Every Wednesday at noon, WCU’s Office of Sustainability (OoS) offers a look at how WCU scholars, students, and staff explore and apply principles of environmental, social, and economic sustainability in their research and practice. At 50 minutes each, these Sustainability Research and Practice Seminars introduce an array of topics related to sustainability in easily digestible segments. Free and open to both campus and community, they are presented via Zoom or in person in Sykes Student Union 209.

The complete schedule is below. Unless otherwise indicated, speakers are WCU staff and faculty members. Please note, there will not be a seminar during spring break week, (week of Mar. 10), and the Apr. 2 seminar will take place in SECC 107.

Programs are recorded and archived on the Francis Harvey Green Library’s Digital Commons site. The series is co-sponsored by the Office of Sustainability along with the Office for Research and Sponsored Programs and the Sustainability Council’s Scholarly and Creative Activities Committee.

Find more information and the Zoom link here or write to [email protected].

Feb. 5: Dr. Megan Heckert (Geography & Planning), Dr. Randall Cream (English), and Dr. Tina Rosan (Temple University, Geography, Environment and Urban Studies): Using Walk Audits and Storytelling to Understand Neighborhood Environmental Problems 

Feb. 12: Dr. Emily Southerton (Learning Sciences), and Kate Southerton-Castillo ’26 (student, Transformative Education, and Social Change): Getting “out in the woods” with students: Intergenerational work centering learners as creators of sustainable futures 

Feb. 19: Dr. Abbie Ganas (Chemistry): Sustainable Synthesis of Cellulose-Derived Carbon Materials 

Feb. 26: Dr. Lorenzo Cena (Public Health Sciences), Daniel Engelbrecht, and Jess Hampton: Why do mushroom farms in PA smell so bad?

Mar. 5: Dr. Manu Ramalho (Biology): Fostering and understanding diversity, within the ant microbiome and our research group 

Mar. 19: Dr. Nica Davidov (Monmouth University, Anthropology): Nature Is Good to Think With: How Biomimicry Creates a “Sustainabling” Resource 

Mar. 26: Dr. Jason Vanfosson (English): “For All Its Problems, It’s Mine”: Writing and Sustaining Queer Appalachian Stories in Youth Literature 

Apr. 2 in SECC 107: Dr. Nur Ritter (steward of the Gordon Natural Area): Nobody Told Me There’d Be Otters! Species, Patterns, and Insights from 2+ Years of Wildlife Camera Monitoring in the Gordon Natural Area

Apr. 9: Dr. Jason Wozniak (Educational Foundations & Policy Studies): On Environmental Debts, and Debt Abolition to Fight the Climate Crisis 

Apr. 16: Nick Ventrola (Resident District Manager, Aramark): Pursuing Sustainability in Campus Dining Services 

Apr. 23: Dr. Linda Stevenson (Political Science): Teaching and Learning Sustainability: An Interdisciplinary Global Studies Approach

Apr. 30: Dr. Karin Volkwein-Caplan (Kinesiology): Healthy Aging in a Sustainable Manner 

Visit the WCU Office of Sustainability to learn more. Enrolling more than 17,000 students, West Chester University is the largest institution in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. Founded in 1871, the University is a comprehensive public institution, offering a diverse range of more than 200 undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral programs in more than 50 fields of study.