University of Georgia
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Students are involved in the Climate Action Planning Committee. Committee efforts resulted in adoption of the UGA Campus Sustainability Plan, Part 1 - Climate in the fall of 2015. UGA faculty also oversee the Climatology Research Lab with students participating through classes and research. The CRL continuously monitors humidity, pressure, precipitation, wind speed and direction and provides this information to local, state and regional entities tracking both weather and climate patterns.

Green Building and LEED courses taught in College of Engineering and College of Environment & Design identify and evaluate green building strategies in campus buildings including energy modeling and audits, user surveys, etc. Information generated has led to direct operational change, such as steam system repairs, and utility cost savings.

The 1MW UGA Solar Tracking and Demonstration Project was developed in partnership with the College of Engineering to provide research and experiential learning opportunities, specifically including monitoring effectiveness of four different solar tracking mechanisms. Students participated in the operational committee to evaluate options for replacing the campus's coal-fired boiler, which resulted in the elimination of coal use on campus and installation of a back-up electrode boiler.

Academic courses, student interns, and student organizations such as Real Food UGA are working directly with UGA Food Services toward incorporation of fair, local, sustainable and humane foods in campus dining halls, as well as initiatives to reduce waste such as the conversion to trayless dining. UGArden, the student run farm on campus includes areas for courses and research projects related to urban and organic food production. UGArden produce is then donated to Campus Kitchen which provides meals to those in need in the community, and distributed through mobile markets in low income areas.

Watershed UGA engages multidisciplinary faculty and students in sustainability through our watersheds, much of this work focuses on our campus grounds and stream systems. Examples include design and installation of bioretention areas, stormwater quality monitoring, prescribed grazing research, invasive plant removal, community engaged art projects, communication campaigns, etc.

Student interns at the Office of Sustainability have worked with UGA's Purchasing Staff to research and make recommendations for improving the sustainability of purchasing at UGA.

The Bulldog Bikes bike share program is student-initiated and student-run and was developed to promote active transportation and public health. Students conceived of the reCYCLE program, which refurbishes abandoned bikes collected from campus bike racks and provides them for free to students and employees who need affordable transportation options.

A sustainability certificate students is currently completing her Capstone Projects on Community Based Social Marketing for recycling on campus. In addition, Interns at the Office of Sustainability engage in a number of initiatives to improve waste and recycling in campus and increase composting. In the past several years they have converted all the in building waste and recycling bins to a paired system and expanded our department compost program which is student led and run. TOoS Interns have also created community engaged art projects around waste and creatively reusing waste materials on campus and in the community.

Watershed UGA is a town-and-gown stream restoration and protection initiative spearheaded by the Odum School of Ecology and the Office of Sustainability with funding from the Ray C. Anderson Foundation. The goal of Watershed UGA is to exponentially increase campus and community awareness of and involvement in stream restoration, while creating a social infrastructure that facilitates the use of the UGA campus as a living laboratory and promotes experiential learning, research, and public service and outreach. To date over 100 classes have incorporated watershed uga, which has lead to numerous on the ground projects, outreach activities, and monitoring data.

Student interns at the Office of Sustainability oversee the collection and reporting of data to STARS, which relates to many of the institutional planning and coordination efforts underway. Likewise, the Student Government Association have been active proponents of the Office of Sustainability, twice voting for green fees to support the office.

The Office of Sustainability student interns participated in a Diversity Training session with a staff member from the Office of Institutional Diversity in a weekly meeting. Students engaged in conversations reflecting on their own identities of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, culture, ethnicity, and more. Students thought critically about their place in the world in relation to others, and examined their personal privilege. The training concluded with a charge to these student leaders to keep these perspectives in mind as they continue to work across campus and in the community.

The UGA Terry College of Business MBA program runs a B-Corp Clinic to assist Georgia Businesses in obtaining B-Corporation status. To date, UGA MBA students have engaged with B Lab and assisted two businesses on the pathway to becoming a certified B-Corp to use business as a force for good. These positive experiences led to formalization of this program in collaboration with the UGA Office of Sustainability, Certificate in Sustainability, and local business partners. MBA students, along with undergraduate students enrolled in the Certificate of Sustainability, receive academic credit while working collaboratively with local businesses committed to sustainability and corporate social responsibility.

The student-run EcoReach program helps coordinate ecological activities for students at local elementary, middle and high schools and at community events. Students learn about topics such as conservation, biodiversity and natural history through hands-on activities. EcoReps in the residence halls at UGA, managed by an Office of Sustainability student intern, provide sustainability information and outreach in dorms. Multiple classes in the Grady College of Mass Communications have engaged with sustainability including Advertising messaging classes that have developed campaigns for Watershed UGA and Sustainable UGA, and the New Media Institute Capstone class which is currently working on an app for Watershed UGA.

The UGA Student Health Advisory Committee provides a student voice in health center operations, promotes a positive and open channel of communication between the UHC staff and the student body, and contributes additional awareness of student issues to the health center administration. The UGA Healthy Dawg Ambassadors are a group of select students chosen to officially represent the health center. Ambassadors serve in multiple capacities promoting UHC’s mission and vision to students, faculty/staff, parents and other visitors. The UGA Peer Nutrition Educator Program is coordinated by the Registered Dietitians in University Food Services and the University Health Center in cooperation with the Food and Nutrition Department. Peer Nutrition Educators (PNEs) must successfully complete a summer course designed to translate scientific nutrition principles into practical food and nutrition applications for University of Georgia students. Throughout the course the PNEs improve their skills in researching topics, developing programs, and in presenting this information to an audience. PNEs also assess their personal health behaviors and examine processes involved in health behavior change. The Peer Educator program provides students the opportunity to educate their peers about health issues and to model health enhancing behaviors. Peer educators demonstrate and encourage commitment to health through their ongoing participation in the community. Peers also act as a communication channel between students and health educators. Other student engagement in Wellbeing and Work at UGA include Relationship & Sexual Violence Prevention (RSVP) Peer Educators, Safer Sex Ambassadors, BeYou Body Positive Peer Educators, Peer Nutrition Educators (receive academic credit), engagement with the UGA Work Life Balance office, and others.

Ideas for Creative Exploration (ICE) is a catalyst for innovative, interdisciplinary creative projects, advanced research and critical discourse in the arts, and for creative applications of technologies, concepts, and practices found across disciplines. For the past several years this group has focused on the nexus of Art and the Environment/sustainability including on the ground installations, design competitions, invited artists and speakers, and community engagement events. The Social Ecology Studio is a multi-researcher, collaborative art workspace dedicated to advancing sustainability and resilience through the arts. Capitalizing on art’s ability to engage, inform and activate a diverse range of constituents, the studio acts as a bridge, humanizing and connecting community members and policy makers with issues entrenched in social ecology. The Studio facilitates collaborations with scientific and social research topics from across campus and the community, serving as a hub for graduate and undergraduate students to identify research opportunities while providing space and resources to work collaboratively. Each year the Office of Sustainability offers a grant opportunity focused on sustainability and the arts. Past projects have worked with local elementary schools and created theater productions. The UGA Office of Sustainability has an Artist in Residence internship position for an undergraduate or graduate student. This intern brings an artistic/creative perspective to the ongoing work of the office and creates new and novel art projects.