UISC, OCP grants empower students, community to pursue diverse sustainability projects
The University of Idaho Sustainability Center, with support from the Office of Community Partnerships, has awarded almost 30 student and community project grants since 2006, projects coordinator Wieteke Holthuijzen said. Each grant roughly averages around $2,000, and they aren’t limited to issues of sustainability.
“(The) strongest aspects of a grant are if they engage students and if they cause real and permanent change on campus (or the community),” Holthuijzen said.
Much of the funds for these grants come from student fees, she said, and there are two varieties. The UISC student-led grants are open to both undergraduate and graduate levels, and the OCP community grants are open to anyone.
Holthuijzen said the beauty of the program is its flexibility and the diverse perspectives it affords. Because everybody has different needs and ideas, it is important to address issues of sustainability or community needs with an open mind, she said.
She said grant proposals come from an array of disciplines, departments and people.
“There’s always a range, (and) you never know what you’re going to get,” she said.
Matt Mumma, a doctorate student in the department of fish and wildlife sciences, proposed one of the two projects funded by UISC grants this year. He said he and Rob Lonsinger, his project associate from the College of Natural Resources, want to arrange two speakers to visit UI next semester to discuss climate change issues.
While neither the speakers nor the dates have been finalized, he said the speakers will probably include Dr. Shallin Busch from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Dr. Steven Amstrup, a UI alumnus with Polar Bears International. Mumma said these speakers will discuss important issues relevant to ocean acidification, wildlife and reduction in carbon emissions.
“(Rob and I) really feel strongly that the impacts of climate change have the potential to be very severe,” he said. “Given the current economic state, it’s sort of been pushed to the backburner, but we need to reinvigorate this conversation to try to inspire people to take action.”
Mumma said the talks may occur in early February and late March, and he wants them to help build energy for Earth Week activities. The process for setting up this speaker series has been smooth, he said, and he continues to meet with Holthuijzen once a month. He said both Holthuijzen and the Sustainability Center generally have been helpful.
“We’re really looking forward to working with them because they have the capacity to provide us with a lot of help,” he said.
Holthuijzen said the Sustainability Center used to offer larger grants around $4,000 and $5,000 dollars, but has recently capped its total allowance at $3,000 dollars to encourage realistic projects capable of being finished within a year. Grants are awarded in October and projects must be finished by April. So long as recipients contact the sources they need and think through their projects, she said things proceed well and she’s always there to help with timelines, PR services and other activities.
The Sustainability Center has myriad project goals and ideas, Holthuijzen said, but a mindset of student and community availability is better for everyone. Sustainability contains more than one road to success he said.
“There’re many different paths to sustainability, and (diversity is) a very strong point of this program because it provides that creativity there,” she said. “We have the funding, you have the ideas.”
Matt Maw can be reached at [email protected]