5th annual Sustainability Summit

5th annual Sustainability Summit

Click here to RSVP via Email
Click here to RSVP via Email

Join us for the 5th annual Sustainability Summit on Thursday, November 11th from 9:30am-1:30pm in Kettle Creek located in the Roaring Fork Dining Hall (scroll to bottom of page for directions). 

Faculty, staff, and students will share highlights of their efforts and successes on campus and within our Colorado Springs community.
Opportunities to provide feedback to the draft 2030 Campus Sustainability Strategic Plan will be offered throughout the programming. 

There are two ways to engage in our event - in-person or virtual via livestream. In your RSVP, please communicate how you will be attending. Registered, in-person attendees will enjoy a free lunch.

Keynote Speaker:

Patricia Cameron
Founder & Exec. Director | Colorado Blackpackers

Resources for our virtual participants:

Watch the 5th annual Sustainability Summit live here:
 

 

Participate in our sustainability strategic planning process!
Click here or scan below to access the online form. 
QR code for strategic planning action

 

 


Directions for in-person and virtual participation:

  • Review the core strategy that most interests you. Click here to view the UCCS Sustainability Strategic Plan
  • Choose one statement under the section "How will we accomplish this? We will...". Enter a specific suggestion in the form linked above to help us broaden our scope on how we will achieve these goals. 
  • Example: #3 under Teaching: "Foster relationships...consistent internship opportunities..."
    • Suggestion: Connect with the non-profit Kids on Bikes to provide internships that would support early childhood education, public affairs, geography & environmental studies, etc. Kimberly Reeves (kreeves2@uccs.edu) has connection with Executive Director. 

Schedule of Presentations:

  • 9:30am | Welcome
    Kimberly Reeves, Interim Director of Sustainability

    Kimberly will lead participants in a welcome, overview of presenters, land acknowledgement, and Veterans appreciation.

  • 9:35am | STARS + UCCS Sustainability Strategic Plan
    Kimberly Reeves, Interim Director of Sustainability

    Kimberly will provide an overview of the framework STARS - Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System along with the most recent submission on behalf of UCCS. Then she'll provide an update of the 2030 Sustainability Strategic Plan and how to provide feedback to the draft. 

  • 9:45am | KFL Sustainability Plan Update
    Wendy Kisicki, Serials & Library Technician II and Julia Bullock, Acquisitions Assistant & Library Technician I

    Wendy and Julia will provide an update to the Kraemer Family Library 2019-2021 Sustainability Strategic Plan that is championed by the KFL Team Green. 

  • 9:55am | Integrating UN Sustainable Development Goals into Curriculum
    Dr. Tracy Gonzalez-Padron, Director of the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative at UCCS & Professor of Marketing

    Tracy will provide an overview of the UN SDG's - United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and how she integrates them into her courses. She will also lead participants in the Sulitest (Sustainability Literacy). 

  • 10:05am | We Have the Facts, Where are the Stories? Notes on Climate Storytelling
    Dr. Dylan Harris, Assistant Professor of Geography & Environmental Studies

    Dylan will lead us through the topic of climate change and how storytelling and the lenses they use can change how we perceive actions that need to be taken. 

  • 10:15am | iNaturalist, Bioblitz, and You!
    Dr. Maggie Gaddis, Lecturer of Geography & Environmental Studies & Executive Director of the Colorado Native Plant Society

    Maggie will share the importance of biodiversity and how we can become citizen scientists and use tools like iNaturalist and the Bioblitz event to provide data that will support our local ecosystem. 

  • 10:25am | UCCS Galleries of Contemporary Art - Sustainability in the Arts
    Daisy McGowan, Director & Chief Curator, UCCS Galleries of Contemporary Art

    Daisy will highlight art installations that focus on themes of sustainability, climate change, renewable energy, and community. 

  • 10:35 | Break + Strategic Planning
  • 10:45am | Food Waste Fed, Small Scale BioDigester
    Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Capstone Undergraduate Students - Mark Karstensen, Kyle Kuniyoshi, Mike Olivier, and Matt Quist

    Mark, Kyle, Mike, and Matt will provide an overview of their experiential learning project that will take food waste and produce energy (biogas). 

  • 10:55am | Household composition and experiences of food insecurity in Nigeria
    Dr. Esther Lamidi, Assistant Professor of Sociology

    Esther will share her research on food insecurity and the variables that impact communities in different ways. 

  • 11:05am | Greening the Urban Landscape: using roof-top and container gardening to improve food security and reduce climate impacts
    Dr. Michèle Companion, Professor of Sociology

    Michèle will share her research rooftop gardens as a means to combating food insecurity and climate change.

  • 11:15am | UCCS Farm
    Jamie Dunston, Farm Manager

    Jamie will share the successes of the UCCS Farm over the past year and highlight how they continued to foster community through a pandemic. 

  • 11:25am | Consequences of Conservation-Induced Displacement: A Case Study with Batwa Participants in Southwest Uganda
    Natalie Rodriguez, Lecturer of Geography & Environmental Studies
  • 11:35am | SOLE - Breaking Barriers: Giving equal opportunity for students to experience the outdoors
    Chris Ertman, UCCS SOLE Center Manager & Natalie Church, Student Project Lead - UCCS SOLE Center

    Chris and Natalie will share the many ways that the SOLE Center has integrated sustainable practices and provided accessibility to outdoor recreation through their programming. 

  • 11:45 | Break + Strategic Planning
  • 12:00pm | Keynote Speaker
    Patricia Cameron, Executive Director & Founder of Colorado Blackpackers; Moderators: Kayla Williams, Graduate Student, and Irina Amouzou, Undergraduate Student

    Patricia, Kayla, and Irina will share a conversation with attendees about justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in the outdoors. Some themes that may be explored are intersectionality, historical context, systems-thinking, organizational action, self action, and personal experiences.  

How to get to Kettle Creek: