Community College Journal - October/November 2010

... FROM THE CHAIR

”“Campuses that address the climate challenge by reducing global warming emissions and by integrating sustainability into their curriculum will better serve their students and meet their social mandate to help create a thriving, ethical, and civil society. —American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment In New Mexico, students in the introduction to sustainability course at Santa Fe Community College (SFCC) created a sustainable agriculture proposal that includes courses centered around a community garden, an orchard, a rainwater harvesting system, a composting system, and a small-scale animal husbandry program.

President Eric Godin says the community garden at LTC has taught students “project planning and project management, negotiation tactics, leadership and delegation, long-term commitment and responsibility, networking, and sales and marketing.” The proposed sustainable agriculture program at SFCC would provide practical training experience for positions such as small farm producers and managers; garden educators and designers for public schools; community garden directors; farmers market managers; sustainable agriculture nonprofit administrators; and seed bank curators.

waste or as complex as employing clean energy, but every initiative begins with these simple steps:

1. Brainstorm areas where green initiatives could be implemented on campus, taking facilities management, architecture, and daily operations into account.

2. Poll your campus and the greater community for ideas.

3. Find or start a green club on campus. Empower the student club to lead the initiative.

Once you determine your green campaign and identify student leaders to assist with it, make sure the initiative is integrated into the classroom and/or job training. If you plan to use solar panels to generate electricity, for example, tie the design, installation, and upkeep of those panels to an existing job-training program.

Community colleges are places to learn skills and grow. When you allow students to take the lead on green projects, you provide them with invaluable experiences in leadership, planning, and project management. When you tie a project to practical job training, everyone wins—the campus benefits from a green program, and students gain practical experience. When looking at ideas to make your facilities, architecture, and campus green, don’t forget to tap into your greatest resource—your students. (For more on student environmental programs, see “Planet Activism” on page 34.)

Green-Jobs Training Student-led initiatives can provide leadership opportunities and job training for students. At MWCC, Dettloff gained research, project management, and teaching experience. But she also gained “the ability to collaborate with a host of others, including sponsors, college leaders and staff, and community members,” according to Janice O’Connor, MWCC’s director of public relations. Likewise, Sustainability Club

Empowering Students Students are doing wonderful things to promote green living at community colleges across the country. Green initiatives can be as simple as reducing