1. Turn off the lights in your day-lit office for at least one hour, beginning at noon on Friday, June 16.
2. Visit your neighbor’s day-lit office and remind him or her that it’s daylight hour time.
3. Explore shared common spaces (ie. bathrooms, conference rooms, etc) around your office that can be turned off.

New Paltz has joined a select group of U.S. colleges and universities that have met campus environment standards established by the Arbor Day Foundation, the nation’s largest nonprofit membership organization dedicated to planting trees.

“Earning Tree Campus USA status demonstrates to the world what those of us who live and work at SUNY New Paltz already know – that we have an extraordinary environment for studying ecology, not only off-campus but on campus as well,” said Eric Keeling, assistant professor of biology.

A small group of students, faculty, staff and community members came together this year to work toward earning Tree Campus USA designation, an honor reserved for schools that meet five requirements:

• Establishment of a Campus Tree Advisory Committee
• Development of a campus tree care plan
• Allocation of annual expenditures to campus tree program
• Arbor Day Observance
• Creation of at least one service learning project.

The effort to create an Advisory Committee was led by Emerita Professor of Biology Carol Rietsma, who enlisted Keeling, Grounds Supervisor Rich Drosdowich, and NYS DEC Senior Forester (and New Paltz alumnus) George Profous ’04 (Elementary Education). A number of students contributed to the effort as well.

Much of their efforts focused on presenting the New Paltz campus as a resource, both to students and faculty interested in studying the flora in our own backyard, and to community members seeking education about Hudson Valley plant life.

“I hope this reminds the broader public that our campus can be a resource – a place where people can come learn about trees and find new ways to appreciate their value to our communities,” Rietsma said.

To that end, the College’s new Campus Tree Advisory Committee has been working with local partners to help the Village and Town of New Paltz create a tree management plan and apply for green infrastructure grants.

“Tree Campus USA designation is in itself just a symbol; however, it is also a recognition of the spirit of innovation at SUNY New Paltz,” Profous said. “The implementation of new technology and science in tree planting and streetscapes in urban settings has lagged behind for decades. May your addition to the Tree Campus community help change that.”

Readers can learn more about trees at SUNY New Paltz by visiting the campus tree database, an invaluable resource that uses GPS and the hard work of biology students and faculty to locate and identify every tree on campus.

More information about the Tree Campus USA program is available online.

SUNY New Paltz students Ryan O’Hara ’18 (Management: Sustainability) and Martin Dearaway ’18 (Management: Sustainability) originally just wanted to plant a tree on campus for Arbor Day.

“Our fraternity first set out to do this as a way to get involved and do something green,” O’Hara said. “When we brought the idea up with the sustainability office and with the School of Business, it became something a lot bigger.”

The Arbor Day event grew into a collaboration between the students of New Paltz’s Pi Alpha Nu chapter, the Office of Campus Sustainability and the School of Business, and April 28, dozens of students, faculty and staff came out to celebrate not only the planting of a new tree on campus, but the launch of a new line of business courses designed for students interested in applying green practices to their future careers.

“Today marks the official beginning of the Sustainability Track in our Management major; today our program begins to establish roots in our School and our community,” said School of Business Dean Kristin Backhaus. “I want to say thank you to Pi Alpha Nu, to Michael Sheridan and to everyone in Facilities for all the work that went into this event – especially the people who dug that hole and picked out this tree.”

The new track is shepherded by Assistant Professor Michael Sheridan, who in a short time has created new courses and helped the School of Business forge partnerships with regional businesses and organizations concerned with sustainability.

For students, this means access to unique opportunities working with local companies on sustainability assessments – comprehensive, real-world evaluations in high demand by companies of all sizes that are looking to achieve cost savings and reduce their environmental footprints.

“The business community has a major role to play in solving sustainability challenges, especially with climate change,” said Campus Sustainability Coordinator Lisa Mitten. “The community is stepping up, alongside governments and public citizens across this world, and students in this track are positioning themselves to join those companies and push them to continue this important work into the future.”

The enthusiasm for the new track among students at the Arbor Day celebration was as easy to see as the symbolism of planting a new tree and launching a new sustainability track on the same day.

“The sustainability track shows that the School of Business is embracing a green future, and we’re really excited about that,” O’Hara said. “We hope that as this tree grows, the program will grow with it.”

Visit the School of Business and the Office of Campus Sustainability online to learn more about their programs, or contact Michael Sheridan at sheridam@newpaltz.edu for information about the Sustainability Track in the Management major.

