University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
EN-3: Student Life

Students Allied for a Green Earth (S.A.G.E.): SAGE is the student organization at UW-Whitewater focused on sustainability issues of all types. SAGE gets involved in a number of hands-on projects around campus and local communities and strives to hold events that aim to educate and inform their members and the campus community about sustainability issues and environmental problems our society faces. UW-Whitewater Water Council: The UW-Whitewater Water Council is a student organization launched in 2010. We work to create awareness of the importance of freshwater to our lives and economies and assist our parent organization, the Water Council, to advance southeastern Wisconsin's position as a world hub for water research, education, and economic development. The Whitewater Water Council welcomes members of every major and interest throughout the University. We explore regional and national water issues and promote the vast opportunities in water business. Activities include bi-weekly meetings with industry experts, networking events, community service, and social outings. Peace, Education, and Activism through Creative Engagement (PEACE): It is the mission of P.E.A.C.E. to uphold and progress ideals which promote social, political, and environmental justice at the local, state, national, and international levels in addition to facilitating personal growth and inner balance within the members of P.E.A.C.E. and our surrounding community. UW-Whitewater Ecology Club: The UW-Whitewater Ecology Club is a student organization of Biology and Ecology majors who focus on field trips and volunteer service related to their field of study. Gardening Club: The UWW Gardening Club was created to fit the horticultural interests of students that might not otherwise have an opportunity to be involved in working directly with plant propagation and care through other degree programs on campus. The Gardening Club is responsible for a significant amount of work propagating plants for use in the Campus Garden and also care for the Biology specimen collections in Upham Greenhouse.

UW-Whitewater has a campus garden that allows students to gain experience in organic agriculture and sustainable food systems. This garden is available for all students to volunteer in, and regular hours for volunteering in the Fall, Spring, and Summer occur. All produce generated in the campus garden is donated to the Whitewater Food Pantry.

UW-Whitewater also has a student-run enterprise in the residence halls called Jitters, a student-run coffee shop. Jitters does have a mission statement with a point on sustainability included. Jitters frequently collaborates with SAGE to have smoothie nights featuring a human-powered bike blender to bring awareness to energy use and sustainable food issues.

The Student Sustainability Fund provided money to students to fund projects that help make UW-Whitewater a more sustainable campus. This money was offered to promote sustainability on campus and involve the student body in these initiatives. This was funded through the Sustainability Office budget and was not a student-governed fund since it did not use segregated fees, but had involvement with students on the decision-making side and can only be applied for by students. This program was suspended and is currently undergoing evaluation for reboot by the Sustainability Council in 2018-19.

Speakers are scheduled on an ongoing basis with an emphasis on sustainability topics. These speakers are scheduled in partnership with faculty that include students as their primary audience. Most often, these speakers are coordinated with Campus Sustainability Month (October) and Earth Week (April). UW-Whitewater also hosted the UW System Sustainability Conference in late 2015 and is on a recurring schedule to host this event. The Sustainability Coordinator is also actively involved in planning efforts for the conference each year, regardless of what campus it is held on that particular year.

UW-Whitewater has a student organization called Alloy that puts on a metals exhibit in our art gallery (Roberta’s Gallery) in the University Center. This metals show is meant to offer an expressive outlet for students while showing the beauty of art that can be created from recyclable materials. http://www.uww.edu/cac/art-design/ad-student-orgs/alloy-x65780 Young Auditorium hosts the Horizons matinee program to support the curriculum of schools by providing culturally diverse programs for K-12 students. This will be accomplished by: - Cultivating a lasting appreciation of the performing arts among young people through performances and hands-on, interactive outreach opportunities. - Offering culturally diverse programming -that addresses Wisconsin State Academic Standards. - Supporting teachers through professional development opportunities in the arts. Programming for the Horizons program often includes cultural and environmental awareness themes, such as Migration (Mexican immigration and monarch caterpillars), A Busy Bee Opera (pollinators and opera awarenss), and Steve Trash-Science of Ecology (ecology, resource use, and recycling). http://www.uww.edu/youngauditorium/education/study-guides The Justseeds Artist Cooperative (https://justseeds.org/about/) has also featured work in Crossman Gallery. http://blogs.uww.edu/crossman/resources/

UW-Whitewater Outdoor Adventure Club is a student organization focused on organizing outdoor recreation excursions that promotes Leave No Trace principles. https://www.facebook.com/uwwoac/ UW-Whitewater has a Cycling Club that has schooled rides and information sessions based on Leave No Trace and anti-littering principles for trail riding. http://www.uww.edu/recsports/clubsports/clubs/bike-and-tri UW-Whitewater is also an Ice Age Trail Campus in partnership with the Ice Age Trail Alliance, which also promotes Leave No Trace among its membership chapters. https://www.iceagetrail.org/leave-no-trace/

N/A

UW-Whitewater has a model room that all tour groups proceed through during campus tours that shows a regular residence hall room with several sustainable features, including CFL lights, Energy Star appliances, and brochures that explain how students can improve the sustainable rating of their residence hall rooms. Eco Reps are required to plan and implement monthly programs where students are able to learn sustainable life skills. Specifically, students learned how to properly recycle, how they could get involved in the campus garden to produce their own food, how they could grow plants in their own rooms to get a better air quality, and how to manage electricity responsibly.

UW-Whitewater has paid sustainability-focused employment positions for students that allow them to work with sustainability as part of their job. These positions include: - Student Sustainability Coordinator for University Housing - Sustainability Director for the Whitewater Student Government - Sustainability Assistants for the Sustainability Office

N/A

UW-Whitewater does monthly stream monitoring in local waterways to test the health of our watershed through the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources statewide Water Action Volunteers (WAV) network. Student volunteers receive training on measuring several Level 1 water quality variables, such as turbidity, stream profile and flow rate, dissolved oxygen, temperature, macroinvertebrate biotic index, and basic habitat observations. An application to add phosphorus testing to the mix in 2015 has been submitted and is under review at the time of this submission. There are currently two monitoring sites, but a third site is being considered for 2015. The sites are managed by faculty and staff, but the long-term hope is to have various student organizations “adopt a site” and take responsibility for providing students to regularly monitor.