A List
4/13/09

St. Lawrence Awarded Mellon Foundation Grant For Environmental Education Initiative

CANTON - St. Lawrence University has been awarded a grant of $800,000 from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, New York City, for support of its Environmental Education Initiative for Active Learning, Research and Advocacy, a four-year collaborative project with broad multi- and interdisciplinary participation.

The University plans to expand experiential learning opportunities such as field experiences and internships related to environmental education, research and advocacy; coordinate and increase collaborations between faculty members across disciplines; and implement these programmatic enhancements in environmentally sensitive ways. Participants in the initiative will be asked to estimate the "environmental footprint" of proposed activities and offer suggestions for how they can and will mitigate or offset those factors. In evaluating projects for funding, the Project Steering Committee will consider both any potential short-term negative impact on the environment (such as travel) and potential short- and long-term benefits to the environment that will result from the activity.

President Daniel F. Sullivan said, "Support from the Mellon Foundation will assist us in our long-range plans to achieve neutral status in the environmental impact of the University's operations, and in our ongoing commitment to educate global citizens who will be leading stewards of our natural world. The funding will allow St. Lawrence to carry out a comprehensive environmental education initiative that will have both a long-term positive impact on the University's curriculum and lasting benefit for the environment. For both, we are grateful."

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has provided St. Lawrence with a number of generous grants over the past three decades, all of which have enabled the institution to think creatively about how to enhance the curriculum in new and innovative ways. Examples in recent years include grant support for expansion of the arts curriculum; development of a new curriculum in rhetoric and communication; development of the ConnectNY consortium of academic libraries; support for the establishment of the Center for Teaching and Learning; and awards to initiate the University's Technology for Teaching Project and its Cultural Encounters Program.

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More: St. Lawrence's "Green" Press Kit

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