Sustainability Education - Richmond, VA

Richmond, VA

Population: 210,309 (2012)

Colleges and Universities: Virginia Commonwealth University,University of Richmond, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, VCU Medical Center, Virginia Union University, University of Richmond School of Law, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry, Union Theological Seminary & Presbyterian School of Christian Education, Bon Secours Memorial School of Nursing, Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, University of Richmond School of Continuing Studies, Fortis College-Richmond, E. Claiborne Robins School of Business, Empire Beauty School-Richmond, VCU School of Allied Health Professions,University of Phoenix-Richmond Campus, Institute of Advanced Medical Esthetics, Richmond Professional Institute, Bon Secours St Mary's Hospital School of Medical Imaging, ECPI Technical College, MedSpa Careers Institute, Bryant and Stratton College-Richmond, Centura College, ITT Technical Institute-Richmond, ECPI College of Technology, Richmond, Center for Judaic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University

Higher Education Focus - University of Richmond
http://www.richmond.edu/


The efforts to move toward sustainability at universities, and in turn society, begin with education.

A Penn State University survey of 150 graduating seniors to determine their “ecological literacy” revealed that “63% were unable to name one federal or state law that protects the environment … 72% had no idea that they were living within the Susquehanna River Basin; and 40% were unable to name even two tree types on campus” (Penn State Green Destiny Council, 2000)


Facebook Presence: 
https://www.facebook.com/universityofrichmond

https://www.facebook.com/SpiderSustainability

This is a Facebook page dedicated to Sustainability and Going Green at the University of Richmond. It is linked to the University of Richmond webpage page on Sustainability.   http://www.sustainability.richmond.edu/action-plan/index.html

This page has has links to different organizations and the plan to keep them sustainable, including Education.








In this they have the

• Next Steps
• Implications

Background

• With the ability to reach thousands of students, faculty, staff, and alumni, the University of Richmond has the opportunity to influence and educate a sizeable population about sustainability
• one of the most direct and important ways to influence and educate is to address sustainability within the curricula taught on campus
• at UR and other universities, education extends beyond the classroom.  Outreach to the campus and the surrounding community is an integral part of student education, particularly at UR, and sustainability can be incorporated into these efforts as well

Accomplishments

      Curriculum

• Environmental Studies major has been developed, and a similar minor is available as well
• more than 80 courses addressing sustainability issues have been developed 
• the Law School offers courses specializing in environmental law and is home to the Robert R. Merhige Jr. Center for Environmental Studies, and the Business School offers research opportunities for MBA students.

     Student Groups

• GreenUR is the leading student voice for sustainability at UR

      Co-curricular Opportunities and Community Outreach

• the Facilities Department created its first student internship
• The Bonner Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) facilitates student involvement with the local community through various programs.
• The CCE has developed partnerships throughout the region for community-based learning and community service,including programs such as UR Downtown and the “Build It” Initiative
• Through the Civic Fellows program, the CCE has awarded fellowships for students to complete academically grounded summer internships. Over the past three years, two fellows have completed internships at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network in Richmond and at Growing Power in Chicago.
• The broader Richmond community also is afforded many opportunities to learn about sustainability issues at the UR campus.

     Faculty Research

• A wide range of research into areas under the umbrella of sustainability is conducted by faculty across the campus, often with the assistance of undergraduate students.

     Other Educational Activities

• The Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature is the natural sciences and decorative arts museum for UR

Next Steps

All students should attain environmental literacy, learning alternatives to the current, non-sustainable paradigm that permeates society.  The academic program envisioned will teach students how their personal choices influence the environment and society, and will introduce them to accessible, viable alternatives.  The campus community also will be introduced to these concepts via student programs and academic experiences, which will in turn enhance the educational experiences of the students involved.  UR will continue to partner with the people of Richmond, building on the successes of the programs of the CCE and others to bring the concepts of environmental sustainability and social justice to the community.

The goal that all students attain environmental literacy may appear to be unrelated to certain majors (e.g. music, dance, foreign language, etc.).  However, because each student affects the planet through his/her personal behavior and each will face the same future environmental and economic challenges, teaching them the potential consequences of their actions is as important as teaching those in disciplines more directly related to sustainability

Strategies to bolster sustainability within the educational experience at UR include the following.

• Curricular Changes
• Student Research & Internships
• Student Groups
• Faculty, Research, Hiring and Training
• Campus Community Education
• Community Outreach

Everything is laid out in a very exact plan and has steps to complete everything.  

I think the University of Richmond is doing an excellent job of thinking about their future and planning for it but this plan was written before Social Media was as integral as it is now so there a few adjustments that can be made to better incorporate it.

