University of Connecticut
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Living Learning Communities
Living and Learning Communities on UConn’s campus “provide cohorts of students with opportunities to investigate areas of interest, either based on their major or an interdisciplinary topic, through guided courses and co-curricular activities” (UConn LC Vision). With over 34 Learning Communities at UConn, more than 40% of the incoming class and hundreds of students beyond their first year engage in service-learning and campus engagement projects while experiencing a sense of community among their peers. Small Learning Community seminars are offered for students to develop critical and creative thinking and the Innovation Zone, located in the Peter J. Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, offers student-led workshops allowing students to learn new skills. Outside of the classroom, students are provided with meaningful opportunities to build experiences through campus networking, undergraduate research, and off-campus trips. Examples of experiential learning through Living Learning Communities include: service learning, film screenings, access to global climate change conferences, connection to UConn Cultural Centers, participation in human rights events, and industry expert visits. One of the many Learning Communities on campus is EcoHouse. First and second year undergraduate students of any major interested in the environment are invited to apply in. Students must complete twenty hours of service per semester and two of their projects are centered around sustainability education. Students must draft an elementary and a high school lesson plan that focuses on various aspects of the environment, from ecology to emissions. These plans are distributed to the community and allow UConn students to encourage conceptual learning and teaching of sustainability practices.
https://lciz.uconn.edu/skillshare-sessions/

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department
UConn’s Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department offers multiple courses that focus on the fundamental dynamics of ecosystems and conservation while using the natural flora and fauna of UConn’s campus as prime examples. Students in courses with discussion or laboratory sections often use the campus ecosystem to study sampling techniques or for close observation of species. For example, in the General Ecology course, EEB2244E, students are introduced to the species within UConn’s Arboretum in their discussion sections and learn identifying techniques. In Developmental Plant Morphology, EEB3203, all laboratory examples are sustainably collected from UConn’s campus and are analyzed for plant development and construction principles. The Field Study of Animal Behavior, EEB3267, course focuses on foraging theory, territoriality, social behavior, mating systems, and sexual selection of animals which includes an aspect of the course where students track animal movement and behavior on campus.

Leadership in Community-Based Conservation NRCA
Undergraduate students have the opportunity to enroll in a Leadership in Community-Based Conservation course (NRE4695) instructed by Dr. Laura Cisneros, a professor in UConn’s Department of Natural Resources and the Environment. Students must apply for a 10-month paid environmental education leadership position through the Natural Resources Conservation Academy (NRCA) after completing the course. Students participating in the internship serve as Difference Maker Mentors who have the opportunity to co-facilitate a 2023 summer field experience and mentor a subset of teen participants from local communities. These field experiences are community-based environmental action projects. Through this program, students learn about authentic community engagement, environmental education, mentorship, and the implementation of real-life conservation projects relevant to Connecticut communities.
https://nrca.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3424/2023/01/NRE4695_Leadership-in-Community-Based-Conservation-Syllabus_1.5.2023.pdf

UConn@COP27 U.S. Higher Education Information Booth
In November 2022, UConn sent 14 students and 6 faculty and staff delegates to the UN COP27 climate summit in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. UConn participated alongside several other U.S. universities in managing an outreach booth that showcased climate action and sustainability at each respective university. Representatives from countries all around the world had an opportunity to learn about UConn’s climate action initiatives and the UConn@COP Fellowship Program. Upon returning, each fellow created a poster to present at UConn’s Climate Change Café symposium highlighting a focus area from the conference. Additionally, the fellows created a blog series that was posted to the university’s Office of Sustainability website. See this link: https://sustainability.uconn.edu/tag/uconn-at-cop/

UConn Climate Corps
The UConn Climate Corps is a 2-part undergraduate classroom and service-learning course that consists of students learning about local impacts of, and adaptation to climate change during the first semester course, using examples at UConn’s campuses, and an independent study during the second semester, in which students work with CT Extension faculty to assist Connecticut communities in adapting to climate change. The syllabus from the Fall 2022 semester online outlines that the class focuses on interdisciplinary climate change at the local, municipal scale with an emphasis on clear indicators of climate change.
https://climate.uconn.edu/climate-corps/
Fall 2022 Syllabus

GHG Inventory
Every year, a team of student interns at the Office of Sustainability (OS) performs a greenhouse gas audit for the campus using SIMAP, an online emissions calculator. The inventory tracks all Scope One and Scope Two emissions, as well as offsets and several Scope Three emissions categories. This data is used to monitor progress on Emission Reduction Strategies while identifying areas in need of being addressed. A report summarizing the findings is then drafted by the student intern team and shared with internal stakeholders who oversee various functions contributing to the majority of the GHG emissions.
https://sustainability.uconn.edu/what-is-uconn-greenhouse-gas-inventory/

Low Impact Development (LID)
There are six different types of LID, or Green Stormwater Infrastructure, features in more than 20 locations across campus. Stormwater runoff from about 400,000 square feet of campus area is diverted from catch basins and conventional storm drainage systems using these LID practices (i.e., green roofs, rain gardens, bio-retention basins, permeable asphalt and concrete walkways and parking lots, and porous pavers and snow shelves). In 2017, the Director of UConn's Water Resources Institute used grant funding to install educational/interpretive signs in the various LID features at most of these locations, thus, quickly educating students, faculty and staff about the environmental benefits of LID as they walk on campus during their normal daily routine. Several UConn faculty members created an on-line, virtual LID tour, also completed in 2019, updated in 2020, and is still relevant, on the website of UConn's Center for Land Use Education & Research/NEMO program. Through an organization called Soil and Water Conservation Society, students on campus work to maintain on-campus rain gardens and roofs while learning about low-impact development annually. Students have furthered this educational opportunity by holding Green Campus Tours, where high school students are invited to UConn’s campus and are brought around to the Green Stormwater Infrastructure sites on campus. These student-led tours are aimed at spreading knowledge about UConn’s green features and highlighting the successful measures our university has already implemented and noting areas for further growth. The most recent student led tour was held in September 2022 with Weston High School.
https://uconntact.uconn.edu/organization/ECC
https://uconnclear.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=8fd6f2e785614a11a83588f1dfdfd8fe

Energy/Water Dashboards converted to Green Campus Digital Posters
In 2017, in order to raise awareness among more students, a UConn engineering student, who was also an intern and webmaster at the Office of Sustainability (OS) converted a large-screen monitor, in the lobby of McHugh Hall (a LEED Gold classroom building used by 10,000 students a day) from a dormant energy/water use dashboard into a digital poster with continuously looping information slides. The new slideshows highlight McHugh’s green building attributes and promote sustainability events and activities on campus in user-friendly formats. The slides are designed, maintained and updated, by OS interns using stimulating info-graphics, photos and concise text. The OS has since purchased primary rights to display content on this monitor using the Campus Sustainability Fund, a UConn Foundation account. The OS continually works with faculty and academic program staff each semester to ensure that this display is used to raise awareness and stimulate projects that engage students in exercises related to sustainability.

Carbon-Neutral Taskforce
In 2019, Professor Chen Ming-Hui in the Department of Statistics began development of a software program that would monitor and display real-time energy usage on campus at the building level. This tool for UConn’s energy management team in Facilities Operations is used to identify and address anomalies in building energy profiles in a much quicker time frame than previous tools. Once identified, spikes in energy consumption can readily be addressed through the adjustment of building controls or completion of energy efficiency projects. This ongoing collaboration also incorporates data transparency and is accessible to all students, faculty, and administrators.
Recently created in spring 2023, the University of Connecticut Carbon-Neutral Taskforce is a group of administrators, faculty, and students that are working towards both long-term and short-term sustainability and energy goals on campus. Led by the facilities department there is discussion related to energy conservation programs and current ongoing projects, such as the installation of LED lights across campus, proposed solar canopies over parking lots, and hydrogen vehicles. This all works toward the ultimate target of carbon neutrality by 2030 and zero carbon by 2040. One of the examples of student engagement and learning related to the task force is the Carbon Coffee Talks which allow for direct discussions between students and experts on sustainability topics.

