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UMACS Sustainability Career PanelJoin us for a Sustainability Career Panel on Friday, March 7, 2025 from 2:30 - 3:30 pm CST to learn from working professionals about their career paths!
Panelists include:
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UMACS Student Energy SessionAre you a student interested in the energy transition and/or energy democracy?
(green labs, fossil fuel divestment, energy efficiency, renewables, etc) Join us for an all-student session on Tuesday, February 25 from 5:30-7:00 pm CST to come together and learn, share what you are doing on your campus around energy, and network with each other. |
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Professional Development Meetings for Higher Education Sustainability Leaders
June 25-June 26, 2024 CST Michigan Technological University Houghton, Michigan Meet in-person with sustainability leaders from local colleges and universities to network, share about your work and find inspiration for your future sustainability efforts. Retreats will include a campus tour of sustainability initiatives, and opportunities to talk about topics that matter to you with other sustainability champions. Students, staff and faculty are welcome to join us! Please plan to pay for your own lunch. |
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Professional Development Meetings for Higher Education Sustainability Leaders
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Student Green Fees:
Is it Time for Your Campus to Have One? Tuesday, April 2, 6:00-7:00 PM CST Many campuses now have a "green fee" in which students pay a small fee each year to help enhance sustainability efforts on campus. Want to learn what other campuses have done to get these fees approved and how the funds are used? Speakers from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, University of South Dakota and Augsburg University will share about their campuses success and struggles with starting these funds. Please join us to share about any green fees your campus has, and to strategize on how you might start/increase these funds on your campus. This event is primarily for students, but anyone is welcome. |
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UMACS Energy Roundtable
Thursday, March 21, 2024 from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM CDT Topic: Solar Energy Join this virtual roundtable for discussion about energy projects on your campus: past, present, or future! Sharing your campus' experience with solar, wind, geothermal, etc. projects can help empower other campuses to be powered more sustainably and avoid energy project pitfalls. |
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Info Session: Arbor Day Foundation's Tree Campus Higher Education Program
Tuesday March 12, 11:00-12:00 CST Curious about what it takes to become a Tree Campus? Join us to learn from currently recognized Tree Campuses and their journey to recognition, their inspiring success stories, and the challenges they’ve overcome along the way. Speakers will include:
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UMACS "Connected Leadership" Course
January 15 - March 11, 2024
Interested in pursuing a shared experience in leadership development with other UMACS professionals? Alan Turnquist (Michigan Tech) invites you to join a small group in taking Connected Leadership, a free online course from Coursera.
- The course is designed to maximize your ability to create change at the individual, team and system levels. The instructor is Peter Boyd, an instructor at Yale and a leader in global climate change management. The course can be done at your own pace and takes ~28 hours to complete.
- The pace of learning will advance at 2-3 hours per week, and a group will meet virtually every 2-3 weeks to discuss and reflect on each of the 4 main modules. The entire course would be complete in ~10 weeks, starting with the first meeting on January 15 and the final on March 11.
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En-ROADS Climate Simulation
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2023 SUMMER RETREATS
Professional Development Meeting for Higher Education Sustainability Leaders Meet in-person with sustainability leaders from local colleges and universities to network, share about your work and find inspiration for your future sustainability efforts. The day will include a campus tour of sustainability initiatives, and opportunities to talk about topics that matter to you with other sustainability champions. Students, staff and faculty are welcome to join us! Please plan to pay for your own lunch.
Interested in hosting a similar event on your campus? UMACS can help coordinate and publicize the event. Email for more info.
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ENERGY ROUND TABLE
hosted by: Rob Hanson, Manager of Campus Energy at Carleton College June 14 from 11am-12pm Join this virtual roundtable for discussion about energy projects on your campus: past, present, or future! Sharing your campus' experience with solar, wind, geothermal, etc. projects can help empower other campuses to be powered more sustainably and avoid energy project pitfalls. Know someone on your campus (or a different campus) that would be interested in this new group? Please share widely!
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UMACS Coffee Hour with Jenna Jambeck on Thursday, April 13 from 9-10am CST
Macarthur Fellow Jenna Jambeck (Environmental Engineer, University of Georgia) is the Distinguished Visiting Professor of Liberal Arts at the University of MN, Morris. She has generously offered to host a "UMACS coffee hour" to learn about her Circularity Assessment Protocol and research on waste reduction.
Jenna Jambeck is a Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor in Environmental Engineering at the University of Georgia, a 2022 MacArthur Fellow, Founder of the Circularity Informatics Lab in the New Materials Institute and is a National Geographic Explorer. In 2019, she co-led the National Geographic Sea to Source Expedition: Ganges and currently leads the science for the Mississippi River Plastic Pollution Initiative. She has been conducting research on solid waste issues for over 25 years and marine debris/plastic pollution for 21 years. Her work has been recognized by the global community and translated into policy discussions by the High-Level Panel for the Ocean, testimony to Congress, in G7 and G20 Declarations, and the United Nations Environment program.
