SUNY Buffalo State
AC-4: Applied Learning

1. The Hospitality and Tourism Department uses the Campus House club, a working restaurant and bar located on campus, as a student laboratory. Sustainable restaurant operations are taught by engaging students in activities such as recycling (cans, bottles, plastic, paper, cooking oil, and boxes), using environmentally friendly take-out containers, composting kitchen and dining room waste, and minimizing use of white tablecloth services. Campus Hpouse is also committed to using local grocers and New York State produce whenever possible.

2. Our campus is the site of the Maude Gordon Holmes Arboretum. This outdoor classroom has brought 1000's of students closer to nature on the 125 acre urban campus. The arboretum engages students and community members to attend tree-planting events, to understand the importance of using native species in urban landscapes, and to attend talks to take tours where sustainability issues are discussed. The Arboretum partners with the campus sustainability committee to bring Arbor Day and Earth Day events to students, faculty and the community.

3. Required sustainability-focused courses in Biology (BIO 315 and BIO 213) use the campus to educate students on sustainability related to flora and fauna on campus by examining such things as native and non-native plants, native vs non-native plant gall diversity, weevil colonization of campus oak trees, north vs south-facing lawn communities near taller campus buildings, and how different habitats (meadow, woods, riparian, etc.) present on campus are used by bird species. The experience also leads to a better understanding of how the grounds can be designed to include more sustainable, native species.

4. Undergraduate students also engage in applied learning opportunities through the Office of Undergraduate Research. Projects can be of any type, but numerous students and faculty are funded to enable them participate in sustainability-related work in areas such as ecology, social justice, equity, and health and wellness.

5. The Office of Global Engagement requires that each student participant in a study-abroad program must address a UN SDG challenge before, during, and after traveling to their host country.  Upon signing up for study-abroad, the 17 UN SDGs are presented and the student is asked to consider which of them relate to their discipline and will be the focus of the study-abroad experience. Students and faculty (for faculty-led programs) are required to write about this connection in their study abroad proposal. Upon return, students complete a post experience assessment and one of the questions asks them to elaborate on the impact of the SDG on their future career goals.

6. Undergraduate students have opportunities to engage in Service Learning and volunteerism in the local community. Buffalo State has been recognized for partnering with the community by receiving the Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement. Students often participate in learning partnerships that seek to reduce poverty and hunger, to make the city more sustainable, or to improve community health.

Link to campus Arboretum:  https://arboretum.buffalostate.edu/homepage

Link to Civic and Community Engagement: https://cce.buffalostate.edu

Link to Undergraduate Research:  https://undergraduateresearch.buffalostate.edu