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Campus-led sustainability efforts awarded funding from Sustainability Council

Nine sustainability projects initiated by Willamette University students, staff and faculty are being funded through grants of up to $500 each from the university's Sustainability Council.

The interdisciplinary committee, which promotes activities and awareness of sustainability and the environment, launched the awards program in 2005.

The grant recipients:

• David Andersen, exhibition designer, Hallie Ford Museum of Art; and Ann Nicgorski, professor of art history and archeology. LED Lighting — Pilot Project for the Hallie Ford Museum of Art Study Gallery: Halogen lamps in the art study’s gallery will be replaced with environmentally friendly LED bulbs in the spring of 2012, resulting in expected savings in labor, electricity and costs.

• Keith Kueny JD’13 , Laura Bloom JD’13 and Kelly Meunier JD’12. Hayden Island Sustainability Media Support Project: Through the grant, the students will create a media pamphlet or guide for a Portland-based, low-income group known as the Hayden Island Livability Project (HILP). This group would be disproportionately affected by the development of the Columbia River Crossing project.

• Astra Lincoln, College of Liberal Arts (CLA) student group. A Post-consumer Literary Arts Magazine: The goal of the project is to print the next edition of Chrysalis using greener methods, such as water-based inks, recycled or post-consumer paper and more efficient machinery to produce less environmental waste.

• Jonathan Rhoderick ’13. On-campus Native Plants Signs Project: The money will help Rhoderick create a native plants information database and information signs for 20 or more native plants on campus.

• Kaeli Swift, administrative assistant for the biology and chemistry departments. Have a Green Period: Through the project, women will be introduced to an alternative to disposable personal hygiene products.

• Ellen Scheffer ’12. Growing Fungus Among Us — Mushroom Cultivation at Zena Farm: Grant proceeds will fund an educational program about the environmental benefits of growing edible fungi. It will also help support the production of mushrooms at Zena Farm.

• James Thompson, art professorr. Archive of Ritual Celebrations that Sustain Community: The grant will be used to start a portable archive of DVDs, CDs, books and other audio and visual materials to document ways people use ritual practice, celebrations and gatherings around food and agriculture to sustain their communities.

• Tana Watanabe ’14. Willamette Closet: Through the pilot project, formalwear will be collected and recycled for use by incoming Tokyo International University of America (TIUA) American Studies Program students for black tie events.

• Natividad Zavala ’13; and Emily Dickey, tutor coordinator for the Chemawa Partnership Program. VOZ — Understanding Environmental Racism through Performance Art: The grant helped fund the “Border Fence Project” put on by Willamette University’s Coalicion Pro-Inmigrante de Oregon (CAUSA) — otherwise known as Oregon’s Immigrant Rights Coalition chapter — on Nov. 7 and 8. For the project, WU CAUSA displayed a chain-link fence covered in artwork and information made by students and community members, which addressed the complex societal inequalities facing immigrant communities.

12-08-2011