SmartBuildings CT
Since 2012, the SmartBuildings CT (SBCT) program has engaged with 140 different organizations including 74 municipalities and school districts, and 167 people in Connecticut. It has benchmarked 3,012 properties in Connecticut representing 108 million square feet and 7,754,897 MMBTU in total site energy using ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. Portfolio Manager is the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) interactive energy management tool that allows commercial and industrial customers to track and assess energy and water consumption in buildings. Portfolio Manager compares the energy performance of the buildings to a statistically representative model created with data from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS). This essentially compares buildings from a “peer” group of similar size and usage and normalizes the data for key building characteristics. The average energy star score of all buildings in Connecticut in the SBCT portfolio is 59 on a 1-100 scale. Avangrid has 168 different users in Connecticut that currently exchange billing data using its data exchange system that was implemented in 2017 using Portfolio Manager Web Services. This development and use of Web Services was a game changer for benchmarking for Eversource and Avangrid customers that have multiple buildings and sometimes 10s or 100s of accounts to maintain current energy data. The Web Services tool has expanded the regular use of the Portfolio Manager tool in Connecticut.

UConn SBCT works directly with Eversource and Avangrid personnel and its customers to complete benchmarking of commercial and industrial (C&I) buildings using EPA PM. To be benchmarked, C&I customers must request benchmarking services, supply a photocopy of one month of all utility bills to SBCT, and supply completed building and operating survey forms. Where customers are able, SBCT can train customers to collect and enter this data on their own through training sessions. Where technically feasible, all Eversource meters for each customer that requests connection to the new data transfer system will be connected by SBCT to the data exchange system to keep meter data current within EPA PM.

UConn SBCT involves UConn engineering students to perform data collection, analysis, and reporting work to support community building energy benchmarking. UConn engineering students collect data in excel format and through survey forms through email requests. Students organize and analyze the building and energy data. Students upload completed data to Portfolio Manager. Students connect accounts to the utility company data exchange system. UConn SBCT conducted over 69 meetings in 2022 with community partners and held four 2-hour training sessions with municipalities during 2022 to support customer use of the Portfolio Manager tool. UConn engineering students were involved in the majority of these meetings presenting portfolio status or final reports. The PI reviews all student work.
https://iase.engr.uconn.edu/smartbuildings-ct/

Sustainable Community Food Systems Minor
Sustainable Community Food Systems offers a unique opportunity to connect theory and practice through classroom-based work with service learning and hands-on experiences in the local community. Focusing specifically on the issues of food sustainability, environmentalism, and social justice, students gain vital skills that will enable them to become a leader in society’s slow and contentious, but ongoing, shift to a more equitable, just and sustainable future. At the heart of the Sustainable Community Food Systems minor is an service learning internship (16-20 hours per week). Over the course of the summer and fall, students gain practical experience through more than 450 hours of paid and credit-bearing internship, including 100 internship work hours at UConn’s Spring Valley Student Farm and the balance with a single community partner that is part of the food system. This experiential learning is then critically analyzed through an intersectional lens on the complexities of the entire food system that becomes a part of the students’ written portfolio. This portfolio, plus the internship hours, reflect the summation of their work.
https://scfs.environment.uconn.edu/

Spring Valley Student Farm
Spring Valley Student Farm (SVSF) is an on-campus farm that provides UConn students with an opportunity to gain practical knowledge and skills related to environmental, social, and economically sustainable organic food production. Students living at SVSF are meant to gain hands-on experience in modelling efficient regenerative organic farming techniques highlighting how food is harvested, processed, and presented to the UConn dining community. This site is also used by students and faculty as a learning laboratory where workshops and tours are presented to the campus community, residents, and local schools. In 2022, the SVSF in partnership with the UConn Beekeeping Club reestablished honeybee hives. The four full-sized beehives provide honey for harvest in the summertime and during the academic year students can apply to become beekeepers inspecting and maintaining the hives.
https://dailycampus.com/2019/02/11/2019-2-10-szdemxbw04wnuia45hwu0b2ka4cuks/
https://dining.uconn.edu/spring-valley-farm/

Food Security IDEA Grant
Undergraduate UConn student, Lucie Lopez, received an IDEA Grant in the Fall of 2022 supporting her summer 2023 project which focuses on Connecticut communities experiencing food insecurity. She is uncovering the stigma associated with free breakfast or government assistance programs in middle schoolers and determining the effects of this on student’s mental health.
https://ugradresearch.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/323/2023/01/Cohort-20-Fall-2022-UConn-IDEA-Grant-Press-Release.pdf

