State University of New York at New Paltz
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Graphic Design Professor Anne Galperin taught a Design Research course during Fall 2014, in which students investigate campus spaces—parking, green space, athletic practice, study and gathering spaces—and their qualities in relation to sustainability and quality of life. Research methods include mind-mapping, literature reviews, interviews, observation, photo-documentation, text analysis, material analysis, and storytelling. The student research culminated in a print-on-demand book. Several of the students recommendations are being considered by the campus, including a green roof at the Haggerty Terrace. The class research enabled campus administrators to connect with commuter students, a less organized constituency, and to learn about their opinions about parking policies and locations on campus which have the potential to lead to a reconfiguration of parking lot assignments on campus.

Michael Sheridan worked with two students over the summer of 2014 to conduct a historical price analysis of local and national food vendors on the New Paltz campus. This involved extensive data entry of invoices from every food service venue on campus. They presented their findings to the SUNY Sustainability Conference in Oswego, New York, as well as the Hudson Valley Farm to Institution Summit. The findings will be used to inform local food procurement policies at SUNY New Paltz.

During the summer of 2014, Professor Emerita Carol Rietsma and Assistant Professor Eric Keeling conducted a campus tree survey with students, inventorying all trees on campus. The database will be made available to all campus users, including facilities staff, students, and faculty, especially in the biology department. Professor Keeling used it to improve a tree identification activity in his undergraduate Ecology course (BIO340) by designing a tour through campus highlighting important native species. The trees became important “teaching trees,” allowing handy comparison between the subtle characteristics of species that are difficult to differentiate. In his Plant Ecophysiology course (BIO425), he plans to use the database in a similar manner to locate important tree species for phenological observations. The database will be valuable more generally for identifying and cataloging “trees of special value” on campus that would include “teaching trees” as mentioned above, but also other notable specimens, for example, particularly large or old trees. Additionally, the database may be used to inform decisions about future plantings on campus, in order to fill gaps in the campus collection of living trees.

A team of faculty, staff, and students formed the Hydration Committee in 2012, to research ways to transition the campus from bottled water to campus-wide water bottle refill stations within 2 years. The committee researched and found a cheaper and more energy-efficient alternative to Elkay-brand hydration stations. Student Annie Courtens took a lead in this initiative and compiled report of recommendations that was presented to the Board of Directors of Campus Auxiliary Services and Facilities Management. The solution involved retrofitting existing fountains with gooseneck spouts attached to the fountain to provide upright bottle filling. The committee made recommendations regarding distribution and type of filling stations and the plan was implemented by the Office of Campus Sustainability and Facilities Operations.

Erica Wagner, member of Board of Directors for a local organization called UlsterCorps has two students working with her as Associate Board Members. One student is currently working on a transportation project. Her goal is to research and then map out directions for students to travel to volunteer sites in the region using public transportation. It will eventually be hosted on a mobile website where students will be able to click on the location they would like to visit and they will be presented with information about how to get there using public transportation from campus. The project team expects a fall 2015 launch.

In the fall of 2014, students Molly Poniatowski and Jacob Yoder under the supervision of Campus Sustainability Coordinator Lisa Mitten conducted the campus's first food waste audit at the Backstage Cafe at Parker Theater. They identified how much waste is generated in one day at the dining facility and how much material could be diverted from the landfill if recycling was expanded from bottle collection only to single stream and re-consumer and post-consumer composting collection was added to this facility. Their waste audit report made recommendations to the College on how to achieve zero waste goals at this dining location and others.

