With schools around the country making an effort to ‘green’ their campuses, sustainability-oriented student groups and initiatives are becoming all the more difficult to distinguish. Yet the Initiative for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern, established by former University President Henry Bienen, is managing to make its mark on a campus that already boasts several green groups.
Bienen established ISEN in October 2008 in an effort to promote new research in energy sustainability, support interdisciplinary educational programs and encourage outreach activities in Evanston and Chicago.
ISEN has collaborated with NU to provide seven core courses about environmental awareness. Three of the seven courses are open to undergraduate students without prerequisites, and the other four are offered to all graduate students.
“We are taking faculty from across campus and providing students an opportunity to see a topic from multiple perspectives, so they are getting a broad-based viewpoint,” said Bridget Calendo, ISEN’s director of operations and outreach. “The courses are designed to excite students about these topics.”
More than 75 students enrolled in the first ISEN course offered last spring.
ISEN works with several student groups and helps organize eco-friendly events on campus, including contributing to this year’s One Book One Northwestern. ISEN is also working with Students for Ecological and Environmental Development to co-sponsor a speaking event featuring a voice from the environmental movement, said Emmaline Pohnl, co-chair of the speaker program.
“Our two groups, though very different in their make-up and operation, have essentially the same goals: to strengthen and contribute to the environmental movement on and off campus,” the SESP junior said. “Together, I think our two groups could accomplish a lot here at Northwestern.”
Graduate students from various degree programs are also involved in ISEN as “cluster fellows.” These students take courses in energy sustainability, help promote awareness on campus and are teacher’s assistants in undergraduate courses focused on the environment.
“NU already has a focus on science and engineering, but ISEN uses the current resources to foster a new direction towards research and to help its students,” said Vennesa Williams, an ISEN cluster fellow. “It’s not just an office that sends information through e-mail. They help foster student groups and different initiatives to bring in students and spread the condensation of information across campus.”
In just more than a year, ISEN has established relationships with local and national eco-friendly organizations, such as Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago. Together with ISEN, Argonne is researching sustainable energy sources and promoting the responsible use of natural resources through solar energy, adaptive materials and catalytic reactions, among other topics. The Deloitte consulting firm is also interested in working with ISEN, Calendo said.
“Another encouraging sign is that many Midwest companies, educational centers and non-profit organizations have approached us to co-sponsor and lead outreach events to help educate the public about these issues,” Calendo said.ISEN also organizes educational events in Evanston and Chicago.
“We are building relationships with both Chicago and Evanston communities, both have a vested interest in environmental sustainability, and we are looking for partnerships,” Calendo said. “I see us as a hub for information about sustainability.”
ISEN recently co-sponsored the Evanston Green Living Festival with the city of Evanston and the Evanston Environmental Association. ISEN is also co-sponsoring the upcoming conference, “The ‘Greening’ of Transportation,” which will take place Nov. 4-5 at the Northwestern University Transportation Center, 600 Foster St.
David Dunand, co-director of ISEN, described it as an “entry point that directs people to different organizations.”
“ISEN’s future is bright, given the extremely high level of interest at the student level, the strong commitment of the faculty to do research and teach and the strong support from the administration,” Dunand said. “There is a very present need for those issues to be tackled.”
Student groups interested in working with ISEN must apply for financial assistance by Oct. 30, and can find more information online.
