Category Archives: Seasons

4th Annual University Hunger Summit!

On Feb. 27-March 1,  Professor Art Kney and I traveled to Auburn University in Alabama for the 4th Annual University Hunger Summit Conference. We were invited to present and sit on a panel discussing the “sustainable food loop”.

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We attended events on Friday and presented on Saturday.  This conference was also a great experience and really inspiring!  Lafayette can work on local hunger issues by working with dining services and perhaps donating our excess food?  Something we might want to think about!

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LVAIC Conference!

Lafayette students involved with SEES and LEAP presented posters on Friday, Feb. 20th at the Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges Sustainability Conference.

There was some great speakers and break out sessions including keynote speaker John L. Cusack, the founder of Gifford Park Associates, Sodexho representatives, and Matt Steiman the Biodiesel Plant Manager and Assistant Farm Manager of the Dickinson College farm!

There was also a poster contest for students to display various campus sustainability efforts!  We had the biggest showing of any of the colleges with 9 posters and 11 students present at the conference!  The poster I presented entitled “Creating a Sustainable Food Loop at Academic Insititutions through Food Waste Composting and Organic Vegetable Production” placed second in the student poster contest.  Yay Lafayette!

Click here to see an article on the Lafayette website about it!

Jenn

Clinton Global Initiative Conference!

On Feb. 13th, Christina Chen and I went to the Clinton Global Initiative University Conference in Austin, Texas.  The garden project is funded by a CGI-U Outstanding Commitment Award, but we received the grant after the conference last year, so we applied to go to this one!

Here’s a quick run-down of the events:
Feb. 13th, Fri:

5:00PM: We arrived in Austin (from Philly), took the shuttle to our hotel to drop our stuff and took a shuttle to the University of Texas campus for the opening night events!

4:00-5:30PM: “Making a Difference on Campus: A Call to Action” Opening Remarks by William Powers, President of UT.  Followed by panel discussion with:

  • Bill Clinton (the former President!!),
  • Paul Bell (president of Dell),
  • Mambidzeni Madzivire (grad student at Mayo in biomedical engineering),
  • Blake Mycoskie (founder of TOMS shoes), and Natalie Portman (yes, the actress!!!).

Unfortunately we MISSED this session (because our flight was too late!), but we heard it was great!

6:00-7:00PM: “The Future of Food” More opening remarks by Bill himself.  Then other program partipants include..

  • Will Allen (Chief executive officer of Growing Power)
  • Emma Clippinger (grad student, Brown U)
  • Peter McPherson (president of National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges)
  • Morgan Spurlock (Film Director–and the guy from Supersize Me!!!)
  • Roy Steiner (director of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation)

Phew..we made it to this discussion!  This one was AMAZING.  The main message (in my opinion) was that campuses need to focus on their food production and waste.  Schools should food-waste compost (check!) and grow their own food (almost check!).  It was so awesome to hear these very smart (and famous!) people talking about how it is important to be doing what Lafayette is in fact doing!  It was an amazing feeling and I have to say it made me so proud to be a part of this project. 😀

7:30-9:30: Social Reception.  Students, faculty, and everyone attending the conference had dinner and (very yummy) desserts and mingled.

Sat. Feb. 14th: (Happy V-day!)

9:00-10:00AM: Plenary Session “Turning Economic Obstacles into Opportunity”

  • Paul Begala (president of Hat Creek Enterprises)
  • Scott Cowen (president of Tulane U)
  • Carlo DiMarco (VP, University relations and online strategy, mtvU)
  • John Dorsey (co-founder, faceAIDS)
  • Margaret McKenna (president of the Walmart Foundation)
  • Zainab Salbi (president and chief exec officer of Women for Women International)

Well, this one was interesting and quite timely with the current state of the economy.  It was quite interesting to hear from the pres. of Walmart, especially since they fund much of the Commitment Awards given.

10:30-12:00PM: “Working Sessions”!  During this time, students and faculty were divided into sessions of their personal interests.  Christina and I went to separate ones.  I went to the Energy and Climate Change one and Christina attended the Global Health Session.   It was a great time to talk with other students, faculty, university presidents (!), and Clinton Global U organizers on a personal level.

12:30-2:00PM: Lunchtime Meetups and such: time for everyone to mingle and talk about their commitments.

2:30-4:00PM: “Skill Session: Putting your Commitment to Action”

4:30-5:30PM: CGI-U Exchange: more mingle time to talk about commitments and network!

