WCE Case Statement DRAFT

ellesley Center for the Environment

For more information, contact [email protected]

INTERDISCIPLINARY ENGAGEMENT

INSPIRING LEADERSHIP

INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY

INNOVATIVE BUILDING

Building on Wellesley’s strengths to become the college of choice for women who aspire to make a positive environmental difference in the world

Students visit Sue Bridge ’60 at her off-the-grid estate, Wildside

“It’s time to leave behind trying to be less bad…rather than stewarding the planet into oblivion why not awake to our kinship with all of life and leave behind a footprint we can delight in? Why not make the human influence on the planet restorative, vital and good?”

- William McDonough, architect, 2003

DRAFT CASE STATEMENT

VISION

The Wellesley Center for the Environment empowers women to create positive environmental change, from the campus to the world.

INTERDISCIPLINARY ENGAGEMENT: Collaborative research and teaching strengthen connections across the disciplines at Wellesley, expand links to Babson and Olin, and connect the liberal arts with applied environmental research and problem solving.

INSPIRING LEADERSHIP: Targeted programming builds skills and models achievement and conscientious action on complex environmental issues at scales from the local to the global.

INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY: Active networking, outreach, and inclusion of alumnae increase the number and the diversity of Wellesley women who engage with the environment, building our capacity to ask hard questions and do the research that fosters creative and sustainable solutions.

INNOVATIVE BUILDING: An environmentally positive space embodies Wellesley’s commitment to sustainability, enables deep exploration of the relationship between humans and the rest of nature, and functions as the College’s physical and intellectual hub for the study of the environment.

Carly Gayle ’13 sets up an experimental orchard at the Colorado ranch of Betsy Knapp ‘64

Wellesley’s relationship to the environment has been a distinguishing feature since the founding of the College. The founders emphasized that the landscape was intrinsic to the College’s educational mission. Instead of reordering the surroundings to serve the College, the chief architects believed that “buildings and groups should grow out of their sites and environment.” This vision guided the early development of the campus, and was particularly important when the campus was redesigned following the great fire of 1914. In those times, a campus both wild and pastoral promised health, freedom, and invigoration at a growing women’s college.

Building on this strong foundation, Wellesley 2025 offers the opportunity to reimagine Wellesley’s relationship to the environment on campus and beyond. A Center for the Environment will bring together many of the college’s greatest assets – its liberal arts tradition, strength in the sciences, exceptional botanical resources, commitment to service and leadership, alumnae network, and global reach -- to equip young women to engage the great challenges of the present and the future. Key to this vision is a new building that enables year-round connection to nature by enveloping the Margaret Ferguson Greenhouses, and serves as the hub of a lively community of learning, research, and outreach. With the vibrant Environmental Studies Program at its core, and a focus on innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration, the Center will be a bridge between the sciences and the rest of the liberal arts, galvanizing generations of aspirational Wellesley students.

“a landscape not merely beautiful, but with a marked individual character not represented so far as I know on the grounds of any other college in the country”

- Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., in letter to President Caroline Hazzard, 1910

Continuity of engagement:

• An intentional focus on areas of broad interest, such as food systems, provides students great opportunity to explore a topic from a variety of approaches

• Students both do science and work on applying it, when science faculty collaborate on projects with social science faculty, Babson/Olin faculty, or the Director of Sustainability, for example

Support for collaborative research and the integration of research into courses:

• Shared “post-bac” (recent alumnae) assistants support collaborations and the integration of research into courses

v College-wide team teaching

initiative provides support for interdisciplinary collaboration

v Collaborative research

projects often arise from serendipitous conversations

v The Environmental Studies

capstone course (ES 300) engages the Director of Sustainability to help define a campus environmental issue for the class to analyze

v Core courses in the

Sustainability Certificate program include service learning projects

v Wellesley’s engineering lab

(WE-Lab) approaches engineering as “science applied in service to society,” engaging students in environmental problem solving

INTERDISCIPLINARY ENGAGEMENT at Wellesley, expand links to Babson and Olin, and connect the liberal arts with

applied environmental research and problem solving

“Service learning and community-based learning experiences are among the most successful and empowering experiences for ES students during college.”

– from Mellon/PKAL report Environmental Programs at Liberal Arts Colleges: Findings and Recommendations

What the Center brings

What we are doing now

A student introduced to an ongoing experiment comparing organic vs. conventional methods of growing carrots, in her first-year seminar, could then join a reading group on global agricultural transformation, analyze the nutrient content of the two types of carrots in chemistry lab, intern with a rural development organization outside Bangalore, and complete a senior thesis on the history of the Green Revolution in rural India.

