Initial Publication Date: December 1, 2016

Making Change Happen

Part of the InTeGrate Shippensburg University Program Model

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High-Level Project Timeline

Our three major goal areas include: faculty professional development, general education coursework, and enhancing co-curricular activities. The following reflects a summary of the major project activities and timeline for achieving each:

Fall 2015 (November-December)

  • Faculty course integration workshop for Spring 2016

Spring 2016 (January-May)

  • StewardSHIP Week (April 2016)
  • Campus Community Sustainability Forum (April 2016)
  • Sustainability Field Conference (May 2016)

Summer 2016 (June-July)

  • Course assessment for Spring 2016

Fall 2016 (August-December)

  • Faculty course integration workshop for Fall 2016
  • Fall Welcome Week (August 2016)
  • Sustainability Outdoor Film Festival (September 2016)
  • Career Day (November 2016)

Our 2016 programs were well attended and received. With support from campus, the South Mountain Partnership, Center for Land Use and Sustainability, Chambersburg Borough, and other partners, we hope to continue our sustainability related events into the future.

Key Aspects of the Program

Sustainability Pledge

Shippensburg University staff, faculty, and students worked together to create a Sustainability Pledge for the campus and surrounding community. The purpose of the pledge is to recognize the importance of StewardSHIP, and to show individuals how small actions they take can help support a more healthful and sustainable world.

Campus Community Sustainability Forum

The Campus Community Sustainability Forum engaged community partners (ranging from major corporations to small non-profit organizations) in a discussion on the concept of sustainability and the importance of thinking sustainably. We asked seven panelists to explore the term "sustainability" from their perspective and disciplines, how it related to their day-to-day operations, and how it impacts the decision-making processes necessary for the future of their organization and communities they serve.

Sustainability Field Conference

Our two day Sustainability Field Conference brought together members of the community and campus to explore topics related to sustainability. The goals of the 2016 Sustainability Field Conference were: 1. Explore the dimensions of sustainability today and in the future and, 2. Engage, inspire, and assess pathways toward stewardship and partnership opportunities between the university, and the communities in our region.

Learn more on the Advice for Future Implementations page


Sustaining Change

Through our 2016 programs, we fostered partnerships between local civic and academic communities, adjoining counties, regional environmental and sustainability partners, state agencies, and beyond. Individuals and organizations on and off campus have been involved in activities supporting this initiative with direct benefits to faculty, staff, administrators, and students. The grant encouraged on-campus student groups to incorporate activities into their organizations and their missions so they could connect these activities with the campus community at large through the development of StewardSHIP Week, the Sustainability Pledge, and related programs. The student demographic and administrative support at Shippensburg University is ideally suited to embrace sustainability efforts both before and during InTeGrate activities and this will continue. Now that groundwork support has been implemented, it is fully expected that future activities will build off of the successes and benchmarks that have been established as a result of this program.

Faculty and community partner feedback all clearly show that professional development opportunities made possible through this project helped to increase communication which facilitated awareness, motivated a new level of involvement, and increased collaboration around stewardship and sustainability initiatives to support the needs of our community. It is clear that these will only grow in the coming years, as we continue to integrate stewardship within our curriculum to the benefit of both student learning as well as to our broader community and the environment we share. In fact, as a result of this program, many of the previous and current sustainability related efforts on campus now have a broader reach through our newly revamped Center for Land Use and Sustainability [link: http://centerforlanduse.org/] and a new brand logo which we call our "sustainability engine".

Through InTeGrate these activities have now been brought to the forefront and have been acknowledged by students, administrators and educators within the campus community, as well as local, regional and state government agencies, and many of the civic organizations beyond campus. For example, partnerships between the Campus Farm, Environmental Biology/Conservation of Natural Resource classes, and the Shippensburg Produce and Outreach (a 501c-3 organization; [link: http://www.shipout.org/]) now help provide >160 financially-challenged families each week with healthy free fruits and vegetables. Likewise, Shippensburg University students and faculty helped initiate a new state-wide program in partnership with PA Parks and Forests Foundation called Stewards of Penn's Woods. This program aims to raise awareness of the need for conservation and helps to reverse the impacts of graffiti and other malicious activities within the state's parks and forests. In fact, sustainability-related programs on campus have been recognized by the Pennsylvania Environmental Resource Consortium (PERC) which named SU the Campus Sustainability Champion for 2016! This award was received at the PERC fall meeting in 2016. We believe this recognition and momentum is only the beginning, and will continue in 2017 and beyond.

Although we have more work to do, Shippensburg University faculty, staff, administrators, and students have made a new commitment to ensuring Shippensburg University is a leader in PA. We believe that we have initiated active steps toward improving the culture of sustainability on campus as a result of this program. Whether from campus facilities projects to student or club-sponsored events, or faculty-led curricular improvements, all have helped open a door that has been closed until now. Through InTeGrate sponsored events the connections are now in place to reach a broader audience and we are confident this groundswell will cultivate future initiatives.

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