After less than two years as a formal degree program, I’m pleased to announce that our first Sustainability Studies graduate walked across the stage at Roosevelt’s storied Auditorium Theater on Dec. 16th, 2011. Congratulations to my former student and advisee, Heather Diedrich!
Heather Diedrich with SUST professors Greg Buckley (left) and Mike Bryson
Heather Diedrich didn’t know what she wanted to do after high school, so she entered the workforce instead of going to college. “I didn’t want to waste time or money until I knew what I wanted to do,” she says.
But after several years of working as a server and in retail, Diedrich was ready to get serious about her education. She stumbled upon an announcement for Roosevelt University’s brand-new undergraduate sustainability studies program and was intrigued. “It was just perfect for me. The topics to be studied — food, water, social responsibility — are what I like to read about and what I care about in life.”
Heather and RU's President, Chuck Middleton
My colleagues and I are delighted that Heather made her choice and proud to see her complete the program. One thing that has really struck me as I’ve taught my first several SUST courses is the intelligence, motivation, and passion of the students who’ve enrolled as majors in Sustainability Studies. They’re among the most talented folks I’ve ever worked with.
Here’s an exciting summer research opportunity for SUST majors with interests in science and water. The National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program funds summer research programs all over the US each year, and one noteworthy prospect is the summer internship program at the Center for Great Lakes Studies at the University of Wisconsin — Milwaukee.
Research Opportunities at the Center for Great Lakes Studies (Univ Wisc - Milwaukee)
Information about the program (pdf)
Duration: 4 June through 10 August 2012
This is nice: $5,000 stipend + travel and housing support Application deadline: 5 March 2012
For those SUST majors with some science in their background, particularly biology and/or chemistry, this is a potentially outstanding opportunity to do original research under the guidance of a professional scientist on a Great Lakes science/sustainability topic of your choice. Back in my undergrad years in the 1980s, when the REU program was new, I benefited from two summer internships — one studying avian ecology at the University of Michigan Biological Station (northern Lower Michigan), the other learning about the biogeochemistry of salt marshes and coastal marine ponds at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (Cape Cod). Both were tremendous learning experiences I’ve never forgotten.
This past fall semester, students in my Sustainability Studies 220 Water seminar at Roosevelt University’s Schaumburg Campus collaborated on a semester-long research endeavor, the Water in Schaumburg Project. Small groups of students researched water resource issues related to water supply, wastewater treatment, wetlands, and the Salt Creek watershed — all within the context of the Village of Schaumburg and surrounding communities. They wrote essays, gathered images, and collected/annotated internet resources on their four key topics; and after synthesizing and editing their work, I uploaded it to the Schaumburg’s Sustainable Future website — a collaborative endeavor that originated in the spring of 2011 with my SUST 210 Sustainable Future class.
Congratulations to the members of SUST 220 for their hard work on this project! And coming up in spring 2012 — a transportation-focused project from my online SUST 210 class.
This fellowship opportunity just crossed my desk. I’m sure the application process is rigorous, but the SUST major at RU qualifies as an eligible program of study, according to my quick scan of the applicant requirements. If you’re entering your junior year (approximately) in the program and have an interest in working at the EPA in the summer, check this out.
Fall 2012 EPA Greater Research Opportunities (GRO)
Fellowships For Undergraduate Environmental Study Application Deadline: December 12, 2011
EPA, as part of its Greater Research Opportunities (GRO) Fellowships program, is offering GRO undergraduate fellowships for bachelor level students in environmental fields of study. Subject to availability of funding, and other applicable considerations, the Agency plans to award approximately 40 new fellowships by July 30, 2012. Eligible students will receive support for their junior and senior years of undergraduate study and for an internship at an EPA facility during the summer of their junior year. The fellowship provides up to $19,700 per academic year of support and $9,500 of support for a three-month summer internship.
This past spring, the Sustainability Studies program offered its inaugural section of SUST 330 Biodiversity as a hands-on learning and research experience at the famed Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. One of the students in the class, Amanda Zeigler, offers these reflections on her experiences here:
SUST major Amanda Zeigler working at the Field Museum of Natural History
As a Sustainability Studies major, every course I have taken in the program has been meaningful and rewarding, but none has matched the experiential aspect of SUST 330, better known as Biodiversity. This class met once a week at the Field Museum, and was taught by Julian Kerbis Peterhans, Professor of Natural Science at Roosevelt University and an Adjunct Curator in the museum’s Zoology Department. A typical class consisted of a lecture by a member of the museum’s renowned staff, followed by internship duties. These internships included work in invertebrate fossils, vertebrate paleontology, botany, small mammals, geology, insects, botany and lichens.
Prof. Julian Kerbis Peterhans at work in his lab at the Field Museum
I had the pleasure of working in the small mammals division, along with three other students, and it was a blast. Getting the opportunity to work “back stage” at a world-class institution was informative and just plain cool. Our duties ranged from data entry, to manually cleaning various bones and skulls, cleaning, sexing and organizing specimens, and providing assistance in any way we could, to further the success of the department. Getting to spend a semester as part of the museum team was an exciting way to witness biodiversity firsthand, and learn how it relates to sustainability on a global level. I can honestly say that SUST 330 has changed the way I view the natural world around me, and has made me more conscious of the ecologically fragile world that both we, and all other living creatures, inhabit.
