The Sustainable Communities Collaborative (SCC), the curricular engaged scholarship and outreach program of the Sustainability Institute at Penn State, is concluding the spring semester with a “Campus and Community Sustainability Expo” to be co-hosted by State College Borough from 5-7 p.m. April 27 in the municipal building at 243 S. Allen St.
At the expo, student projects will be presented in a poster-style exposition that highlights the collaboration between Penn State students and community partners to address real-world, sustainability-related challenges. Refreshments will be served and dress is business casual. Faculty, staff, students, community partners, Penn State administration, and the general public are all invited to attend.
Each semester, the SCC partners classes at Penn State with local governments, non-profit organizations, and businesses in Pennsylvania. Students can engage in applied, real-world research and projects as a part of their curriculum to build capacity for and advance the sustainability goals of their community partners. These partnerships result in a unique opportunity for students to apply their classroom learning, while participating community partners receive the benefit of collaboration and outreach, with students serving as subject matter experts. This semester, Penn State classes representing eight colleges have addressed over 30 projects with community partners from the State College region and beyond, including the City of Hazleton, and Huntingdon and Blair counties.
“The expo is not only a celebration of student accomplishments. It also serves as a marketplace for community partners and faculty,” said Ilona Ballreich, SCC manager. “This year, students worked with the community of Mount Union in Huntington County on a streambank restoration project. This project has already resulted in several spin-off projects expanding on this important work. While student work does not replace the work of professionals, student research does play an important role in informing our community partners and empowering them to take strategic steps toward addressing community issues. For example, agricultural engineering projects in the past have led to successful grant applications by community partners and the exploration of successful new approaches.”
The expo features a wide variety of projects, from College of Earth and Mineral Science students working on solar projects to landscape architecture students designing creative ideas for parks and other public spaces, HR students designing sustainability onboarding approaches, and engineering students addressing stormwater mitigation.
This year, the SCC has also expanded its list of community partners, including projects that collaborate with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (PA DCNR) through the Think Outside program, which is designed to provide field-based educational experiences for university students. Think Outside has provided a rich selection of projects, including an independent study of local Ginseng and sustainability policies for State Parks.
The expo will also introduce the Local Climate Action Plan program (LCAP), led by Peter Buck of the Sustainability Institute and Environmental Resource Management faculty, Brandi Robinson. LCAP partners students with local governments to create greenhouse gas inventories for local communities.
The SCC Campus and Community Sustainability Expo highlights the ongoing partnerships toward achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within local communities. These partnerships strengthen the relationship between the University and surrounding communities while increasing each community’s capacity to make informed decisions regarding sustainability challenges, and providing students with valuable real-world applications and experiences.
To learn more about engaged scholarship through SCC for either the classroom or community, please contact ixb20@psu.edu.