CEAP is a collaborative effort of faculty across Calvin’s campus, but mainly in the sciences, whose focus is understanding the interconnections of the campus, the local ecosystem, and the surrounding communities. The goal is to impact the College and local municipalities as well as individual behavior. In this innovative program, faculty dedicate a regular lab session or project to collecting data that contributes to an overall assessment of the environment of the campus and surrounding area. Classes form working teams related to particular environmental issues. The data forms the basis for recommended changes in campus polices, for programs that target individual behavioral changes, and for identifying issues that involve and impact the adjacent neighborhoods. The program is dramatically increasing the natural science faculty and students’ involvement in service-learning. CEAP is developing a model that can be used by other colleges and universities to move faculty to greater engagement with the local community. Imbedded in the CEAP design are several “”best practices”" in educating students for civic engagement:
CEAP is integrated with the curriculum. Faculty members re-designed existing labs and projects to connect with the CEAP program. For example: chemistry students examine the water quality of the Calvin ponds; physics students measure energy usage on campus; biology students examine the productivity of the ecosystems of the lawn and old field; and geography students study the consumption patterns of students.
CEAP creates a stronger academic community. The CEAP program was designed by a group of faculty members, representing each of the disciplines within the natural sciences at Calvin. Each year since its conception in 1997, participating faculty and newly interested faculty convene through Calvin’s faculty development program to discuss results and plan for the upcoming year. Professors from the social sciences and humanities have joined the program with their own projects.
CEAP opens up vistas for service and citizenship in a powerful way. The disciplinary content a student learns through a CEAP project is comparable to a traditional classroom, library or lab activity. The added value, however, is that the student begins to see the relevance of study and analysis for dealing with complex and pressing problems. Many students who would not consider themselves activists have the opportunity to learn more about environmental issues and what can be done to address them.
The structure of CEAP involves “”grass-roots”" energy and “”top-down”" support. There are multiple entry points for involvement in CEAP. Faculty members across the college along with students from the Environmental Stewardship Coalition are involved.
Contact person: Janel Curry (Department of Geology, Geography, and Environmental Studies) jcurry {at} calvin(.)edu
