Sharp Sustainability Education Center: Benefits / Institutional Connections
Program Benefits
Ramapo College’s academic environment will certainly benefit from the addition of the Sustainability Center. The Center will further incorporate environmental literacy and understanding of sustainability into the Ramapo curriculum across disciplines. Students can take advantage of for-credit internship opportunities available in the Center, including in-service training for those in teacher education through programming for area school children. Student clubs, most notably the Environmental Alliance, will have a gathering place and forum for their activities. Courses, seminars, and labs will be based in the Center, making it a campus hub for advanced study on sustainability issues.
Young people in elementary and high schools in the towns surrounding the Ramapo College campus will benefit from the educational programming that will be available in the Sustainability Center. Here the next generation will learn about a building’s impact on the environment, and concrete steps that can be taken to reduce that impact.
Since the building itself will be a model for sustainable building practices, homebuilders, gardeners, and homeowners remodeling their homes will be able to visit the Center and learn new practices for reducing waste while maintaining efficiency and production.
Sustainability Center Programming
For Ramapo Students and Faculty
All Ramapo College students who enroll in environmentally-related classes -- as well as their instructors -- will gain a superb teaching and learning space in the new Sustainability Center. For example, the Appropriate Technology course will use the facility as a locus for design, experimentation, and demonstration. The Ecological Agriculture course will use the gardens and greenhouse to develop competency in sustainable agriculture. The Sustainable Communities course will use the Center as a base for its explorations of sustainable planning and design.
Professors in other disciplines will be encouraged to incorporate the model practices of the Sustainability Center in their courses. Tours and seminars will be offered for these classes to help students understand how sustainability issues relate to their own course work and lives.
Educational Initiatives for School-Age Children
Training will be available for students in Ramapo’s graduate and undergraduate teacher education programs. The Center will serve as a demonstration site for area teachers and administrators who seek a model for incorporating green practices in their own facilities and classrooms.
In the Community
Students in primary and secondary grades will tour with their teachers, learning about various approaches to sustainable living. Workshop or session topics will incorporate food grown at the Center, water use, how wastes are handled, how power is generated and used, and how building and landscape meet needs.
Adults from the community will find at the Center a practical way to learn about how to design new homes and to remodel their existing homes into more sustainable structures. Members of the community can also learn about how the land can be verdant and productive while making the gardener healthy and relaxed in the organic gardens.
