Category: Education

FOIA Workshop Session @RU Monday 2/18

SUST and SOC majors, check out this excellent workshop at RU scheduled for tomorrow, Mon 2/18, at 11am in AUD 314. (See this pdf).

This workshop is ideal for students in my current SUST 340 Policy, Law, & Ethics course, as well as for all SUST and SOC majors. If you’re on campus tomorrow and free at 11, I highly recommend attending! However, if you’re unable to make it, no worries: there will be handouts available — and Prof. Cusac is a good colleague of mine who would be happy to speak with you individually about how FOIA requests could enhance your environmental/sociological research.

Register for Spring/Summer 2019 Classes, & Good Luck with Finals!

As we enter finals week this F18 semester, don’t nelgect your planning for next year’s classes! Advising and registration are ongoing for the Spring & Summer 2019 semesters here at @RooseveltU — and there are still seats left in most of our SUST classes. The Sustainability Studies program is once again offering a wide range of on-campus and online courses for the next two exciting semesters of learning, research, and campus outreach projects!

Students, please look over the Spring 2019 schedule using this coursefinder, check your remaining course requirements, and email or call your assigned academic advisor with your planned schedule and any questions you have about your upcoming classes. Your advisor will help you craft your schedule and provide you with an RU Access registration code so you can register.

Sustainability Studies courses offered in Spring 2018:

SUST 101 Humans & Nature (MW 11am-12:15pm, Bryson)* — Waitlisted
SUST 210 Sustainable Future (T 2-4:30pm, Hoffman)◊
SUST 210 Sustainable Future (8-week online, 1/22-3/18, STAFF)§
SUST 220 Water (8-week online, 3/19-5/13, Jones)§
SUST 230 Food (M 2-4:30pm, Gerberich)◊
SUST 240 Waste (8-week online, 3/19-5/13, Gerberich)§
SUST 250 The Sustainable University (W 2-4:30pm, Bryson)◊
SUST 330 Biodiversity (8-week online, 1/22-3/18, Hoffman)§
SUST 340 Policy, Law, & Ethics (16-week online, Bryson)
SUST 395 Sustainability Studies Internship (by arrangement, Bryson)

* Ideas course in new CORE general education curriculum, effective Fall 2018; recommended for SUST majors and minors!
§ 8-week accelerated online courses; these work great taken back-to-back.
◊ Experiential Learning (EXL) designated courses: satisfy EXL requirement in CORE.

Sustainability Studies courses offered in Summer 2019:

SUST 361 Urban Ecology (5 Saturdays, 7/8-8/5, Pickren)◊ — NEW Course
SUST 390 Rooftop Garden (on-campus + online, 5/28-8/5, STAFF)◊

◊ Experiential Learning (EXL) designated courses: satisfy EXL requirement in CORE.

I know November is a super busy time of the academic year, but be sure to make a little time to get in touch with your advisor to sign up for the classes you need! For additional useful info, see this Advising Resources page here on my faculty website.

Good luck with your final exams, papers, and projects!

RU Students! Apply Now for Funding thru the Office of Student Research

To my RU students and advisees — the new Office of Student Research is currently accepting proposals (due Nov. 15) for student research projects for Spring 2019. See below for details, and check out the OSR website for more info. Contact me via email if you have an idea and want to brainstorm. This is a phenomenal opportunity to get funding do a scholarly, campus- or community-based, and/or creative project and, in the process, build your professional résumé!

The Office of Student Research offers financial and academic support to help students interested in developing and executing research and mission-related creative and scholarly projects. OSR initiatives support students at each stage of the research process, from connecting with mentors and securing funding, to gaining research skills, to sharing results with the Roosevelt University community and beyond. The OSR also provides professional development, graduate school preparation resources, and information on nationally competitive summer programs and fellowships.

Fellowships – The OSR provides several types of fellowship awards to support students engaged in research and mission-related scholarship projects:

Early Research and Scholarship Fellowships ($1,000)
Available to all Roosevelt University students, especially first- and second-year undergraduate students, to begin research and creative scholarship early in their studies.

To learn more about eligibility, the application process, and expectations download the complete pdf guide

Advanced Research and Scholarship Fellowships ($2,000)
Available to all Roosevelt University students, especially third- and fourth-year undergraduate students and recent transfer students, to conduct advanced research and complete creative scholarship. Several fellowships are reserved for graduate students who wish to conduct research early in their studies, although fellowships will be approved for thesis completion.

To learn more about eligibility, the application process, and expectations download the complete pdf guide

Community-based Research Fellowships (Based on funding/project)
Available to all Roosevelt University students who wish to conduct applied, collaborative, community-based research. Students awarded these fellowships will join existing university-community collaborative projects, working as part of a team.

**OSR fellowships are not the only Roosevelt program providing research funding. Honors students should explore research opportunities in the Honors Program. Contact the McNair Scholars Program to learn if you are eligible to participate in this federally-funded program offering research, mentorship, and graduate school preparation resources.

Research and Scholarship Supply Funds – Students awarded a Research and Scholarship Fellowship will receive a stipend. The stipend is intended to provide the student adequate time to complete the project. Students and mentors can apply separately for up to $300-$400 in a research budget.

Research and Scholarship Travel Funds – The OSR provides resources and travel funding for students presenting their work at discipline-based, regional, and/or national conferences. If you need travel money to conduct your research, please consider this when developing your budget.

Service Opportunity in Biodiversity: WeDigBio @ the Field Museum

Scientists from Field Museum and around the world need your help! Join us in transcribing scientific label data from our collections and from field notes books using online and computer tools. Activities may also include hands-on curation with specimens. This event will be held daily from this Thur 10/18 thru Sun 10/21, 2018 and is based at Field Museum.

