Academics

• Environmental Issues Program continues to thrive.
• SU philosophy students collect vegetable garbage from their homes, residence halls and Commons dining hall for a compost pile on campus.
• Under the direction of Dr. James Hatley, philosophy students have planted on campus a wildlife garden to attract insects and small animals, an organic garden and a self-watering rain garden.
• Under the direction of Dr. Stephen Adams, management and marketing faculty, and John Hickman, executive director of the Small Business Development Center at SU, students conducted a semester-long carbon study of the campus. As the second university system in the United States to require its campuses to conduct such studies (California was the first), the University System of Maryland asked planners to present their findings during a system-wide meeting. SU was the only university to conduct a study using its own students exclusively.
• Students in Dr. George Whitehead’s Environmental Psychology class have received hands-on instruction, creating and installing bluebird boxes at Pemberton Historical Park in Salisbury.
• Students in Dr. Shawn McEntee’s Sociology classes planted a permaculture organic vegetable garden. A permaculture garden demonstrates a sustainable approach to land use. Dr. McEntee hopes to have the vegetables served in the dining hall.
• Students have conducted environmental research abroad in Honduras with Dr. Laura Marasco of the Education Specialties Department and in India with Dr. Michael Lewis of the History Department.
• Since 2005, SU has partnered with the Newton Marasco Foundation to present the Green Earth Book Awards, the first prize in the United States lauding authors of environmentally friendly children’s literature.
• The Maryland Department of the Environment hired Dr. Michael Scott and other researchers from the Eastern Shore Regional GIS Cooperative at SU to locate and identify some 420,000 septic systems statewide. MDE uses the data to identify failing septic systems in areas that critically impact the Chesapeake Bay.
• Researchers in Dr. Michael Scott’s Eastern Shore Regional GIS Cooperative also assist with tracking commuter mileage data, which is an important component in reporting emissions for the campus carbon footprint.
• Students in Drs. Danny Ervin and Tylor Claggett’s classes in the Economics and Finance Department studied alternative energy sources and received a hands-on lesson at the Atlantic County Utilities Authority (ACUA) renewable energy and environmental protection facilities near Atlantic City, NJ.
• In 2007, SU hosted the first ShoreEnergy Renewable Energy Conference, encouraging elected officials and business leaders to take a closer look at bio-fuels, wind power, geothermal energy, solar energy and nuclear power.