Eastern Connecticut State University
EN-3: Student Life

The Environmental Club is a student-governed club at Eastern whose goal is to “Advocate the importance of human impact on the environment, while promoting sustainable awareness and practices on campus and in our surrounding community.” This group participates in community service on campus through their semi-annual campus clean up and projects in the Windham, CT community. The club also promotes sustainability through their Earth Day Event, Environmental Earth Science Graduate Panel, and documentaries shown each semester on environmental issues. The Outdoors Club is a student-governed club at Eastern whose goal is to “Provide Opportunities and Events for the Students of Eastern Connecticut State University to Experience the Outdoors.” http://www1.easternct.edu/studentactivities/clubs-orgs/club-index/environmental-club/

Eastern’s Community garden is a collaborative project between the university and GROW Windham. The garden donates the majority of its produce to non-profit organizations including the Covenant Soup Kitchen in Willimantic, CT. GROW Windham promotes access to healthy food in the Windham region through the development of community food projects and garden youth programming.

The Annual CT Campus Sustainability Conference is a collaborative effort to bring together high education institutions including faculty, staff, and students to talk about sustainability. Eastern has an annual Dean’s cup challenge in which residential students compete to be the top hall. The Dean’s cup has an Energy Conservation Challenge where students are challenged to see who can conserve the most energy in a given week. The 1st Annual Connecticut Campus Sustainability Week (2015) was a series of events from October 5 – 9 designed to promote sustainable actions throughout the state’s higher education institutions. This week long series of events is coordinated by the Connecticut Alliance for Campus Sustainability, a network that encourages state universities to address environmental and social challenges at the local and state levels. This collection of events serve as a platform for action by leveraging the connections among Connecticut’s universities to promote and catalyze campus sustainability efforts, and ultimately work toward building a more sustainable future for these institutions and the state. Events are hosted by a variety of groups at Connecticut colleges and universities, and may take many forms, ranging from outdoor yoga with student instructors to discussions about food security organized by the local community. Together the diversity of events contribute to a statewide discussion of campus sustainability and its importance. Moreover, the 1st Annual Connecticut Campus Sustainability Week in 2015 furthered Connecticut’s status as an environmental leader by showcasing and expanding opportunities for institutions of higher education to connect and collaborate with each other and the State on sustainability. For more information please visit: http://www1.easternct.edu/sustainenergy/upcoming_events/

Eastern currently has a "1% for Art" collection includes 16 works of public art that are located on campus outside major campus buildings. Many of these pieces integrate nature, and the environment into them. A few examples incorporate wind energy.

The Outdoors Club is a student-governed club at Eastern whose goal is to “Provide Opportunities and Events for the Students of Eastern Connecticut State University to Experience the Outdoors.”

Eastern has a green themed housing for residential students interested in sustainability. These students are involved in various green initiatives that are focused on reducing the university’s carbon footprint, recycling, and conserving natural resources. Eastern also offers First Year Program courses that students are required to take. Of the 37 courses offered for Eastern's First Year Introduction, 13 of the courses are sustainability related. http://www1.easternct.edu/firstyear/academic-component/

The Institute for Sustainable Energy, based at Eastern Connecticut State University, promotes energy efficiency and sustainability statewide through education, technical support, research, and outreach. The Institute for Sustainable Energy employs student interns to help with sustainability activities, such as energy data collection, trash auditing, green- themed campus signage, green-themed informational videos, among other sustainability related opportunities. Student interns gain experience with energy benchmarking by analyzing energy data from schools, colleges, universities and state buildings. They learn how to enter data into EPA’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager benchmarking tool. Students may also accompany ISE staff on building energy walkthroughs to learn about building energy systems and operations and identify energy savings opportunities. Student interns support Connecticut’s Green LEAF School’s initiative, assisting with education programs and events, lesson research and design, and writing curriculum. Student interns help with technical support and outreach to Connecticut’s colleges and universities on sustainability. This includes assisting with the preparation of campus greenhouse gas inventories and climate action plans, implementing collaborative initiatives for the CT Alliance for Campus Sustainability, and preparation for the Connecticut Alliance for Campus Sustainability roundtable events and annual campus sustainability conference. We mentor to our interns and help them learn important, practical professional skills. For example, interns make formal presentations about their projects and research to ISE staff and other interns.

This information was completed by speaking with the Director of Housing LaMar Coleman, and information from ISE about the campus community garden and student activities list. Information about the Outdoors club was entered based on the club adviser Norma Vivar who attested to the club's following of the seven Leave No Trace Principles.