Welcome back to @RooseveltU, students and faculty! Here in the Sustainability Studies program, we’ve got several experiential learning (EXL) courses going, both F2F and online. One of these is SUST 350 Service & Sustainability, in which students complete a 10-week service project of 2-3 hours/week that contributes in some way to their community’s sustainability and/or resilience.

One group of students in SUST 350 is volunteering each Tuesday morning at Eden Place Farms, an urban farm in the South Side neighborhood of Fuller Park. Here are some photos from last week’s workday, which marked the 7th fall RU students have worked at Eden Place.

Later this semester, students in…

As part of our Earth Month 2021 program of virtual sustainability events this past spring semester, five distinguished alumni of Roosevelt’s Sustainability Studies (SUST) program met via Zoom on Thursday, April 29th,to talk about their recent grad school experiences. Our panelists recounted their process of researching, selecting, and applying to a graduate program; what their time in graduate school has been like; and how their RU education prepared them for graduate study.

Alumni Panelists:

• Yessenia Balcazar (BA ’18), MA ’21 at University of IL Chicago (Urban Planning)
• Wilmarie Medina-Cortes (BA ’19), MA student at University of IL Chicago (Museum Studies)
• Lindsey Sharp (BA ’16), MA student at Wayne State University (Anthropology)
• Moses Viveros (BA ’17), MA and MBA (’20) graduate from Chatham University (Food Studies and Business Administration)
• Charlton Zimmerman (BA ’19), MPA student at University of Delaware (Public Administration)

Moderator: Dr. Mike Bryson, Professor and Director of…

The Chicago Park District is now hiring seasonal positions on the Natural Areas Crew.  
The Natural Areas Crew is responsible for ecological restoration and community engagement support across the majority of the South and Southeast Side natural areas.

Duties include invasive species management; Nature Play construction and maintenance; native plant installations; prescribed burns; and community and volunteer stewardship support. Candidates must be able to perform manual labor and be comfortable working in all weather conditions. Candidates will be required to obtain a pesticide license and apply herbicides.

Interested applicants must apply online by Friday, May 28th.

Find the job posting at this link:
https://aa128.taleo.net/careersection/ex/jobdetail.ftl?job=2100006&tz=GMT-05%3A00&tzname=America%2FChicago

Or, go to the Chicago Park District homepage: at the top right on the website, click “Jobs,” then scroll and click on “Seasonal Jobs” to view listing under the title “NATURAL AREAS TECHNICIAN (SEASONAL) – 2100006.”

This coming Summer 2021, the Sustainability Studies program will offer an innovative and exciting fully-online course, SUST 361 Urban Ecology, taught by Prof. Graham Pickren.

SUST students conduct field experiments on water infiltration rates in Chicago parklands (summer 2018)

A unique experiential learning (EXL) seminar, SUST 361 introduces students to the research methods and practices of the growing field of Urban Ecology. In the environmental sciences, cities were once considered unsuitable for studies of “nature.” However, urban landscapes are now being recognized not only as important places for wildlife habitat, but also as laboratories where new relationships between people and ecosystems are emerging.

This course provides students with an overview of urban ecology followed by instruction in research methodologies like air quality monitoring, urban heat island monitoring, and stormwater management. While normally offered as an in-person experiential learning course, due to COVID-19 this course will be offered fully…

As part of our Earth Month 2021 program of virtual sustainability events, join alumni of Roosevelt’s Sustainability Studies (SUST) program on Thursday, April 29th at 5pm on Zoom as they talk about their recent grad school experiences. Our panelists will recount their process of researching, selecting, and applying to a graduate program; what their time in graduate school has been like; and how their RU education prepared them for graduate study.