“This year I launched a new first-year seminar on food, agriculture, and environmental sustainability. In conceptualizing the course, I knew I wanted my students to be hands on in the soil. The problem? I’m trained foremost as a historian, not a farmer or a scientist. But with the help of Mia and collaboration with Alden, we designed and carried out a rigorous experiment comparing organic versus conventional methods. The project has been so successful that the plots and data are being used in two other courses this fall. Mia’s ability not just to coordinate the experiment, but to engage faculty across the disciplines has been incredible.”

- Jay Turner, referring to post-bac assistant Mia Howard ’12 and scientist Alden Griffith

The ES 300 capstone course is in good spirits, even in the middle of an audit of the College’s weekly waste.

Carrots from ES 103 experiment: organic (left) and conventional (right)

Opportunities to build inspiring, sustained relationships with outstanding environmental practitioners, including scientists, policy makers and advocates:

v Practitioner Fellows from around the world join the Center for up to a full semester, bringing professional experience that enhances curricular offerings and builds bridges to other departments and programs at the College; such a Fellow might co-teach a course, lead a reading group, or participate in a collaborative research project or symposium

v Consulting Affiliates from the local area regularly provide real-world issues for courses and research

projects to address, serve as outside commenters for student work, and host student internships; formalizing the relationships that already exist with many local leaders and adding new ones strengthens mentoring, outreach and grant-writing capabilities

Sustained programming, modeled after the year-long Future of Food Symposium at Wellesley in 2009-10:

v Several speakers and events enable more depth and bring a diversity of perspectives to a focal topic

v Students experience how a range of

leadership styles and expertise contribute to progress on complex issues

v Workshops and student-led symposia develop entrepreneurial aptitude and communications skill



v Faculty model and teach about translating research into action.

v Students at Wellesley hear

directly from leaders in environmental fields in lectures and other events, including:

• Marjory Stoneman

Douglas Environmental Lecture

• Madeline Albright

Institute for Global Affairs

• student-organized Communicating Science Symposia

v Environmental leaders who

have spoken at Wellesley recently include:

Julian Agyeman Robert Bullard Robin Chase

Alex Cornelissen Elizabeth Grossman

Steve Hamburg James Hansen Bill McKibben

Matthew Nisbet Climbing PoeTree

Jennifer Price Maureen Raymo Jennifer Redfearn Marina Rikvanova


Robin Chase ’80, founder, Zipcar

Studying the environment means “approach[ing] problems that are urgent (meaning have the potential for enormous impact) and dramatic…It's world-changing!“

- anonymous Wellesley student from survey

Shani Fletcher ’98, farm manager, ReVision Urban Farm

INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY capacity

Recent ES Thesis Projects The Gullah People, Justice, and the Land on Hilton Head Island: A Historical Perspective By Dominique Hazzard (2011) Ecological, Social, And Policy Factors Influencing Biodiversity on Green Roofs by Brachi Schindler (2011)

Tracing the Flight of Climate Migrants: Predicting Human Migration Patterns Under Global Climate Change by Lesley Penticoff (2011) To Sink or Swim: Examining Coastal Sea Level Rise Policy by Kelly Mercer (2013)

Diet as a Prevention Tool for Chronic, Low-Level Lead Exposure: A Populations-Specific Intervention Model for Massachusetts by Phoebe Handler (2012)

Community-building programming:

v Project Handprint extends Wellesley’s liberal arts model to bring alumnae “handprinters” into the campus community, through on- and off-campus events and projects and an online portal

v weekly informal seminars and research updates provide a low barrier of entry into a research

environment

v home for student-led events such as the Sustainability Skill Share and exhibits of student projects

Opportunity fund:

v competitive funding supports initiatives and projects that raise the profile and broaden the scope of the Center, by engaging under-represented students, exploring emerging issues, and expanding connections to faculty and fields not previously involved in the Center


v Student environmental

organizations include:

• Wellesley Energy and Environmental Defense (WEED)

• Green Umbrella • Botanistas

• Slow Food Wellesley

v Outreach and community-building events such as:

• Climbing PoeTree multimedia theatre performance and activism workshop

• Sustainability Skill Share

with Olin and Babson Colleges

• “Teach Each Other Stuff”

faculty lecture series


handprint = positive environmental impact

Summer research students and interns take a break while setting up the “farm in a box” experiment for ES 103.

ES students say goodbye at our annual majors/minors dinner.