UConn Extension IPM Program
The UConn Integrated Pest Management Program (IPM) is aimed at educating the general public on the safe use of organic and synthetic pesticides and alternative pest control methods. The program incorporates crop and pest management strategies including efficient landscape utilization and on-farm resources for growers. The IPM education program provides sustainable pest management information through field training, conferences, workshops, and publications. Further, the IPM program includes a UConn School IPM Program which provides educational support to CT school grounds and turf managers that enables them to care and maintain school properties using pesticide-free management and other IPM protocols. The program provides updated webinars, conferences, and news articles designed to educate and inform on sustainable grounds practices related to pest management. It also holds certification trainings, hands-on field training, site visits, consultations, and other educational programs including CT School IPM Workshops, developed and presented by the CT School IPM Coalition, the UConn Turfgrass Field Day, Municipal Grounds and Sports Turf Academy. In the greater community, UConn team members contribute to and support regional educational conferences and associations, including the New England Regional Turfgrass Conference. UConn students part of the IPM team assist in publications, facts sheets, and the spread of IPM information to the general public.
https://youtu.be/yOzqpN_sJnU
https://youtu.be/v1TZBU4kwgI
https://ipm.cahnr.uconn.edu/webinars/

UConn Forest Management
The UConn Forester, a faculty member in the Natural Resources & the Environment Department, and his student crew, are responsible for the majority of the harvesting, logging, and milling operations for the Stormwise research demonstration sites within nearly 2,000 acres of UConn Forest on or surrounding the main campus. This Stormwise research is done pursuant to a partnership with a major utility company in order to build a more resilient electric grid by preventing storm damage along utility rights-of-way. Working on research projects in the UConn Forest, they gain valuable on-the-job training about sustainable forestry practices, land cover types, forest inventory and woody plant identification. These projects also help to ensure UConn’s Forest parcels remain healthy, biodiverse, and safe for visitors. Research also includes methods for minimizing fragmentation, invasive species, tree mortality along roadsides, and more. Home | Stormwise Forest Management (uconn.edu)

Water Bottle Refilling Stations Purchase
In 2019, UConn’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG) and members of the Take Back the Tap student group met with leadership in the Purchasing, Facilities Operations, and Sustainability Offices to propose the need for additional water bottle refilling stations in specific buildings on campus. Based on their survey of students, they recommended priority locations for up to $100,000 worth of water bottle refilling stations to be installed. Projects are underway with financial support from Coca-Cola. The Office of Sustainability is currently working on creating a GIS map of all the water-bottle refilling stations on campus including the building they are located in to be accessible to all UConn students and the public. Additionally, USG is continuing to work with UConn's Director of Brand Partnerships and Trademark Management to install and purchase additional water bottle refilling stations through funds allocated by university contracts in order to increase the number of buildings where they are located. https://dailycampus.com/stories/editorial-we-need-more-water-bottle-refilling-stations?rq=refilling%20stations
https://sustainability.uconn.edu/water-bottle-refilling/

Bicycle Working Group
In 2018, a working group was formed (formalized in 2019 as a subcommittee of the University’s Transportation Advisory Council) to evaluate and make recommendations regarding bicycling infrastructure on campus. The working group includes representatives from multiple UConn departments, faculty, community members, and undergraduate students. In 2019-2020, a research project to catalog the location of all bike racks on campus, along with attributes such as style, capacity, and proximity to building entrance, was completed. A map was created in ArcGIS which is used as a tool to guide bike infrastructure upgrades and to help inform cyclists of biking amenities on campus as well. As of January of 2023, UConn has been recognized by the League of American Bicyclists as one of six higher education institutions nationwide as a first-time honoree of the Bicycle Friendly University award. The Bicycle Working Group has worked to secure this annual designation for UConn Storrs for a few years and it directly compliments the university’s Active transportation Plan developed in 2022 to make campus more friendly and accessible to pedestrians and bicyclists. UConn’s working group circulated a survey in 2021 for community input on benefits and barriers that people experience in bicycling to, from, and around campus which was highlighted on the award application. The working group is continuing to encourage bicycling around campus in part of its efforts toward a more sustainable campus.
https://sustainability.uconn.edu/biking-at-uconn/