Through this course, I got plugged into an internship in the Botany Department of the Field Museum, where I will be working this summer. I’m looking forward to returning to the museum, and helping in any way that I can, while all the while advancing the cause of sustainability.
Congratulations to Amanda on her upcoming summer internship at the Field Museum. She is one of many talented SUST majors in our program, which began in the spring of 2010 and is now in its fourth semester this summer. Next fall, Professor Kerbis Peterhans will again offer SUST 330 Biodiversity at the Field Museum on Friday mornings. If this kind of learning experience appeals to you, check out this listing of our upcoming Fall 2011 course offerings, or contact Profs. Mike Bryson or Carl Zimring to learn more.
A warm congratulations to all the honorees at the annual College of Professional Studies awards ceremony, held on April 28th at the Chicago Campus’ Gage Gallery. Special kudos to SUST majors Jessie Crow Mermel, who won an Honorable Mention in the creative writing contest; and Kristina Lugo, who was inducted into the Alpha Sigma Lambda adult student honor society.
Details and photos are available on the College of Professional Studies blog — check it out here. And thanks to all my students this semester for your hard work and great contributions to class discussion. Enjoy this summer!
Normally Friday nights are pretty quiet at RU’s Schaumburg Campus. But not this past Friday night. Despite pounding rain and a brief hailstorm, around 60 people converged on Alumni Hall for the special Earth Day screening of the new Aldo Leopold documentary film, Green Fire. In attendance were several Roosevelt faculty, staff, and students; but the bulk of the crowd came from the larger community. Folks like Steve and Jill Flexman, veteran restoration volunteers from the Poplar Creek Prairie Stewards; Jean and Jim DeHorn of the Chicago chapter of Wild Ones; and a prospective student from Joliet Junior College who drove all the way from Joliet (just like me) to see the film and meet some current RU Sustainability Studies students.
This small sampling of the eclectic audience at last night’s screening gives a hint of what proved to be a dynamic gathering of academics, environmental stewards, and social activists who live and work in the northwest suburban region . . . and beyond. After the film we engaged in a spirited discussion of Leopold and his classic 1949 book A Sand County Almanac, local environmentalism, the need for a more ethical relation to the land (and each other), and the value of ecological stewardship. Schaumburg’s Sustainable Future, a website created as a collaborative research project by the students in my SUST 210 Sustainable Future class this spring at the Schaumburg Campus, aims to provide a platform for keeping that exciting conversation going.
Special thanks go to Gavin Van Horn, Director of Midwest Cultures of Conservation for the Center for Humans and Nature in Chicago (one of Green Fire‘s co-producers), who helped me introduce the film and moderate discussion afterward; Jessie Crow Mermel, a Sustainability Studies major and educator at Angelic Organics farm in Caldonia IL, who planted the idea of getting Green Fire to screen at Roosevelt and provided a student’s perspective on the important of Leopold’s Land Ethic in her introductory remarks; Schaumburg Campus Provost Doug Knerr, who provided planning support and encouragement for this event from the get-go; RU professional staff Yvette Joseph, Jackie Talerico, Tim Hopkins, Jon Resele, and Sharon Del Prete for their incredible support and hard work in the planning and logistics for last night’s screening; and the students of my SUST 210 class — particularly Mary Beth Radeck, who provided superb content for and great student leadership on this project.
Paper submissions for the “Past is Present: History, Social Movements and Justice” undergraduate and graduate student conference are due this Friday, Feb. 25 at 5 p.m. We request students provide a 200-word abstract and author information. All submissions can be emailed to pastispresent@roosevelt.edu. If you have any questions, please contact Stephanie Farmer in Sociology (sfarmer@roosevelt.edu) or Eric Gellman in History (egellman@roosevelt.edu).
Here’s another great opportunity to learn about sustainable food issues and systems, with a special focus on urban food production and consumption. This one’s to be held at Northwestern University in Evanston.
Midwest Real Food Summit 2011: Urban Food Systems in Development
Northwestern University, Evanston IL, Feb. 18 – 20.
Food is culture, food is community. It is what unites us, sharing a meal together. However, the system that produces and distributes and controls food in this country is flawed. The Midwest is the epicenter of our commodity food system and as students learning in midwest institutions we have the responsibility and the power to educate ourselves and those around us about the issues in the modern U.S. food system. That’s where this summit comes in!
For details and registration (students can attend for $25), see the Food Summit’s website.
I just got word via email of an interesting academic conference for students to be held at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, on April 2-3, 2011. The focus is on sustainable agriculture, and one of the keynote speakers is Milwaukee-based urban farmer Will Allen, founder of Growing Power. The conference is being organized by the Sustainable Lawrence University Gardens, and is described as
a regional conference for college students dedicated to sustainable gardening and farming initiatives (whether well established or not yet realized). SISA will facilitate a much needed exchange between students involved in and interested in agricultural projects at colleges and universities throughout the midwest. Interested faculty and staff are encouraged to attend as well.
More information can be found at the conference website; the registration is inexpensive ($20) and lodging assistance is available.
