Communications Group Meeting, April 8, 2004

Present: Phil Crowley, Ralph Derickson, Carol Hanley, David Mohney

Absent: Phil Kraemer (who agrees to excuse his absence by providing any needed funds), Les Miller (class conflict we couldn't schedule around)

We immediately recognized that our short-term task is identifying the subset of our vast area of responsibility in which we might be best able to advance the goals of the Task Force. After wide-ranging discussion, here are the items we identified, with a brief indication of how we could proceed with each of them and who might take the lead:

1. Sustainable Campus Internship Program (SCIP)--This program was initiated late last fall as a collaboration between the Office of the Associate Provost for Education and the Tracy Farmer Center for the Environment. There are currently seven undergraduates (total funding $6000 for the AY) and a student coordinator ($2000 for the AY) funded through SCIP to address eight different projects: recyclable mugs, campus loaner bikes, green roofs, environmental modules in UK 101, organizing a sustainability conference for the next AY, connecting local food producers with campus users, newspaper articles on local food issues, and an interactive environmental activities web page. Some of these and some new ones will be funded in the same way for next year, and most of these projects will represent trial balloons and join student ideas to the overall Task Force effort. We decided that Deans of Colleges should be approached to consider supporting an intern so that SCIP can be expanded in a way that better link Colleges to the Task Force's activities. Perhaps the expanded SCIP could initiate monthly meetings (lunch provided?) to summarize progress and trade ideas. {Phil Crowley}

2. Develop a 400-level multidisciplinary course on sustainability--This is intended mainly for juniors and seniors to address the topic from various perspectives (ways of knowing). We envision this course contributing to an educational endorsement program for middle school teachers in environmental education and/or satisfying a USP requirement in the area of the student's choice (humanities, social science, or natural science). The course would feature some lecture material, some readings/discussion, and perhaps individual projects or a group project centered on the campus or town-gown. {Carol Hanley}

3. Earth Day 2005--Earth Day has yet to become high profile at UK, but we feel that the April 05 ED would be the maximum-impact occasion for the University to commit to sustainability in accord with findings of the Task Force. (Tacit in this view is our suspicion that the Task Force must continue its work into the spring of 05 to meet its goals.) We would hope to begin a tradition, perhaps by considering what ED events have been particularly successful on other campuses and implementing a selection of those based mainly on local/regional issues and talent. {Les Miller}

4. Service learning days--UK FUSION was launched successfully just before the beginning of Fall Semester 03 and is beginning to organize for Fall 04 (Richard Greissman is apparently the point man). We believe that the sustainability theme, especially at the city-campus interface, is an ideal basis for forming volunteer groups of incoming students and others for a one (or more?) day commitment. We want to identify specific projects and leaders who can implement them in an exciting and effective way. {David Mohney}

5. Communications plan--Of considerable importance to the success of our Task Force effort is getting the word out on our goals, activities, and results to the campus community and beyond. One obvious need under this heading is the development of an active web page. Good connections with the news media and with other major, compatible UK initiatives are likewise crucial. We will need to enlist the help of UKPR in particular to manage this. {Ralph Derickson}

6. Official UK commitment to sustainability--We all hope that one outcome of the Task Force process is to identify the most effective way for UK to align itself with the concept of sustainability in the way it operates the campus, the way it conducts academic business, and the way it connects with the surrounding community. We recognize that attention to what other universities have done and informal discussions with the President and the Provost will be required to determine the best approach. As noted above, Earth Day 05 might be the best time to announce the commitment that we hope will emerge. {Phil Kraemer}