USG Transportation and Recreation Student Subcommittee
The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) allows students to gain hands-on experience in the legislative and regulatory process. This includes many on campus educational jobs for students, a 60-student Senate, Judiciary Branch, and an Executive Branch composed of the President, Vice President, and Executive Committee. The USG Transportation and Recreation subcommittee promotes transportation opportunities and concerns expressed by the student body. The committee, coordinated by undergraduate student Musa Hussain a senior Political science major, connects students with ways to improve environmentally friendly transportation on campus. Annually, the USG subcommittee, the Student Union Board of Governors, UConn Recreation Cycle Share Program, and the Office of Sustainability sponsor a Community Ride Day event. This event in the Spring encourages cycling, rollerblading, and skateboarding in an effort to promote sustainable transportation and raise awareness about eco-friendly routes on campus. This event is in part organized by student representatives, as well as the UConn police department and supported by administrators, and is open to all students on campus.
https://dailycampus.com/2021/04/05/a-day-to-explore-eco-friendly-transit-around-uconn/
https://usg.uconn.edu/student-services-subcommittees-2/

Food Waste Collection in Dining Halls
UConn Dining has a partnership with the LeanPath program and together they are able to track pre-consumer and post-consumer food waste in the Dining Halls. Currently, students at UConn waste approximately 2.2 ounces of food per meal. Using LeanPath, Dining Services is able to identify problems areas and determine solutions to decrease campus food waste. Additionally, UConn Dining partners with the Food Recovery Network to deliver unused food to the Covenant Soup Kitchen in the nearby town of Willimantic, CT. The Food Recovery program is able to make such great community outreach efforts through student volunteers who, in addition to donating the food, hold educational events in the UConn community on food insecurity and justice issues. UConn Dining also communicates with food suppliers to minimize excess packaging. In the on-campus cafes, UConn Dining has pushed their Green Piece Program which provides students with the opportunity to enroll in the program with a one-time purchase of a reusable to-go container to later be used at all food vendors in the Student Union every time students orders a meal. The enrollment into the program never expires and students are able to drop off the container in a return bin where they ordered the food and they do not have to worry about cleaning it. This program helps Dining Services cut back on buying paper containers significantly reducing waste.
https://dining.uconn.edu/greening-efforts/

Green Game Days
Each Fall, UConn designates one early-season home football game as a Green Game Day. Similarly, during the spring semester, UConn also selects one men's basketball game and one women's basketball game to be Green Game Days. For these selected games, interns at the Office of Sustainability partner with the UConn Athletics department to include promotion of these events and other recycling and environmental information during pre-game and in-game marketing and public service announcements. The UConn Office of Sustainability encourages student interns and volunteers from environmental organizations on campus to be peer educators. Their duties are to welcome fans to the game, run a booth with environmentally themed games and trivia contests for fans, provide fans with information about sustainability at UConn, and encourage them to recycle during the event. During basketball Green Game Days, volunteers “man the can” at each waste station and help fans throw away trash and recycling properly. After the game, the peer educators walk through tailgate areas (football games) and fan sections in the basketball arena, to collect any recyclables that have been left behind. At each of the football and basketball games, student volunteers and interns collect around 1,000 gallons of recyclables which are properly discarded in recycling receptacles. On February 22, 2023 volunteers collected over 65 recycling bins full of recyclables after the UConn Men’s Basketball game. At each game the fans are engaged as much as possible to educate them about recycling and other conservation-based behaviors and practices.
https://sustainability.uconn.edu/green-game-day/#:~:text=Each%20year%2C%20students%20from%20environmental,dubbed%20the%20Green%20Game%20Days.

Bioretention Design
UConn’s Civil & Environmental Engineering Department’s core curriculum includes a class called Ecological Principles of Environmental Engineering (ENVE4320) as a graduation requirement for any students majoring in Environmental Engineering. This course is currently taught by Dr. Timothy Vadas, the Director of the Environmental Engineering Program. One major component of this class is the year-end project, which requires the students to pick a building on campus and design a bioretention retrofit to mitigate stormwater runoff from the building or area of campus. Over the years, these student design projects have served as a starting point for Facilities and others to determine whether low impact design (LID) features, such as rain gardens and bioretention basins, can replace more conventional stormwater management techniques to control building-related runoff on campus.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RdGlI2djceVPqgeobdfAj80eWbt51yKCuL8L9dSLGYU/edit?usp=sharing

