Oregon State University
EN-3: Student Life

The Environmental Sciences Club is open to all students that have a passion for the environment. This club aims to educate students about environmental issues, inspire them to pursue issues they care about, and serve the community through local environmental service projects. Weekly meetings feature guest speakers and student-led presentations with weekend hikes, field trips, service projects, and camping trips.
http://osuenvisciclub.weebly.com/

The OSU Organic Growers Club is an all-volunteer, student-run, organic farming project that began in 2000. The group was founded by a handful of undergraduate students on the notion that folks getting a degree in agriculture science should at some point in their academic careers, put a seed in the ground, take care of it, and harvest the benefits of that effort. Since then, the group and the farm have grown into much more than an ideological reaction and more toward a forward thinking community of students, staff, and faculty that have a common interest in food, fun, and above all, experiencing the reality that is ecosystem sustenance.

The OSU Organic Growers Club farm is located on ~2 acres of OSU agricultural research land and has gained the support of many faculty, staff, and community members, which has helped it to grow to over 300 members and 400 community clients.

https://cropandsoil.oregonstate.edu/organic-growers-club

InnovationX, OSU's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, is a training ground for turning its focus on problem-solving into results and sustainable businesses. While the center lives in the College of Business, InnovationX serves students of any major across OSU and promotes access to entrepreneurship programming for OSU's communities.

The center delivers programming that allows students to explore entrepreneurship, participate in entrepreneurship activities, test new business ideas, and launch new ventures. The center also builds an inclusive culture of entrepreneurship across the institution so that every OSU student has access to entrepreneurship resources and feels welcomed into the entrepreneurship community. To create an environment where any student can feel a sense of belonging, InnovationX uses a concept called inclusive design. Inclusive design is the development of mainstream products and services that are accessible to and usable by as many people as reasonably possible – without the need for specialized adaptation/design.

Students can join the Launch Academy (Part of InnovationX), an incubator for student entrepreneurs who want to be immersed in an innovative, high-energy environment that promotes the creation, evolution and implementation of business ideas. Launch Academy students earn OSU credit for working on their businesses and have access to seed funding, prototyping equipment, co-working space, mentoring and training to help them advance their ideas. Launch Academy students learn how to deliver an elevator pitch and exclusively pitch for the opportunity to earn up to $5,000 in startup funding. The pitch needs to be for a service, product or community change project.

Recently, the Deshpande Foundation, which supports sustainable, scalable social and economic impact through innovation and entrepreneurship in the United States, Canada, and India, named Launch Academy, InnovationX's student business incubator, a recipient of the Rising Star Award for Excellence in Curriculum Innovation. The award recognizes Launch Academy’s flexible and accessible model for providing students with entrepreneurship resources, training and community.

https://business.oregonstate.edu/student-experience/student-centers/innovationx

The Starker Lecture Series takes inspiration from the Starker Family's history of leadership in supporting sound forestry and vibrant communities through scientifically-grounded education and positive, sustained action. The Starkers' long-time recognition of the value of closely observing and learning from actions and outcomes "in the woods" also inspires an integration of technical knowledge with practical, on-the-ground experience. The lectures carry an emphasis on issues and opportunities in the active management of forest resources through lectures, in depth discussions, and field based events.
https://www.forestry.oregonstate.edu/starker-lectures

Science Pubs are where OSU takes science out of the laboratory and brings it into the community with food and drinks. Science Pubs facilitate fascinating discussions with researchers from OSU and OSU-Cascades. Participants learn about researchers and the work they are doing to solve some of the world's toughest challenges. No scientific background is required to attend.
https://communications.oregonstate.edu/events/events-and-projects/corvallis-science-pub
https://osucascades.edu/community-connect/science-pubs

The Pacific Fisheries Technologists is an organization that includes three parties: industry, academia and government that exchange the most up-to-date technical information during their 3-day annual conference. Directed and organized by OSU members, the conference includes every state from Alaska to Mexico along the Pacific Ocean and often includes fellow visitors from Pacific Rim countries as well. The 2022 conference centered on the theme of “Trim One’s Sails”.
http://pftfish.net/2022/index.htm