The Office of Campus Sustainability is hiring a team of paid student Sustainability Ambassadors for the fall of 2017.  The primary responsibilities of Sustainability Ambassadors are to connect students (especially incoming students) with the Sustainability Network on campus and educate students about sustainability.  The Sustainability Network includes all the students, faculty, and staff who forward sustainability on campus through teaching, research, engagement, and operational improvements.

Sustainability Ambassadors educate students about:

• Sustainability practices on campus (ie. the limited sales of bottled water on campus, no plastic bags, sustainable food and beverages in campus dining, solar photovoltaics with battery storage on campus, energy conservation and efficiency improvements on campus)
• Sustainability behaviors (ie. how to recycle and conserve energy in residence halls)
• Sustainability student organizations, the living learning community, and regional organizations
• Sustainability majors & minors
• Sustainability GE courses and upper division courses
• Sustainability events (ie. the Repair Café and the Sustainability Fair)

If successful in the fall, students may be invited to continue their employment into the spring of 2018.

Responsibilities through the semester

• Training/Orientation – Sustainability Ambassadors attend an orientation/training prior to the start of the semester.
• Regular Meetings – Approximately every two weeks, Sustainability Ambassadors will attend a group meeting with the Campus Sustainability Coordinator to plan future events and brainstorm about how to most effectively do this work and connect with students.
• Farmers Market Tabling – The primary work hours during the Fall of 2017 are during the weekly farmers market on Thursdays from 10 AM to 3:30 PM.  Students will be assigned hours to work at the farmers market when they are not in class.
• Additional Duties – Sustainability Ambassadors will have additional duties as assigned, such as connecting with incoming students at Welcome Back Weekend, organizing the Sustainability Fair, conducting waste audits, coordinating New Paltz Unplugged and Recyclemania, and working one-time events, such as the Repair Café and Sustainability Fair.

Sustainability Ambassadors will be employees of the Office of Campus Sustainability and will report to the Campus Sustainability Coordinator Lisa Mitten.  Student Ambassadors are paid $11/hour.

Ideal candidates:

• Have an passion for sustainability
• Have experience with sustainability on campus, whether through student organizations, living learning communities, or academic programs
• Have excellent verbal communication skills, are enthusiastic, and are able to motivate and inspire other students

Timeline

Students who apply for this position by April 28 and are selected for an interview, will be interviewed during the first week of May.  Students who submit applications during the first week of May may be interviewed that same week.  Students who apply by May 14 will be interviewed during exam week.  The Office of Campus Sustainability will strive to make offers to student prior to the end of the semester.  Students will begin work in August of 2017.

Application

The application has two parts: a written application and a short video submission. Click here to download the Sustainability Ambassador Application for Fall 2017.

Questions?

Email Campus Sustainability Coordinator Lisa Mitten at mittenl@newpaltz.edu with any questions.

You are invited to swing by the Sojourner Truth Library during one of the time periods listed below and build a poem inspired by water on a typewriter!  No previous poetry experience is needed.

Drop-In Poetry Typist Sessions

• Wed, April 5 from 3 – 5 PM
• Thur, April 6 from 6 – 8 PM
• Tues, April 11 from 6 – 8 PM
• Wed, April 12 from 3 – 5 PM
• Thur, April 13 from 3 – 5 PM

About the WaterWords Poetry Project.  WaterWords is an interdisciplinary project at SUNY New Paltz that combines poetry, performance, digital art-making, and zine-making.  Water is essential to life, a “resource” consistently threatened by pollution caused by human activity including climate change, pollution, and privatization. Water is also synonymous with fluidity, a theoretical framework through which we may understand identity, communication, creativity and other aspects of lived experience.

WaterWords takes place through April 15th and includes the following events and participatory installations. We encourage you to get involved by dropping in at one of the poetry typist sessions, viewing the exhibit below and attending the final performance.

Student Exhibition

Theater student Sarice Olson has mounted her projection that incorporates the theme of water with poetry in the Fine Arts Building Rotunda Lobby.  Stop by anytime to watch the projection for a few minutes.

Culminating Poetry Reading

On Thursday, April 13 at 7 PM is a free culimating poetry reading at Parker Theater where several theater students will perform and Sarice will present her projection installation.

Drop-In Poetry Typist Sessions

• Wed, April 5 from 3 – 5 PM
• Thur, April 6 from 6 – 8 PM
• Tues, April 11 from 6 – 8 PM
• Wed, April 12 from 3 – 5 PM
• Thur, April 13 from 3 – 5 PM

About the WaterWords Poetry Project.  WaterWords is an interdisciplinary project at SUNY New Paltz that combines poetry, performance, digital art-making, and zine-making.  Water is essential to life, a “resource” consistently threatened by pollution caused by human activity including climate change, pollution, and privatization. Water is also synonymous with fluidity, a theoretical framework through which we may understand identity, communication, creativity and other aspects of lived experience.

