Environmental Resources

 

Center News

The KUPEE Energy Initiative
Western Kentucky University’s Center for Environmental Education and Sustainability was funded in late 2009 to lead a three-year, $1.57 million project to integrate service learning into environmental education programs in Kentucky.  The project will engage about 360 college students and 4,000 elementary and secondary school students in high-quality service-learning projects that meet local needs.

The Kentucky University Partnership in Environmental Education (KUPEE) Energy Initiative was one of 18 Learn and Serve America grants awarded by the Corporation for National and Community Service and one of only five that involves a consortium of universities.

According to Dr. Terry Wilson, director of WKU’s Center for Environmental Education and Sustainability, KUPEE will partner with Earth Force, a national service-learning provider, and Brandeis University’s Center for Youth and Communities to integrate service-learning into the environmental education programs at WKU, Eastern Kentucky University, Murray State University, and Morehead State University, as a means to increase energy conservation.

WKU and the other universities will incorporate service learning into their teacher education programs, specifically courses that are part of their environmental education endorsement. “In WKU’s graduate endorsement program in environmental education, we will integrate a service-learning component into those courses,” Dr. Wilson said. “Many of our students are teachers so this project will equip those teachers with the ability to go back into their schools and help their students take on service-learning projects that relate to environmental issues.”

 

WKU adopts Resolution for Education for Sustainability in revised Strategic Plan At the January, 2010 Board of Regents meeting, WKU adopted sustainability as a core value and a Resolution for Education for Sustainability in the University’s revised Strategic Plan. The Resolution was drafted by the Education for Sustainability (EfS) Steering Committee that reports to Academic Affairs. This action demonstrates how firmly committed the University is to educating for a sustainable future and strengthens our work.