provides approximately 2/3 of the electricity needed for the Service Building, has an online portal for tracking output, and has a financial payback of 10 years. The success of the first project inspired the addition of two new 2-credit courses to the Environmental Studies Program. One course, ES 397: Environmental Project: Planning, could be used for a variety of ideas, but was first used to design the second solar array. The second array designed by a student course will be a ground-mount array installed near our Athletic Center in late Spring 2024. A second course, ES 398: Environmental Project: Implementation, is currently being used to allow students to get credit during the project completion phase. A link to a news story about the first solar installation is included below.

We also engage alumni working in the field of sustainability through our SUS293: Applied Sustainability seminar. In this course, students work in groups of three or four, each with one of multiple alumni mentors, to research, develop and then pitch project ideas for the Office of Sustainability to take on in the upcoming academic year. Working with the Hale Center for Career Development we identified several alumni working in diverse areas of sustainability - for example higher education, architecture, technology, finance and local government - to work with our groups. The course is being offered for the fourth time in its current form in spring 2024. Some of the projects that have come out of the course include writing and filming a sustainability orientation video, a free campus reuse store now called The Dressing Room, energy use competitions for the residence halls and a reusable takeout container program, CONNtainers, for Campus Dining.

Energy Builders: https://sites.google.com/conncoll.edu/energybuilders/home?pli=1
The Dressing Room: https://www.conncoll.edu/sustainability/the-dressing-room/

Over the past year the Office of Sustainability has worked with the Faculty and Registrar's office to develop two sustainability course designations - Sustainability Focused Course (SFC) and Sustainability Inclusive Course (SIC). The Faculty approved the two new course designations in May 2023 and, starting in summer 2023, students were able to begin searching for courses in the course catalog and dynamic class schedule using these new designations. A weblink describing how these designations appear during course searches is included below.

One of the key features of sustainability at Connecticut College is our focus on student-driven projects. Sustainability Fellows in the Office of Sustainability work in teams to brainstorm, develop and implement projects on campus. These projects often involve working closely with other departments like Dining Services, Procurement Services and Facilities, giving students real-world experience in navigating the campus bureaucracy and collaborating with staff and faculty. Some of the projects fully developed and piloted or implemented by our student teams in the past three years include: a reusable takeout program in collaboration with Dining, energy use competitions for the residence halls in collaboration with Facilities, and an aluminum can collection program during our spring music festival.

One way that these student projects are possible is through the Sustainable Projects Fund (SPF). A $25 charge for the SPF has been included in our comprehensive fee since 2004. The SPF is managed by the Student Government Association (SGA) and any student is able to request funding for a sustainability project. Students requesting funds work with the Chair of Sustainability to develop their idea, talk with stakeholders, and submit a project proposal. They then present their idea and answer questions at an SGA meeting. At the following meeting, a formal resolution requesting that SGA allocate funds to the project is voted on by the SGA members. After receiving funding, students work with the Office of Sustainability to implement their idea. Projects that were funded in the 2022-2023 academic year include: a program to support free chest binders and packers for students seeking gender-affirming clothing through The Dressing Room, a new toolkit for the bike share program Spokespeople, new electric tools for Sprout Garden and books and craft supplies for Camel Sprouts, our program at the Child Development Lab School. The projects funded by the SPF are all generated by, proposed by and approved by students. The $25 fee for the SPF is renewed every three years through a student referendum, giving each student at least one chance to vote on continuing this key sustainability program. https://www.conncoll.edu/sustainability/resources-for-students/funding-opportunities/