University of Kentucky
EN-3: Student Life

UK Greenthumb: The UK Greenthumb Environmental Club is engaged in environmental activism on campus and beyond. Much of Greenthumb’s work is focused on pushing to create a more sustainable campus. Greenthumb is also dedicated to educating both the UK community and its own members. Greenthumb participates in outings, such as trips to mountain top removal sights and leadership trainings held by other environmental organizations, as well as lobbying events and rallies. UK Student Engaged in Agricultural Discovery (SEAD): SEAD is a student-led organization whose goal is to educate the student body and members about issues within the food production system of the United States and promoting sustainable agriculture. The Campus Kitchen at UK: Campus Kitchen is a student-powered hunger relief effort at the University of Kentucky. Members recover unused food from school cafeterias, prepare meals, and serve them to low-income citizens. Student Sustainability Council (SSC): The SSC supervises the distribution of the Environmental Stewardship Fee in order to responsibly advance the theory, practice and reality of Sustainability at the University of Kentucky. Environmental Science Club: The UK Environmental Science Club is dedicated to enriching the experience of students interested in natural resources and environmental science at UK through: guest speakers, fun and exciting outings, job and internship opportunities, philanthropic events, and networking opportunities within the community. All groups student governed

Shawneetown Community Gardens - Community Garden for graduate and family students at the University of Kentucky. Student-governed. UK CSA - The UK Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project is a part of the UK College of Agriculture, Department of Horticulture, and is an integral component of the Sustainable Agriculture (SAG) Undergraduate Curriculum. Not student-governed.

Campus Kitchens The mission of The Campus Kitchens Project is to use service as a tool to: Strengthen bodies by using existing resources to meet hunger and nutritional needs in our community; Empower minds by providing leadership and service learning opportunities to students, and educational benefits to adults, seniors, children and families in need; and Build communities by fostering a new generation of community-minded adults through resourceful and mutually beneficial partnerships among students, social service agencies, businesses and schools.

The UK Office of Sustainability, the Tracy Farmer Institute for Sustainability and the Environment, the Student Sustainability Council, and several of our degree programs host sustainability-focused outreach events. That said, the Dimensions of Political Ecology Conference, which is student-goverened by the Political Ecology Working Group is probably the most prominent. Several other prominent examples include Earth Days in the Bluegrass (coordinated by the Office of Sustainability-http://www.sustainability.uky.edu/edbg), The TFISE Research Showcase (http://tfise.uky.edu/showcase) and the Sustainable Ag and Food Systems Working Group's First Friday Breakfasts (http://safs.ca.uky.edu/). None of these secondary examples are student-governed.

Each year the College of Design hosts a large fund raising event called the Beaux Arts Ball. They feature several design installations and this year sustainability was a key focus for those installations. There is also a yearly event called Design Week in the Department of Landscape Architecture. Design Week pertains to sustainability as it tasks students to collaborate with those outside their own discipline to develop richly creative design solutions. The challenge of sustainability is crafting long term solutions to answer complex problems, and that is exactly the opportunity Design Week gives students. Students are able to look at Lexington through a lens of what is most helpful systematically and environmentally as well as what makes the city more exciting to experience; simply put, students are developing solutions that make the city more livable for everyone.

UK Outdoor Pursuits is a student-governed program within campus recreation. The mission of the Outdoor Pursuits Program is to provide outdoor recreation and education opportunities for the University of Kentucky community using human–powered adventure pursuits‚ experiential education‚ and the natural environment.

Adulting UK is an event where students can learn about different logistical aspects of being an adult.

The UK Office of Sustainability has a paid internship program. Several other sustainability-focused programs also employ students, including the eco-rep program, Urban Forest Initiative, and the Food Connection, UK Recycling and the Wildcat Wheels Bicycle Library also has paid positions.

Wide array of co-curricular programs and initiatives too numerous to list here. The University Facebook page and sustainability website listed below provide the most comprehensive sources of information on these efforts.