In March 2023, OSU hosted the Washington Oregon Higher Education Sustainability Conference (WOHESC), an event organized by Pacific Northwest higher education institutions that travels to a different host school each year to inspire change, facilitate action, and promote collaboration around sustainability and social justice within the region. The conference included educational sessions, speaker panels, meetups, and networking opportunities that empowered participants to advance action and create change. The 2023 theme was "Mindscape and Landscape: The Intertwined Nature of Mental, Social, and Planetary Health." 2023 WOHESC saw 309 attendees, with 40% being undergraduate students and 7% being graduate/PhD students. After attending WOHESC, many students reported feeling inspired and positively impacted in a post-conference survey.
https://wohesc.org
https://wohesc.org/downloads/2023_EventReport.pdf

Art About Agriculture is a program in the College of Agricultural Sciences which encourages artists to investigate agriculture and natural resources themes for creating their works of art. It strives to develop an understanding and appreciation of food and fiber among Oregon's diverse audiences.
https://agsci.oregonstate.edu/art/art-about-agriculture

A permanent mural titled "Powered by Sustainability" spans a nearly 25 foot section of a wall within the Kelley Engineering Center and demonstrates the connection of work done by the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department to aspects of sustainability, specifically focused on renewable energy systems.
https://today.oregonstate.edu/archives/2010/may/sustainability-mural-be-unveiled
https://precollege.oregonstate.edu/sites/precollege.oregonstate.edu/files/campus_photo_tour_teacher_version_2017.pdf

An 80-foot illuminated art sculpture was installed at the Corvallis Campus in October 2022 to remain suspended midair for the next 14 months among three 80-year-old sequoia trees. Named “Emeritus”, the sculpture was created by internationally renowned artist John Grade and is constructed from more than 100,000 pieces of resin and Alaskan yellow cedar to take the form of a ghostly fourth sequoia. Parts of the sculpture are superficially burnt, a nod to the thick, resilient bark of sequoias that helps them survive wildfire — but not necessarily withstand the sustained, extreme wildfires that are becoming more common with climate change.
https://today.oregonstate.edu/news/80-foot-tall-sequoia-sculpture-osu-evoke-changing-climate-threat-against-old-growth-forests

The OSU Adventure Leadership Institute (ALI) helps students learn about the recreational opportunities in the area and follows Leave No Trace principles. Resources are available at the ALI to learn more about what can be done to leave no trace.

Principles include
-Plan ahead and prepare
-Camp and travel on durable surfaces
-Pack it in, pack it out
-Leave what you find
-Minimize use and impact of fire

Resources Available:
-Oregon's Wild Areas
-Pacific Northwest Hikes
-Oregon State Parks
-Pacific Northwest Camping
-The Pacific Crest Trail Hiker's Handbook
-National Forest Service Maps

Specific courses that include Leave No Trace content include: Backpacking, Backcountry Leadership, and Wilderness Living Techniques.

https://recsports.oregonstate.edu/ali

Finley Hall houses the Earth2OSU Learning-Living Community. Earth2OSU is an opportunity for students that are passionate about the planet, whether through advocacy, activism, personal choice or professional pursuit. Earth2OSU is organized by the College of Earth, Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, but is open to students from any major and any college.

Goals of the Earth2OSU Floor
-Build community and networks of support
-Connect with resources around sustainability and environmental activism
-Create opportunities to discuss environmental issues and challenges, share solutions-based approaches to Earth and planet health, and inspire others to make a difference

Benefits of the Earth2OSU Floor
-Living with like-minded students
-Just-in-time registration advising and assistance on-site
-Timely and topical movie screenings
-Workshops
-Relevant club showcasing

https://uhds.oregonstate.edu/housing/earth2osu

The Eco-Reps program is an opportunity for students living in the residence halls to take a leadership role in promoting sustainability among their peers. They help with various programs like hall-wide composting, promoting events on campus, and spreading information within their halls.
https://fa.oregonstate.edu/sustainability/get-involved/students/eco-reps

Repair Fairs are an event series sponsored by the OSU Waste Watchers and OSU Campus Recycling in which community members, students, and staff bring broken items and learn how to fix them for free. Repair Fairs provide a space for exchanging ideas rather than dollars, developing people into fixers rather than consumers, and reusing materials rather than wasting them. These events usually occur twice a year.
https://fa.oregonstate.edu/recycling/events-and-opportunities/repair-fairs

The OSU Sustainability Office, Campus Recycling, and Community Engagement & Leadership are dedicated to providing student employment and internship opportunities and do so extensively. All three organizations also offer periodic projects on which students can work.

http://recycle.oregonstate.edu/contactinfo
https://cel.oregonstate.edu/about