WaterWords takes place through April 15th and includes the following events and participatory installations. We encourage you to get involved by dropping in at one of the poetry typist sessions, viewing the exhibit below and attending the final performance.

Student Exhibition

Theater student Sarice Olson has mounted her projection that incorporates the theme of water with poetry in the Fine Arts Building Rotunda Lobby.  Stop by anytime to watch the projection for a few minutes.

Culminating Poetry Reading

On Thursday, April 13 at 7 PM is a free culimating poetry reading at Parker Theater where several theater students will perform and Sarice will present her projection installation.

Less than eight years later, the College has recorded its two millionth pound of material diverted from landfills into use as fertile soil in local agriculture.

The College’s composting system was developed in collaboration with Greenway Environmental Services, an organization devoted to promoting fertile soils, clean water and zero waste, and Royal Carting Services, a waste disposal company with a mission to employ environmentally-responsible practices.

The partnership model was important, because bringing a new composting system to campus is a complex endeavor, requiring not only new receptacles and removal contracts, but also an educational campaign to help students and staff understand the how’s and why’s of composting.

Alumnus Vincent Nunziato ’88 (Business Administration), who directs Royal Carting Services’ food waste composting division, has played an instrumental role in bringing composting to his alma mater.

He’s been involved every step of the way, from Royal’s initial site visit to evaluate sources of food waste, to the education programs designed to help community members see the value in the new infrastructure.

“Setting up a food waste collection program takes hard work and dedication, and as a New Paltz alum, I am particularly honored that I have been able to work with all of the groups responsible for making this a success,” Nunziato said. “The two million pound milestone is an enormous accomplishment, and it is special to me to be able to look at that accomplishment in the very buildings that I walked through as a student.”

Royal has handled the work of getting those two million pounds of material off campus. When that’s done, they pass the baton to Greenway Environmental Services.

Founded and owned by Shabazz Jackson and Josephine Papagni, Greenway manages huge quantities of compost from the Hudson Valley region, preparing it for use as soil and helping distribute it to local farms.

“Greenway’s Organic Management System is successful because all of the stakeholders, including Royal Carting and SUNY New Paltz, are committed to making it work,” Papagni said.

Read more about Greenway’s method in this profile from Dirt Magazine, and keep updated on all things green at SUNY New Paltz with the Office of Campus Sustainability.

“The main goal in establishing the SFLC was to create a formal community of faculty members who want to bring sustainability issues and topics into their classrooms and to develop a related infrastructure around them to help them do so,” said Will Hong, assistant professor of digital media & journalism and an SFLC founding member.

“We found that there was a lot of interest among faculty and staff to bring sustainability to their coursework, but often people weren’t aware of the resources available to help them, nor were they aware that other faculty had similar interests. By creating the faculty fellows program, we’ve been able to introduce like-minded educators from different departments to one another, as well as to potential off-campus partners who might play a key role in developing a robust sustainability curriculum.”

Day one of the January Retreat was facilitated by Debra Rowe, senior fellow in education for sustainability with the Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future.

Rowe led an agenda aimed at encouraging faculty members to develop new curricula with sustainable applications. Many workshops emphasized partnership with regional businesses, non-profits and sustainability practitioners, and the program included guests representing organizations in politics, sustainable energy development, environmental advocacy, architecture, green building, and recycling and waste management.

“Dr. Rowe introduced the faculty fellows and visiting community members to many ways to help students become agents of change,” Hong said. “Just having community members talk about the kinds of things they could use help with sparked a good deal of discussion over potential student involvement.”

Some of the potential experiential learning projects that were discussed included:

• collaborations between a Hudson River protection organization and students in engineering and marketing to develop, implement and promote new campaigns;
• business students connecting with a local organization combating hunger and food waste to work on creating distribution models to benefit areas of high need;
• and a mathematics lesson that introduces contemporary applications of differential equations in research on climate, weather and the environment.

The Sustainability Faculty Learning Community is made possible with support from the Office of the Provost, the Office of Campus Sustainability, the Sustainability Committee and Campus Auxiliary Services’ Better Tomorrow Fund. Its January Retreat was organized by Will Hong, Assistant Professor of Business Michael Sheridan, and Associate Professor of Teaching and Learning Rosemary Millham, with support from Campus Sustainability Coordinator Lisa Mitten.