Campus Compact

Educating citizens • building communities

Home > Program Models > Program Models Comm… > Transformation of…

state-offices.jpg

Transformation of a sewer plant into a fish farm

Nova Southeastern University - FL, Florida
President: Ovid C. Lewis

Nova Southeastern University, near Ft. Lauderdale, took over an abandoned sewer plant that attracted vandals, and then sandblasted every crevice and built a fish farm in it. Nova Professors and students conduct research and work with local residents to raise 50,000 tilapia (a light fish that tastes like trout), but once the farm makes a profit, the community will reap the financial rewards. “”You can see the neighborhood improving, because there s civic pride,”" says oceanographer Bart Baca, center director. (David Marcus, U. News & World Report, May 24, 1999, p. 61.)

Contact: Bart Baca, Director of Aquaculture Programs, baca {at} nova(.)edu

Davie Aquaculture Research Center web site: http://www.nova.edu/ocean/aqua/ (this is the former sewage plant where the fish are grown)

We value Montana Campus Compact for creating an awareness and dialogue in the state among higher education institutions, community partners, our higher education commissioner's office, and various other entities about the importance of community involvement for college and university students. The AmeriCorps and VISTA programs are also very valuable resources."

-Montana State University

Navigation