Saint Mary's College of California
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
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4.00 / 4.00 |
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indicates that no data was submitted for this field
Campus Engagement
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Campus Engagement:
EES 120: Sustainability focuses on the complex relationship between humans and the environment, specifically examining how our everyday choices, individual behaviors, built infrastructures, policies and institutions affect the environment, and consequently our global human community. Students' semester-long project is a sustainability action plan that aims to promote positive change on campus related to environmental justice.
Public Engagement
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Public Engagement:
The politics department offers a number of courses that use our campus to help understand public engagement. Our close relationship with elected officials, for example, offers ample opportunities for our students and campus community to hold campus-wide forums and discussions on sustainability in public engagement. For example: https://www.stmarys-ca.edu/a-conversation-with-district-attorney-diana-becton?hd=2022-10-14%2013%3A00&utm_source=mysmc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=all.staff
Air & Climate
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Air & Climate:
Two on-campus air quality monitoring stations, one on the Recreation Center rooftop and one at the campus Observatory, measure O3, NO2, PM2.5 and Teledyne T640. The “new normal” for Saint Mary’s and California consists of worsening climate change, severe drought, and increased wildfires, all of which contribute to severe air pollution events. The College’s on-campus air quality monitors share air quality data in real time with the campus community. Besides providing essential public health information during periods of poor air quality, on-campus monitors create hands-on research opportunities for our students and enable easy data access for SMC courses that are exploring issues related to air quality.
Buildings
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Buildings:
Data on building-level energy use has been used in class projects, as well as residential hall competitions.
Energy
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Energy:
See above.
Food & Dining
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Food & Dining:
Students have worked with our dining service provider on a number of class and research projects, including “Weigh the (food) Waste” data collection, surveys on food insecurity, and the carbon and environmental footprint of various diets and recipes. Additionally, the College’s ½ acre campus garden serves as a living laboratory for a wide range of topics, including sustainable food production.
Grounds
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Grounds:
A number of Saint Mary’s classes have utilized the campus grounds for advancing student learning and sustainability. Our campus hosts a seasonal, freshwater wetland forest, which is a valuable research and educational resource. It is a unique environment in the East San Francisco Bay region with its extensive stand of red willow. This seasonal swamp is connected to several creeks that run through campus. A variety of Saint Mary’s Earth & Environmental Science classes utilize this important campus resource to collect water and soil samples at the inflow and outflow areas and make qualitative and quantitative observations.
Purchasing
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Purchasing:
Various classes have utilized a variety of purchasing-related sustainability data, including energy-sourcing, paper purchasing (% recycled content) and food purchasing.
Transportation
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Transportation:
Saint Mary's EES 120 course introduces students to the field of sustainability, which studies how society might shift toward a thriving, equitable and just future. Surveying the full range of environmental issues, the course brings systems thinking, resilience, and other tools to bear on these problems, giving students theoretical and practical tools to apply to their own lives, communities, and possible future careers as sustainability professionals. Projects include assessing different sustainability topics on campus, including alternative transportation options. Class projects have included promoting Bike to Work Days and conducting transportation surveys.
Waste
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Waste:
Saint Mary's "Marketing for Social Good" course teaches students about marketing decision-making that confront organizations. Topics include the utilization of marketing information systems as well as the formulation and implementation of integrated product, distribution and promotion strategies. This class takes an applied approach. The final project asks to student to complete a project on campus as it relates to marketing - many students focus on sustainability measures for their final projects. One project documented the recycling, trash and composting bins in the dining hall twice a week for one month and identified contamination in waste bins. Students also asked the food service workers about in-house waste diversion practices.
Water
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Water:
The campus has a native plant garden that is used as a resource for students in Biology 142: California Flora and Communities. Additionally, in the EES 75: Wetlands class students study the environmental and organismal characteristics of various ecosystems, with a special focus on wetlands. In both classes students come to understand the ecological and economic values of our water resources on campus and beyond.
Coordination & Planning
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Coordination & Planning:
Saint Mary’s Organizational Psychology course examines major theories and applications concerning the relationship between the individual and the organization. These include the study of motivation, leadership, decision-making, power and politics, corporate culture, and organizational development. Students complete a final project on campus. The students conduct focus groups, surveys and interviews faculty, staff and students about the department and organizational changes they would like to see. The results of the project are shared with the on-campus department.
Diversity & Affordability
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Diversity & Affordability:
Saint Mary’s Intercultural Communication course explores the communication within and between various national contexts. The course examines the roles of identity, history, power, language, cultural values, nonverbal communication, migration, cultural space, popular cultural communication and relationships. One assignment requires students to assess cross cultural support programs for students on Saint Mary’s campus. The data collected in the project are part of a larger advocacy initiative on campus.
Investment & Finance
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Investment & Finance:
Saint Mary's Investment Group, comprised of students and faculty, perform stock valuations to identify companies currently undervalued in the stock market. By studying the governance of a company, and its social, environmental and economic impact, members analyze responsible investing. If the the group members agree that a company is both undervalued and responsible, then can elect to invest a portion of the Investment Group’s Fund into that company’s stock.
Wellbeing & Work
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Wellbeing & Work:
Within our Masters in Counseling program, students are engaged in their fieldwork in clinical, school or college settings appropriate to their department specialization(s) and career objectives. Weekly seminars are provided for the specific specializations of Career Counseling & College Student Services, School Counseling, and Marriage and Family Therapy/Professional Clinical Counselor (MFT/PCC). Both Counseling Department (CD) campus supervisors and department-approved field supervisors offer guidance and support. Via the seminars and CD supervision, advanced training in applying the Counseling Immersion Model and other coursework to the students’ field placement(s) is provided. This advanced training includes interviewing, assessment, diagnosis, prognosis, advising, educating, and counseling, as appropriate to the students’ field placements. Additionally, students integrate theories and techniques, as well as the cultural, legal, and ethical issues relevant to the fieldwork site and the students’ specialization(s). Personal and countertransference issues involved in the students’ field experience are addressed and discussed, as needed.
Optional Fields
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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