University of Tennessee at Knoxville
EN-3: Student Life

Student Environmental Initiatives Committee: The mission of this committee is to identify, research, and recommend uses of funds supporting environmental stewardship and sustainability as well as clean and renewable energy technologies.

http://environment.utk.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/StudentEnvironmentalInitiatives_Charter_2014.pdf http://facserv.utk.edu/sustainability/tag/student-environmental-initiatives-committee/

The VOLunteer Supported Agriculture (VSA) program is a Vol-centric Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program and experiential Organic Farm Internship for UTK undergraduate students. The VSA works to connect community members with their farmers and inspire the next generation of agricultural ambassadors by offering shares of our harvest for purchase. Interested parties can become members by paying an unfront fee that will help buy seeds and supplies, and provide stipends for our student interns who are participating in the unique, experiential, organic production internship component of our program. In return, members receive weekly 1/2 bushel box of fresh, locally grown, organic produce for 20 weeks! Box contents will vary from week to week and feature a variety of seasonal produce.

University of Tennessee's Grow Lab: As a living laboratory, the Grow Lab promotes experiential and service learning, demonstrates ecological food production methods, and encourages community.The UTK Grow Lab will demonstrate ecological food production methods, address local food insecurity, contribute to a sense of place, and encourage interdisciplinary partnerships.

At the Grow Lab, half of the plots will be designated for specific academic courses, research, and university groups. The remaining plots will be maintained by staff and volunteers with produce donated to hunger-alleviating causes.

https://recycle.utk.edu/projects/the-grow-lab/
http://growlab.utk.edu/

The UT Outdoor Program hosts the Bike Shop, an on-campus workshop were students, faculty and staff can fix their bikes. Students willing to work on their own bikes can do so for free using the tools at the shop, or they can bring their bikes by to learn how to fix them. Students may also drop off their bikes to be fixed by student mechanics for a fee of $10/hour, plus the cost of parts. The shop also sells individual parts.

The Student Environmental Initiatives Fee, or Green Fee, is a student facilities fee that aims to raise funding for green power and campus sustainability initiatives. The Green Fee was started in 2005 by student vote during SGA elections and consists of a $10/$35 fees per semester for in-state/out-of-state students. The Green Revolving Fund within the Green Fee provides monetary investments for sustainability initiatives on campus. These funds are administered by the Student Environmental Initiatives Committee. Voting student members participate monthly in funding discussions before voting on proposals. Previous projects funded by the Green Revolving Fund have included green power purchases, SMC lighting system upgrades, and membership to AASHE. Additionally, the Student Environmental Initiatives Committee has created a dedicated fund for FY 16-18 within the Green Fee to provide students an opportunity to research, design, and monitor sustainability-related projects. This fund will be dedicated to student design/research projects across all academic departments. This fund serves to provide a campus-wide funding opportunity that is directed toward student-led projects and experiential learning. Projects should be completed within one semester, with two-semester projects needing approval from a faculty advisor.

http://facserv.utk.edu/sustainability/get-involved/student-green-fee/

The Howard H. Baker Jr Center for Public Policy hosts the Energy & Environmental Forum. The E&E Forum reaches out to the academic community to share their research findings from a broad set of national and international academic departments, researchers, and students with a common interest in environmental and energy issues. An interdisciplinary committee of UT faculty invites four to six speakers each semester from fields such as ecology, economics, urban planning, law, atmospheric chemistry and sociology to present on occasional Thursdays from 1-2:30 pm in the Baker Center’s Toyota Auditorium.

--Students in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Program at UT are required to attend a certain amount of seminars throughout the semester, so the program hosts the EEB Seminar Series, featuring academics from universities around the world to discuss their research and supplement the curriculum. While not all of the forums are environmentally-focused, the majority are.

--Started in 1933, the UT Science Forum is one of the oldest UT organizations. It focuses on sharing the latest scientific research with the public – giving opportunity to students, UT professors, and the general public to learn about cutting-edge research at UT, ORNL, and other local facilities. This event takes place every Friday at noon in the Thompson-Boling Arena Café throughout the academic year.

The Appalachian Public Interest Environmental Law Conference, led by students in the UT Law School brought together hundreds of eco-minded and socially conscious activists, attorneys, students, scientists, and citizens in the interest of achieving environmental and social justice throughout Appalachia and the surrounding areas. The conferences feature a series of workshops with the goal of exchanging information, sharing skills, and fostering collaboration between grassroots organizations, the bar, and future lawyers and policy-makers. These workshops addressed the region’s most pressing ecological problems, as well as the underlying laws, policies, and institutional dynamics that have enhanced these issues.

Rhythm and Blooms is a music festival on campus to celebrate spring in East Tennessee.