Stormwater Corps
UConn Professor Michael Dietz serves as director of the UConn Stormwater Corps for the Center for Land Use Educations and Research & CT NEMO. This program trains UConn undergrads to conduct an analysis for a CT town that results in an impervious cover disconnection “action plan.” Professor Michael Dietz also serves as lead instructor for a course where students can learn about stormwater infrastructure and apply their coursework with practical experience. Students study dozens of LID stormwater management features installed at UConn’s main campus and learn how to design and manage LID features for municipal and private adoption.
Spring 2022 Course Syllabus
https://nemo.uconn.edu/stormwater-corps/

EPAC
The UConn Environmental Policy Advisory Council is advisory to the President, Provost, and other senior administrators and targets strategies for enhancing the University’s environmental performance in multiple categories. The group works towards fostering sustainable development, mitigating the environmental impacts of campus construction, improving operational environmental compliance, and better integrating environmental principles into the University’s governance. The council meets biannually and may appoint task forces to complete the goals of the council. Student representatives are appointed to sit on the council during each academic year as well as academic faculty and administrators. Subcommittees and workgroups formed by EPAC include: Zero Waste Workgroup, Environmental Outreach Subcommittee, Environmental Literacy Workgroup, Recycling and Waste Reduction Workgroup, and multiple Climate Action Taskforces. Membership in the EPAC workgroups is voluntary and consists of undergraduate and graduate students as well as faculty and staff. The Fall 2022 EPAC meeting discussed a wide range of topics relating to environmental performance including the EcoMadness Dorm Competition and Dining Services’ recent Green Restaurant Certification.
https://sustainability.uconn.edu/uconn-environmental-policy-advisory-council/

USG Environmental Justice Subcommittee
The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) allows students to gain hands-on experience in the legislative and regulatory process. This includes many on campus educational jobs for students, a 60-student Senate, Judiciary Branch, and an Executive Branch composed of the President, Vice President, and Executive Committee. There are four subcommittees related to sustainability led by a student-team of undergraduates. One of the committees, the Environmental Justice Subcommittee, aims to promote opportunities for students to lower their environmental footprint and highlights the intersections of environmental justice, social justice, and sustainability. This committee collaborates with other groups across campus including the USG Office of Diversity, the Office of Sustainability, and campus operations to promote inclusive sustainability practices. An example of an event co-hosted by the subcommittee is the Environmental Justice Town Hall, held in 2021, open to the university’s student body and addressed the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards on campus and in the United States. Additional annual events and meetings held by this subcommittee include registering for Yale’s Environmental Justice Conference and sending student representatives and creating an Environmental Justice Mural to go up this year.

Environmental and Social Sustainability Small Grants Program
The Office of Sustainability and the Institute of the Environment started a funding program to support student-faculty projects that enhance environmental sustainability and campus-wide engagement with sustainability issues at UConn and in the greater community. Projects must increase both environmental and social sustainability focusing on a strategic sustainability goal and a related social challenge. Examples of a project that received the Fall 2022 award includes, Ecoposium, presented by student Claire Lee, which is an organization that serves to plan and promote UConn’s first student-led environmental symposium to educate the UConn community about relevant environmental issues. Another award recipient was the Renewed Outdoor Classroom project proposed by Isaac Betts, Andrew Muller, and Zachary Bates. This project is intended to promote locally and sustainably-sourced raw materials which will be used by students to create infrastructure for teaching, outreach, and artistic performance spaces – which will all be ADA accessible. All participants will present their project findings and impacts at a conference in the Spring following their Fall award.
https://sustainability.uconn.edu/environmental-social-sustainability-small-grants-program/

UConn Co-Op Change Grants
UConn Co-Operative Corporation (Co-Op) was the established member-owned student and faculty bookstore on campus for 41 years and was committed to supporting and enhancing student learning. Born out of UConn Co-Op’s commitment to public engagement came the Legacy Fellowship Change Grants program. UConn undergraduate students in all majors and disciplines can apply for up to $2,000 in funding to support community service, research, or advocacy. Programs must be student designed and student led to fit the criteria for applying. One of the Fall 2022 Change Grant Recipients, Cameron Slocum, dedicated their project to creating an interactive, sustainably-built pop-up exhibition educating students on the impacts of environmentally and socially sustainable design methods and materials. The project titled, “Material World: Design for a Healthful and Equitable Future” aims to empower students to act as agents of change in the art world and beyond.
Fall-2022-Change-Grant-Press-Release.pdf (uconn.edu)