6:00-7:00PM: Summation and Closing Address by Bill Clinton.  and panel speakers:

  • Nnamdi Asomugha (Oakland Raiders Quaterback)
  • Matthew McConaughey (Yes, the actor!!!! and my valentine hah)
  • Marie Tillman (chairman of the board of the Pat Tillman Foundation)

This panel challenged the audience to continue our commitments and take what we learned over the past two days and apply it to the real world.  Hmm.. well, I think we’re on the right track, right? 🙂

7:30-9:30PM: Dinner Reception.  This was our last chance to really mingle.  It was so great to talk to inspiring students from all over the world and hear their commitments.  After dinner, there was a comedian..

  • John Oliver (Yes, from the Daily Show with John Stewart!!!)

He was HILARIOUS.  He commented on how the audience of CGI-U students were more like his parents than any college group he’d performed for on a Saturday night..hahaha, so true.

Feb. 15th, Sunday:

9:00-1:00PM: Service Project.  CGI-U students participated in various service projects around the Austin area.  Christina and I worked on cleaning a local creek (which really needed cleaning!!).  It was lots of fun and one last chance to see our fellow comittment-makers!

The conference in review:

It was an AMAZING experience all together.  I’m really glad Christina and I had the opportunity to attend.  Talking with other students about our gardening and composting projects seemed to really inspire others.  We learned from other students about their commitments and ways to improve our own campus.  One student named Jared worked with the UT campus to donate wasted food to local food kitchens.  This is something we could definately work on!

Thank you to the Lafayette ARC, Prof. Mylon, Brandes, Kortyna, Kney, and student Mike Handzo for making our trip possible!!

Jenn

PS. Here’s a Lafayette new’s story about the conference!

Dr. Dennis Keeney Visit

Just wanted to mention that on Mon. Feb. 9th, Dr. Dennis Keeney, Professor Emeritus of Agronomy and Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering and former Director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, gave two presentations.

The first was: “Ethanol’s Power Politics: Social and Environmenal Consequences” at noontime.  It was a really informative addition to the orientation hoopla, and quite a contrast to Hal Kamine’s “Renewable Fuels In Today’s Capital Markets” presentation in October.  Dr. Keeney also gave an evening presentation entitled “From Plate to Gulf: the Social and Environmental Role of Corn”, I wasn’t able to go to that one, but I’m sure it was great and again very relevant to the campus food production/orientation buzz.

At 4PM, Dr. Keeney had a question/answer session with the student garden team.  Lots of enthusiastic gardeners showed up to ask questions 🙂

Jenn

VAST 221: Technology at the Table

Some exciting news!

Annette Diorio, associate dean of students and Director of Residential Life is teaching a VAST course #221 Technology at the Table and will be incorporating the garden project into the curriculum. One of the large projects during the semester will be for the students to divide into groups and create a design for the large 1-acre plot that students will be tending. They will be deciding what to plant, where to plant it, and when. After completing their designs, Professors Brandes, A. Smith, D. Smith, and Wilson will be judging the designs and choose the best one (or pieces of them) to implement in the garden.

Tonight I made a quick presentation to the class about the project. I’m very excited to be working with them! =)

Jenn

A New Website!

Hello everyone!

Welcome to the Organic Gardening website.  I’m glad you’re interested in learning about the garden project or getting involved or even getting a plot!  I’ll give a brief introduction to the project here, but for more details check out the “About the Project” section of the site.

The idea for the project came up while working on the Corn on the Quad project this past summer.  Professor Dave Brandes,  Prof. Art Kney, Prof. Andy Smith and I were working in the fields, er..the quad and thought it would be great to continue the project further and more permanently.  Professor Dave Brandes and I wrote a grant proposal to the Clinton Foundation and won a small grant to support the project.

The next semester, Prof. Brandes, Andy Smith, Derek Smith, John Wilson and I worked together with the school administration and plant operations to plan the gardens. It will consist of two sections: a 1-acre plot for students to tend and another 1-acre plot divided into small plots for faculty, staff, and administration to lease.  We’ll begin planting this March!

This website is going to be a tool for keeping people informed about the project.  I’ll be documenting the progress of the garden through pictures and blogs.  I’m hoping to keep the “Meet the Gardener” updated where I’ll put pictures and bios of those involved.

Thanks so much for your interest and support!  🙂

Jenn