* * To register please click here. * *

You will be part of a global effort to digitize centuries of data about life on Earth. Organisms may include ferns, fungi, mosses, insects, and mammals. Participants will have an opportunity to meet Field Museum scientists and join in behind-the-scenes tours or talks about the significance of the scientific collections!

WeDigBio is ideally for teens aged 15+ and adults. Refreshments will be available, but you should feel free to bring lunch. Space is limited; please register in advance.

Details:

  • For those attending on-site activities, free admission to the museum will be available after the event.
  • Each day there is one session, including registration, the event and tours. Registration will open at 9:30am and the event will be held from 10:00am to 2:00pm.
  • Free behind-the-scene tours after the event!

To Kick Off Campus Sustainability Month, Join the October EcoChallenge!

This year, Roosevelt University is participating in the October EcoChallenge, a 21-day sustainability engagement program. The challenge takes place October 3 – October 24, 2018 and involves universities, businesses, schools, all competing internally and with each other. Participants track and share their progress online in a robust platform and earn points for taking action. The combination of collective action, camaraderie, and friendly competition makes change a little easier — and a lot more fun.

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EcoChallenge provides tools and inspiration to turn intention into action, and gives participants a fun and social way to think about and act on proven solutions that make a difference for you, your community, and the planet. Over 100 actions within nine Challenge categories provide participants with diverse options to take action. You can also Create Your Own challenge.

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The Environmental Sustainability Committee and RU Green invite YOU to join the EcoChallenge before October 3rd.  To join, you just need an email address to create an account. Follow these easy steps:

  1. Go to https://2018.ecochallenge.org/
  2. Choose Login in the top right of the page and register
  3. Go to the Teams page https://2018.ecochallenge.org/teams and search ‘Roosevelt University’
  4. Join the team
  5. Choose your EcoChallenge Actions!

At the end of the EcoChallenge, we can tally up our individual and collective scores and see what we’ve accomplished! This will be our first year participating in the EcoChallenge, so help us build some momentum by signing up now!

Welcome to the Fall 2018 Semester @RooseveltU

Key text for SUST 350 this fall

As we wrap up Week 1 of the Fall 2018 semester, I want to extend a welcome to new students in the sociology, sustainability studies, and community development & action programs here @RooseveltU, as well as a “welcome back” to our continuing students. It was great meeting my students in SUST 240 Waste (Wed 2-4:30pm in WB 1215) and SUST 350 Service & Sustainability (Tues 12-13pm @EdenPlace Nature Center and online), and I’m looking forward to a great semester of learning together!

I also want to recognize some of our student leaders this 2018-19 year in our Department of Sociology, Sustainability, & Community Development:

  • Michelle Giles, senior SUST major, is President of the student organization RU Green and one of our Rooftop Garden stewards
  • Matt Harlovic, another senior SUST major, is Vice President of RU Green and chief steward of our Rooftop Garden as part of his SUST 395 Internship work this fall
  • Brenda Hershey and Shay Odimayo, both graduate students in the MACDA program, are the Graduate Assistants for our department in the College of Arts & Sciences

Students, please check back here to get in touch, find my office hours, or tap into my class/writing/research resources. I also recommend subscribing to the sustainability blogs and social media listed on the right, so you can stay up to date on all things sustainable here at Roosevelt. My SUST 240 and 350 classes will be contributing posts to the SUST at RU, RU Green Campus, and Schaumburg’s Sustainable Future blogs this semester.

Finally, I look forward to seeing you at the various College of Arts & Sciences events planned for the fall, as well as the landmark American Dream Reconsidered Conference here at RU the week of September 10-14. That will be an exciting week, capped off by our annual Day of Service on Friday 9/14! SUST students, faculty, and alumni will be running a volunteer workday on our 5th-floor Rooftop Garden.

 

Exploring Urban Nature in Chicago (May 2018)

Just finished up five days of exploring the urban and suburban environment of the Chicago region with my intrepid squad of @RooseveltU students in our one-week-intensive Sustainability Studies 360 course, Writing Urban Nature. Here they are at the North Park Village Nature Center on Chicago’s NW Side, one of the many sites we visited this week in Chicago, Schaumburg, and Will County.

From Chicago’s lakefront to its North Side parklands and trails; from South Branch of the Chicago River to the wetlands and woodlands of the NW suburbs; from heritage farms to prairie restoration sites — we visited a wide diversity of places in which to analyze the ever-shifting relations between the natural and built environments in this place that has come to be called “Chicago Wilderness.”

Pictured from L to R here are Austyn (oboe major), Tom (psychology), Alicia (sustainability studies), Grace (wildlife biology), and Denise (biology). Notably, Grace joined our group as a student-at-large from Western State CO University, enrolling in this environmental humanities class via the Resilience Studies Consortium of US colleges and universities. The students now are working on creative non-fiction essays as part of our Writing Urban Nature online project, est. 2015.

SUST 360 Writing Urban Nature: One-Week Experiential Learning Course this May

Registration Information

  • SUST 360-01 Writing Urban Nature — CRN 31243 / Pre-req: ENG 102 with a grade of C- or better

Meets May 21-25 from 9:30am to 5pm at RU’s Chicago Campus. Required pre-session on May 9 from 4-6pm, room TBA — videoconferencing also will be provided through Zoom for the pre-session. Some additional work online required. Final writing assignment due June 1st.

See detailed course preview here!