Nature Rx
NatureRx at UConn is a program centered around promoting spending quality time in the natural world in an effort to improve physical and mental well-being. NatureRx additionally partners with UConn’s Student Health and Wellness (SHaW) center for additional care for students allowing them opportunities to talk to mental health providers. This university-wide initiative brings together SHaW-Mental Health, environmentally oriented student organizations, and academic departments to promote the benefits of seeking out nature on campus. This program is open to all UConn students, and they often hold events such as scenic hikes or forest bathing walks. Additionally, student liaisons are hired to work with the program advancing student awareness of the program and its mission as well as providing educational opportunities for other students.
https://naturerx.initiative.uconn.edu

UConn Health: Work-Life
At UConn Health, the Work-Life program advocates for an uplifting, supportive environment to ensure the well-being of all employees. The program is full of resources created and updated by UConn Health to serve the needs of the greater UConn community. Categories for support include Self-Care, Connection, Managing Stress, Employee Wellness, Employee Resources, and Family Care. Further, this program emphasizes that the program is crucial during “this unprecedented time worldwide.” One component of this program relates to student and temporary employees. Annually, UConn Health hires students and temporary employees in pursuit of the mission statement aimed at providing “outstanding health care education in an environment of exemplary patient care.” Students are able to obtain first-hand learning experience through programs such as the Work-Life initiative implemented by UConn Health.
https://health.uconn.edu/human-resources/services/work-life/
https://health.uconn.edu/human-resources/studenttemporary-employees/

https://lciz.uconn.edu/skillshare-sessions/
https://nrca.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3424/2023/01/NRE4695_Leadership-in-Community-Based-Conservation-Syllabus_1.5.2023.pdf
https://sustainability.uconn.edu/tag/uconn-at-cop/
https://climate.uconn.edu/climate-corps/
Fall 2022 Syllabus
https://sustainability.uconn.edu/what-is-uconn-greenhouse-gas-inventory/
https://uconntact.uconn.edu/organization/ECC
https://uconnclear.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=8fd6f2e785614a11a83588f1dfdfd8fe
https://iase.engr.uconn.edu/smartbuildings-ct/
https://dailycampus.com/2019/02/11/2019-2-10-szdemxbw04wnuia45hwu0b2ka4cuks/
https://dining.uconn.edu/spring-valley-farm/
https://ugradresearch.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/323/2023/01/Cohort-20-Fall-2022-UConn-IDEA-Grant-Press-Release.pdf
https://youtu.be/yOzqpN_sJnU
https://youtu.be/v1TZBU4kwgI
https://ipm.cahnr.uconn.edu/webinars/
Home | Stormwise Forest Management (uconn.edu)
https://dailycampus.com/stories/editorial-we-need-more-water-bottle-refilling-stations?rq=refilling%20stations
https://sustainability.uconn.edu/water-bottle-refilling/
https://sustainability.uconn.edu/biking-at-uconn/
https://dailycampus.com/2021/04/05/a-day-to-explore-eco-friendly-transit-around-uconn/
https://usg.uconn.edu/student-services-subcommittees-2/
https://dining.uconn.edu/greening-efforts/
https://sustainability.uconn.edu/green-game-day/#:~:text=Each%20year%2C%20students%20from%20environmental,dubbed%20the%20Green%20Game%20Days.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RdGlI2djceVPqgeobdfAj80eWbt51yKCuL8L9dSLGYU/edit?usp=sharing
Spring 2022 Course Syllabus
https://nemo.uconn.edu/stormwater-corps/
https://sustainability.uconn.edu/uconn-environmental-policy-advisory-council/
https://sustainability.uconn.edu/environmental-social-sustainability-small-grants-program/
Fall-2022-Change-Grant-Press-Release.pdf (uconn.edu)
https://naturerx.initiative.uconn.edu
https://health.uconn.edu/human-resources/services/work-life/
https://health.uconn.edu/human-resources/studenttemporary-employees/