INNOVATIVE BUILDING

A focal point that complements the campus landscape in demonstrating the College’s commitment to environmental sustainability

v a built space that functions as an indoor ecosystem, closing loops on ecological cycles such as organic matter (e.g. food – compost – soil – edible plants) and water (biological filtering of wastewater from kitchen, greenhouses, and fish pools, and reuse for irrigation and fertilizer)

v an ecological design that facilitates health, well-being, and connection to nature by blurring the lines between the plant-centered greenhouse environment and human-centered spaces, and between indoors and out

v monitoring capabilities to study the building and its biological and physical processes, and to continually improve its operations in an iterative process of research and application

Year-round opportunities for engagement with living systems

v redesigned greenhouses feature tropical & subtropical biological communities of economic importance (e.g. small-scale coffee and citrus agroecosystems)

v modern environmental controls support a broad range of research in greenhouses

v experimental rooftop farm mimics urban agriculture conditions

v integrated spaces serve multiple functions, including tour group gathering, art-making, studying, and small-scale performance

Community, collaboration, and service

v space for Center faculty and staff shifts the emphasis from solitary scholarship to collaboration and service projects

o core faculty now dispersed around campus move to the Center, where individual offices are small and there are many shared spaces

o Office of Sustainability and Botanic Gardens staff are physically integrated into the community

v We-Lab designed wood-burning oven reduces landscape debris to biochar, (a useful soil

amendment) while heating the greenhouses and producing bread and pizza for gatherings


What do we mean by “environmentally positive space?” • minimal negative environmental impacts of the

structure and its use, along with costs of operation and maintenance

• maximal benefits such as air quality, natural light, water capture and reuse, and energy management

• simple, beautiful, highly functional, and built to last

Sirius EcoVillage, Shutesbury, MA


Commitment to sustainability:

v Environmental Sustainability Committee of Academic Council

v Office of Sustainability v Sustainability Certificate program

(Babson-Olin-Wellesley collaboration)

v Class of ’57 Green Fund

Exploring relationships to nature:

v Campus landscape continues to inspire artistic and scientific exploration

v Botanic Gardens provide great biodiversity and opportunities for experimentation

v Greenhouses enable year-round engagement with global biodiversity

v Student farm challenges students to manage land and its produce

FUNDING AND NAMING OPPORTUNITIES

Space • Redesigned display greenhouses: indoor ecosystems (tropical, subtropical, desert et

al.) with space for people as well as plants • Environmental Studies and community spaces: shared research labs,

seminar/project/studio room, faculty and staff offices, gathering spaces, wood-burning oven, and teaching and research support spaces

• Research greenhouses and experimental farm on roof of Science Center • Coordinated landscaping that supports the building’s functions (e.g. stormwater

capture and use for irrigation) and extends learning spaces outdoors

Staffing • Faculty Director: strategic leadership and grant-writing • Administrative Director: a full-time staff member dedicated to Center operations,

Environmental Studies Program, and Handprint network • Student assistants (2 x 10 hours/week) • Summer interns (3 per year)

Visiting Fellows and Affiliates

• Practitioner Fellows (two per year, varying lengths of residency) • Consulting Affiliates (uncompensated, support for internships and collaborations) • Post-bac Fellows (two per year, shared among faculty)

Student opportunities

• Summer research fellowships (12 per year – stipend, housing, supplies) • Off-campus internships (expenses for 6 per year, stipends if needed) • Opportunity fund (total $$ allotted per year, divided among qualified applicants) • Travel to participate in professional meetings (total $$ allotted per year, divided

among qualified applicants)

Programming

• Handprint network symposia and events • Outreach programming for students • Regular informal research-focused gatherings • Exhibits and outreach for the public

CONCLUSION

Wellesley now has the opportunity to position itself at the forefront of efforts to conceptualize how environmental sustainability is taught, researched, and practiced in the context of the liberal arts. A fully developed Wellesley Center for the Environment will leverage the strengths and passion of the core faculty with the addition of visiting fellows and alumnae, thus providing new resources for mentoring students and engaging them in pressing global issues. The Center will increase Wellesley’s visibility as a place for sustainability scholarship, strengthen the Three-College Collaboration’s work in this area, and provide a platform from which affiliated faculty can better access major external funding in areas of interdisciplinary and sustainability-related research and education. The Center will exemplify the importance of the liberal arts to environmental problem solving, engage a new generation of students in research, and create a pipeline for young women who will be environmental leaders.

“There are constructive ways forward. But they depend on radical changes in the way we look at the world… It concerns our judgment of modern man’s ethical response and his ability to turn his breathtaking and appalling energies from self-assertion—personal and collective—to a patient, cooperative search for the common good.”

- Economist Barbara Ward, addressing the world food situation, 1973

ellesley Center for the Environment

For more information, contact [email protected]

INTERDISCIPLINARY ENGAGEMENT


INTERGENERATIONAL COMMUNITY

INNOVATIVE BUILDING

Building on Wellesley’s strengths to become the college of choice for women who aspire to make a positive environmental difference in the world

Students visit Sue Bridge ’60 at her off-the-grid estate, Wildside

“It’s time to leave behind trying to be less bad…rather than stewarding the planet into oblivion why not awake to our kinship with all of life and leave behind a footprint we can delight in? Why not make the human influence on the planet restorative, vital and good?”

- William McDonough, architect, 2003

DRAFT CASE STATEMENT

WCE Case Statement DRAFT

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