In an early celebration of Earth Day, the Office of Sustainability is partnering with The Farm and Green Action Fund to host the Sustainability Summit. The summit will showcase sustainability research, celebrate student achievement in sustainability and share campus progress toward climate goals.
The Sustainability Summit will be held in Berger Hall from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday, April 18. The event is open to students, staff, faculty and the Colorado Springs community. Sustainably sourced coffee, pastries and lunch will be served during breaks. Attendees are asked to RSVP for each session they wish to attend by Friday, April 11, so enough food can be provided.
According to Assistant Director of Sustainability MJ Johnson, the goal of the Sustainability Summit is to “present our students with opportunities to learn, network, take action and connect with the UCCS sustainability community.”
“We really believe that higher education is a transformative opportunity for sustainability and creating a different — imagining a different — climate future than we are currently being told we have access to,” she said. “We believe that sustainability education is the key to making more change-makers.”
The summit will feature a variety of student, professor and community presenters. Organizations from UCCS and the Colorado Springs community will be available all day for students to network and share research ideas with.
Starting at 9 a.m., the State of Sustainability address will be given by student and faculty presenters. During this session, attendees can learn how UCCS continues to champion sustainability through curriculum and campus initiatives.
The Office of Sustainability will be presenting the metrics they submitted to the American Association of Sustainability in Higher Education’s (AASHE) STARS assessment. STARS (Sustainability Tracking and Rating System) provides a sustainability index of universities nationwide, allowing students to select a university based on its sustainable practices.
This session will connect UCCS’ sustainable strategic plan with the UN’s 2030 climate goals, showing UCCS’ commitment to mitigating climate change through sustainable initiatives.
Session two will feature presentations on sustainable research conducted by students and professors. “We ask students, faculty and staff to submit proposals for the research that they’re doing that is sustainability-related,” said Johnson. “If they’re a part of our campus, and they’re doing sustainability research, we want to know about it.”
Two GES undergraduate students, Grace Long and Kayla Thresher, will be presenting their findings on the sustainability of game ranching and complementary land uses. Their project received a Green Action Fund grant, and the two women were given additional research funding through the Jacquelyn Byer Women in Geography Fellowship.
After lunch, a panel will speak on the importance of renewable energy in Colorado Springs, followed by a Q&A. The panel will feature Chancellor Emerita Pamela Shockley-Zalabak, energy experts from UCCS, Colorado Springs City Council members and the CEO of Colorado Springs Utilities.
In the afternoon, educators invited from UCCS, CSU Pueblo, PPSC and Colorado College will be welcomed to attend a break-out session on how to integrate sustainability into their curriculums.
The closing session will focus on outstanding achievements by students in sustainability. GAF will present its budget and organizational updates. Sustainability students will receive their graduation stoles from Clyde and GES professor Christine Biermann.
Awards will be given away to the winner of the E-Materials Art Contest and for students who engaged in outstanding climate activism. These award recipients are nominated by the Office of Sustainability.
Sessions will be broken up with sustainable door prize giveaways and opportunities for attendees to mingle with visiting organizations. Students are encouraged to return to the summit as presenters, and the summit intends to connect students with academic advisors, jobs and internships to put their passions for sustainability into action.
“We hope that students will attend all day and walk away feeling empowered, like they’ve learned something that can give them actionable, transformative ideas,” Johnson said. “They can [then] either bring [those ideas] back to the summit or they can go start getting a grant for [them], and [we hope] that they’ll connect with all right people to do that.”
The Office of Sustainability is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its founding through this year’s summit. This will be the eighth Sustainability Summit and the first post-pandemic. A surprise award will be given in celebration of the anniversary.
“Wherever you are on your sustainability journey — whether you’re just getting started or you’ve been doing this for years — there’s something for everyone at the summit, and we welcome everyone to come,” Johnson said.
Photo by Francesco Gallarotti on Unsplash.