What Else They Can Do:

• Establish a bigger presence on Social Media to get the word out about everything that is happening on their campus - Twitter, Instagram and Facebook
• Offer e-books through the campus Book Store

Contextual Impact - Catfishing Manti Te'o

Throughout time people have been involved in scandals.  From the ancient Greece to the monarch in Europe to early Hollywood stars such as Erol Flynn
down to multiple “celebrities” in todays society, the difference however between the social scandals of ancient Greece and a person such as Manti Te’o has been the the ease of accessing the information by the general public due in large part to social media outlets.  While there were just as many social scandals in “olden times” as there are today it was much rarer for these incidents to be made public information.  Social media has made private and oft times embarrassing incidents become very commonplace that the people involved in these are usually able to weather the storm until someone else makes a similar or more embarrassing mistake for the public to focus on.  Because of the ease of accessing this information even people who would normally have little or no impact on what would be considered “newsworthy” have their mistakes thrust into the spotlight of social media to be judged and ridiculed by society.  Such was the case with San Diego Chargers linebacker Manti Te’o in the 2012-13 college football season.  

For Manti Te’o, a mormon football player from Hawaii ending up involved in a fake girlfriend relationship scandal would not have seemed within the realm of possibility when he signed to play football at Notre Dame, however he did become involved in an embarrassing scandal that ultimately affected his draft status from possibly being selected in the top 10 in the 2013 NFL draft to falling all the way to the second round and costing him millions of dollars in contract and endorsement deals.  For the first three years of his time at Notre Dame Te’o was an outstanding football player and an excellent example of how a student-athlete should be in college, he was a hard worker and not involved in anything that would hurt his future or his reputation.  Things however changed during the course of his senior season when Notre Dame was enjoying an undefeated season, news came out that Te’o’s girlfriend Lennay Kekua was going through cancer treatments, then a short time later had died from cancer and only six hours before her death Te’o lost his grandmother to diabetes Te’o became a household name for his strength in dealing with this as he chose to remain with the team and help preserve the undefeated season because it was what Lennay and his grandmother wanted him to do.  This was the story that was first reported and it became viral as this story of love and strength of Te’o for Kekua was shared millions of times through social media outlets as well as traditional news outlets.  Then after finishing second in both the Heisman Trophy voting as well as the National Championship for college football a tip was sent to deadspin.com claiming that Lennay Kekua was not a real person at all but was made up and that Te’o had been fooled by a man claiming to be Kekua online.  

In years past the forms of communication were very different than they are today and that while there was contact through phone calls most often it was hand-written letters as the main form of communicating with others.  It was also rare then to begin writing letters and claim to be in a committed relationship with someone who you had never met.  Contrast that with today when the evolution of the internet and social media sites has made it commonplace for people to meet and declare themselves to be involved without ever meeting face to face.  The downside to this is that with a few clicks of a mouse anyone can “become” someone else and there is not really a way to check and see who you are writing to on a computer.  As Brad Paisley said in his song “Online”  a person can be 5’3”, overweight, live with their parents and be a sci-fi fanatic but when they are online they become 6’5”, muscular, driving a maserati.  This was the case with Lennay Kekua who in fact was Ronaiah Tuiasosopo a 22 year old aquaintance of Manti Te’o’s hometown of Laie Hawaii.  When deadspin writers Jack Dickey and Timothy Burke began to investigate this story they found that Lennay Kekua
had no fingerprint on social media other than that she was the dead girlfriend of Notre Dame star Manti Te’o and despite accounts from people that Te’o and Kekua had talked and they were indeed close Kekua only seemed to exist through Te’o.  This led to the story being released that Manti Te’o’s inspirational story was a hoax.  

With this story now catching fire on social media Manti Te’o became a very polarizing public figure. Te’o initially refused to admit Lennay Kekua was fake and then refused to talk about it at all. This led to every possible media outlet presenting their version of the story and he was the main story from CNN to late night talk shows, to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.  Everyone seemed to have an opinion of this story from Manti Te’o being an innocent victim involved in a very disgusting hoax to a liar and an accomplice in some sort of publicity stunt.  Nobody however  seemed to know the truth but everyone was  content to continue spreading their views and opinions of the situation and the character of Te’o.  When Deadspin reported that public opinion stated that 80% of people think Te’o was involved in the hoax as more than a victim Te’o and Notre Dame finally made a statement in which Te’o said he had been duped and was embarrassed to admit that it could have happened to him.  While being interviewed by ESPN Te’o was asked why he had stuck to his story of his dead girlfriend after it was reported that she was a hoax he said he was embarrassed and tried to stick to the original story in hopes it would go away.  This sent shockwaves through social media again with more opinions being sent out about Te’o’s character and with the NFL draft approaching many executives began to question whether or not they wanted Te’o to be part of their organization.  When it was finally admitted by Tuiasosopo that he had created Kekua and Te’o was in fact an innocent victim it should have been the vindication Te’o needed instead it began the social media frenzy of just how stupid must Te’o be to not know this was all a hoax and there never was a Lennay Kekua.  

With the damage done Te’o could now “focus” on the upcoming NFL draft but the questions still remained with many people and he was selected in the second round by the San Diego Chargers.  Social media became the big difference in Manti Te’o being an embarrassed college football player who may have been teased by a few close friends about his fake girlfriend to being an inspiration turned liar to finally becoming some stupid victim in the eyes of the general public.  Social media has made many people think they have the right to know everything about everyone and has also given almost unlimited access to many similar stories.  Our ability to share and obtain information using social media can be a great tool or it can at times like in the case of Manti Te’o be our worst enemy.