The SUNY New Paltz Water Quality Action Team is a multidisciplinary team of students and professors researching the infamous SUNY New Paltz Gunk, a chain of ponds which forms the start of the Saw Mill Brook River. As part of a larger project, the team is monitoring the water quality and quantity leaving campus. The team has installed a water quality buoy in the large pond. The buoy, powered by solar panels, contains several different sensors that continuously monitor water quality in the large pond at SUNY New Paltz (i.e., The Gunk). Every 10-15 minutes, the data is transmitted via cell phone signal to http://buoy.newpaltz.edu The buoy monitors pH, temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity. Aquatic ecosystems have daily cycles and without taking frequent measurements, these cycles and changes as a result of smaller rain events will be missed. In 2013, faculty from Art, Biology, Business, Education, EGS, and Sociology researched a variety of green infrastructure practices in place at SUNY New Paltz to improve watershed resiliency as a climate adaptation strategy to reduce localized flooding and improve water quality. A symposium and poster session for this SUNY New Paltz Watershed Project was held on campus in fall 2013. Resulting projects on campus include: - Rt. 32 Lot: a permeable pavement expansion of the largest parking lot on campus was installed. - Lenape Residence Hall Bioswales: a bio retention area with small swales was installed adjacent to a residence hall. - Crispell Hall Bioswale: a bioswale was installed at one of the most heavily traversed locations in the heart of campus. A video was made by Kelsey Hilerud (2014 graduate of the Comm and Media program) together with SUNY New Paltz School of Science and Engineering faculty and students, which describes green campus infrastructure projects to improve water quality and environmental monitoring of water quality. http://sites.newpaltz.edu/ssenews/2014/09/23/green-infrastructure-projects-at-suny-new-paltz/

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Art faculty Andrea Frank is conducting collaborative system drawing sessions on campus, addressing issues related to sustainability with faculty from a broad range of fields (Sociology, Political Science, Education, Art, Business, etc.), and with students and a range of community members in the context of her feed back - future feed initiative. These participatory conversations and drawing sessions enable participants to collectively discover and visualize systemic interconnections of relevant issues and lead toward a common understanding of and a move toward collaboration around identified goals. Andrea's system drawing sessions have led to increased attention, creativity and progress on the following subject areas: (1) move out day Reuse2Reduce program approach, cooperation, and quality of programming, (2) the campus' approach to sustainability-themed giveaway items, and (3) perceptions and practice of sustainability of art faculty at SUNY New Paltz.

In order to create an ethical printmaking ‘ecology’ at SUNY New Paltz, Professor Sheila Goloborodko developed in tandem with her colleague Professor Jill Parisi, their most recent research project: the first rooftop garden at any school in the SUNY system. This garden will grow plants known to produce paper-making fibers, as well as experimental plants including native and gathered invasive species. In our rooftop-garden research, we will also test plants for their strength, coloring capacities, and production. Since paper has been historically a fundamental substrate to printmaking, the goal of this research is to make the entire practice, from planting the seeds to processing the paper pulp, become integral to their education and research program—from seed to sheet, from pigment to inks. Printmaking studio also engages in the following sustainable practices: - Recycle rags: rags are monthly picked up by outside vendor to be cleaned and new batch of cleaned rags is delivered - Mordants are chemically “upped” weekly: acids are tested and weaker acids are strengthened weekly to avoid waste. - Solvents: Jill Parisi introduced a solvent box where filtered solvents circulate. Weekly solvents are added providing no waste and air control. - Mixed inks are kept in ziplock bags and plastic containers and reused. - Grease is reused - Traps guarantee that waste is controlled. In Spring 2013, Graphic Design Professor Amy Papaelias, had students in the course ARS308 Type & Image work with the campus sustainability committee to create posters educating the community about sustainability related issues on campus. Posters encouraged the community to bike to campus, use reusable bottles instead of plastic water bottles, purchase goods from the farmer's market on campus, etc. Several of these posters were printed and used on campus. In the course Disability Studies in Art Education (ARE 305), Art Education Professor Alice Wexler teaches Universal Design, which is about accessibility beyond accommodation--which means that it is a forethought, not an afterthought. In the fall of 2014, the class constructed as an "art intervention" a cardboard wheelchair accessible ramp on the steps leading to LC. Also, one student used a wheelchair to research what is and is not accessible. It took her 10 minutes to reach the bottom of the steps by going in a circuitous route (finding ramps and power doors). This research uncovered a less accessible area of campus. One of the students led the research and documented it with a film and notes from a wheelchair.