"Unsustainable: a planet in crisis" is an art exhibit hosted by the Ewing Gallery in the School of Art in January and February 2020. It was a group exhibition featuring artwork ranging in material, discipline, and execution that addresses the theme of planetary crises – climate change, the rise of disease and superbugs, world conflict and national instability, plastics in the ocean, gun violence, pollution of the waterways from mining, air pollution from use of fossil fuels, the opioid crisis, and species extinction.

https://ewing-gallery.utk.edu/january-february-exhibition/
https://sustainability.utk.edu/2020/01/24/unsustainable-a-planet-in-crisis/

The Clarence Brown Theater put on a play called the Madwoman of Chaillot in April and May of 2019. In this play "In this comedy, a group of corrupt oil men want to drill right under the streets of Paris. But Countess Aurelia and her band of followers are having none of it!" The theater highlighted the environmental themes in the script by using almost entirely recycled set pieces for the play's performance. They also partnered with the Office of Sustainability to donate set pieces at the end of the show's run and had Office of Sustainability staff table during the performances to educate theater-goers on sustainability on campus. The production was marketed to students through the student newspaper and radio station.

https://clarencebrowntheatre.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Madwoman-PR.pdf
https://sustainability.utk.edu/2019/08/27/sustainability-partners-with-clarence-brown-theatre/

The University of Tennessee Outdoor Program (UTOP) seeks to provide the campus community with outdoor recreation opportunities. UTOP programs emphasize environmental stewardship, including Leave No Trace principles. While UTOP is not student governed, students are given the opportunity to lead some programs and trips.

The 2020 spring semester was a theme semester in the College of Arts and Sciences named "Apocalypse 2020". One of the central themes of the semester is climate change.
Some of the events and lectures hosted in conjunction with this themed semester are as follows:
Unsustainable – A Planet in Crisis
Ewing Gallery
January 9 – February 16
Featured artist talk by Pam Langobardi
January 23, 7:30 PM
Art + Architecture Building, Room 109

Urban Narrative and Climate Change
Ursula Heise, Co-founder of the Lab for Environmental Narrative Strategies (LENS) at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability
January 14, 3:30 PM
Lindsay Young Auditorium, Hodges Library

Everyday Apocalypse: The Poetry of Climate Change in the Late Middle Ages
Shannon Gayk, Associate Professor of English and Director of the Medieval Studies Institute at Indiana University Bloomington
January 23, 3:30 PM
1210 McClung Tower

Climate Change: The Inside Scoop
LaToya Myles and John Kochendorfer, atmospheric scientists with NOAA
March 25, 6 PM
Strong Hall, Room B001

https://artsci.utk.edu/events-3/

Some of the courses offered in conjunction with this themed semester are as follows:
GEOL 490 (Section 3): Apocalypse & Mass Extinctions: Past, Present & Future
GEOL 456: Global Climate Change
GEOG 204: Understanding Climate Change
GEOG/GEOL 206S: Sustainability: Reducing our impact on planet Earth

https://artsci.utk.edu/courses-offered/

Honors: Global Awareness: The mission of the Honors Global Awareness (HGA) Living and Learning Community is to develop a community of scholars devoted to studying different environments, peoples, and cultures. By exposing students to different ways of life, the HGA LLC helps students better understand the world and their place within it.

The Office of Sustainability has opportunities for regular and work study student positions as well as unpaid internships for experience or class credit. The Office of Sustainability student workers assist in outreach and education(Speciat Event/Catering Outreach, Fraternity and Sorority Outreach, Office Outreach, Compost Testing, Event Assistant and Photographer, Administrative Assistant), program development, data collection, or in labor positions (Collection and Forklift Operator, Recycling Request Specialist, Universal Waste Processing). All of these positions contribute to enhancing the following sustainability goals on campus: -Reduce air, water, and land pollution from campus operations - Reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the use of nonrenewable resources -Promote recycling and conservation practices among the UT community - Protect and enhance the beauty of campus grounds and facilities - Demonstrate the university's commitment to environmental stewardship.

The University of Tennessee offers extensive, hands-on experience that prepares students for their line of work before graduation. This assists in the student's knowledge and discipline of the work-force and enabling a swift transition from student to full-time employee. The University provides a website listing the ways in which to get hands-on work experience while also being a student for each college department. Co-Ops are often posted through Handshake and present opportunities are Career/Job Fairs.

https://sustainability.utk.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/69/2019/12/StudentEnvironmentalInitiatives_Charter_2014.pdf
http://organics.tennessee.edu/
http://organics.tennessee.edu/growers.htm
https://sustainability.utk.edu/funding-opportunities/
http://recsports.utk.edu/outdoors/
http://housing.utk.edu/honors-global-awareness/
https://career.utk.edu/students/get-tailored-career-guidance/career-information-by-college/