Macarthur Fellow Jenna Jambeck (Environmental Engineer, University of Georgia) is the Distinguished Visiting Professor of Liberal Arts at the University of MN, Morris. She has generously offered to host a "UMACS coffee hour" to learn about her Circularity Assessment Protocol and research on waste reduction.
Jenna Jambeck is a Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor in Environmental Engineering at the University of Georgia, a 2022 MacArthur Fellow, Founder of the Circularity Informatics Lab in the New Materials Institute and is a National Geographic Explorer. In 2019, she co-led the National Geographic Sea to Source Expedition: Ganges and currently leads the science for the Mississippi River Plastic Pollution Initiative. She has been conducting research on solid waste issues for over 25 years and marine debris/plastic pollution for 21 years. Her work has been recognized by the global community and translated into policy discussions by the High-Level Panel for the Ocean, testimony to Congress, in G7 and G20 Declarations, and the United Nations Environment program.
From Soil to Stars, Finding Nature in the Archive: A Reading & Conversation with Erin Sharkey and Michael Kleber-Diggs on April 3 from 4:30-6pm
What are the politics of nature? Who owns it, where is it, and what role does it play in our lives? Does it need to be tamed? Are we ourselves natural? Erin Sharkey and Michael Kleber-Diggs will discuss, A Darker Wilderness: Black Nature Writing from Soil to Stars, a collection of personal and lyric essays in conversation with archival objects of Black history and memory. The collection explores stories spanning hundreds of years and thousands of miles, traveling from roots to space–finding rich Blackness everywhere. Together we will consider the significance of nature in our lives and on the role of nature in the lives of Black folks.
What are the politics of nature? Who owns it, where is it, and what role does it play in our lives? Does it need to be tamed? Are we ourselves natural? Erin Sharkey and Michael Kleber-Diggs will discuss, A Darker Wilderness: Black Nature Writing from Soil to Stars, a collection of personal and lyric essays in conversation with archival objects of Black history and memory. The collection explores stories spanning hundreds of years and thousands of miles, traveling from roots to space–finding rich Blackness everywhere. Together we will consider the significance of nature in our lives and on the role of nature in the lives of Black folks.
Re:wild Your Campus Info Session on March 30 from 1-1:45pm
Are you interested in creating healthy, natural spaces on your campus? Learn about organic land care and discover some ways you can help in creating safer and healthier grounds.
Are you interested in creating healthy, natural spaces on your campus? Learn about organic land care and discover some ways you can help in creating safer and healthier grounds.
Ed Humes: The Forgotten Side of Sustainability on March 24, 2023 from 1-2pm
Are you interested in discussing topics that historically have been left out of sustainability conversations? Come join UMN Morris' event with keynote speaker Ed Humes, author of Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash!
Are you interested in discussing topics that historically have been left out of sustainability conversations? Come join UMN Morris' event with keynote speaker Ed Humes, author of Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash!
Thursday, February 9, 10:00-11:00: Virtual Power Purchasing Agreements
Learn from Chris O'Brian, VP of Business Development for Coho about how large-scale renewable energy solutions, such as wholesale power purchase agreements (a.k.a. "virtual" or VPPAs) can zero out up to 100% of your scope 2 GHG emissions from purchased electricity. Wholesale PPAs require no capital expense, cause net new solar and wind projects to be added to the grid, and can produce long-term cost savings. However, they are complex and involve many stakeholders. Learn how to navigate these challenges and achieve what could be your campus's greatest climate success.
Learn from Chris O'Brian, VP of Business Development for Coho about how large-scale renewable energy solutions, such as wholesale power purchase agreements (a.k.a. "virtual" or VPPAs) can zero out up to 100% of your scope 2 GHG emissions from purchased electricity. Wholesale PPAs require no capital expense, cause net new solar and wind projects to be added to the grid, and can produce long-term cost savings. However, they are complex and involve many stakeholders. Learn how to navigate these challenges and achieve what could be your campus's greatest climate success.
Introduction to Second Nature, Thursday, February 2, 12:00-1:00 CST
Learn about resources and programs offered by Second Nature (including how you can be involved (with or without being a member), Session will be led by Cami Sockow, their new Climate Programs Regional Manager (previously the Sustainability Coordinator at Georgia Southern University).
Learn about resources and programs offered by Second Nature (including how you can be involved (with or without being a member), Session will be led by Cami Sockow, their new Climate Programs Regional Manager (previously the Sustainability Coordinator at Georgia Southern University).