Alumni Panelists:

• Yessenia Balcazar (BA ’18), MA student at University of IL Chicago (Urban Planning)
• Wilmarie Medina-Cortes (BA ’19), MA student at University of IL Chicago (Museum Studies)
• Lindsey Sharp (BA ’16), MA student at Wayne State University (Anthropology)
• Moses Viveros (BA ’17), MA and MBA (’20) graduate from Chatham University (Food Studies and Business Administration)
• Charlton Zimmerman (BA ’19), MPA student at University of Delaware (Public Administration)

Moderator: Dr. Mike Bryson, Professor and Director of Sustainability Studies…

This spring 2021 semester, Prof. Mike Bryson’s SUST 101 Humans & Nature class is collaborating with two other schools in the Resilience Studies Consortium on a correspondence project called “The Healing Wilderness.” Students at RU, Western Colorado University, and Paul Smith’s College (NY) are paired up as pen pals and exchanging letters this semester reflecting on their place-based encounters with / observations of nature, pandemic life experiences, and course reading reflections.

Part of our project involves the sharing of guest speakers related to our theme of nature’s restorative powers in a time of stress, illness, and anxiety. Next Tues 4/20, the RSC will host a talk from 3-4:15pm CST by Dr. Tom Fleischner on nature and wellness and his book Nature, Love, Medicine (Torrey House, 2017).

Thomas L. Fleischner, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of the Natural History Institute and the editor of 

Hey, Roosevelt students! Join RU Green in celebrating Earth Week with events from Monday, April 19th to Thursday, April 22nd. To access virtual meeting events please visit https://linktr.ee/rugreen for a Zoom link. Email sgallo01@mail.roosevelt.edu with any questions or DM us on Instagram @RUGreenClub!

4/19 @ 5 PM: Meeting celebrating some of the more positive accomplishments of the climate justice movement
4/20 for 1 hr: Encouraging people to get unplug and get out and enjoy nature
4/21 @ 5 PM: Meeting to finalize petition/plan to reduce waste in RU Caf
4/22 @ 5 PM: Planting and Good Vibes event with APO 

This Earth Day, Thursday April 22nd at 5 pm the student orgs RU Green and Alpha Phi Omega (APO) will be hosting a virtual Planting and Good Vibes event where we will be planting herbs/veggies and talking about how it all relates so sustainability.

To RSVP for this event and receive your FREE planting kit, click on this link – Earth Day and Planting Kits RSVP. Please fill this form out by April 9th so we can make sure to get everyone their kits before the event. If you have any questions feel free to reach out to the RU Green President, Sophia Gallo, at sgallo01@mail.roosevelt.edu.

Hey Roosevelt Students and Alumni,

Don’t miss your opportunity to meet 1:1 with employers at the upcoming Spring 2021 Virtual Career Fair onThursday, April 8, 2-5pm.

There will be 58 companies and organizations participating in this fair to recruit for their internship and full-time and part-time job opportunities! In addition to registering for the fair, you will also need to schedule times to meet with individual companies. Time is running out, so be sure to take action soon!

You can register for the career fair on Handshake by logging inherewith your RU Net ID. You will be able to see full details of the participating companies and their descriptions, as well as the position type and job titles for which they are recruiting.

If you have any questions about the career fair, please contact the Office of Career Development atcareer@roosevelt.edu.

Above and Beyond Family Recovery…

As a part of Roosevelt’s Social Justice Week, the student environmental organization RU Green is teaming up with SPEED to host an informational panel event on how students can advocate for environmental justice. This conversation explores how Roosevelt students, faculty, and staff have led sustainability initiatives and features recent RU Sustainability Studies alumni Yessenia Balcazar (BA ’18), Moses Viveros (BA ’17), and Maria Cancilla (BPS ’18), along with professor Mike Bryson, who are invested in the goals of environmental justice and sustainable campus development.

The RU community is invited to join us on Tuesday, March 30th at 5 PM at this Zoom link: https://roosevelt.zoom.us/j/99874453575 (full meeting info is below)

For more information, go to https://linktr.ee/rugreen and clicking to Meetings, reach out to RU Green via Instagram (@RUGreenClub), email RU Green president Sophia Gallo at sgallo01@mail.roosevelt.edu, or visit http://roosev.lt/socialjusticedays.

Zoom Meeting Info

Topic: Sustainability at RU Time: Mar…