Academics and Research

• Living, Learning, Lab Projects
• RCE Greater Atlanta
• Faculty
• Sustainable Courses

Living Learning Labs aim to create place-based experiential learning by using the campus as a test bed for research and innovation. These projects capitalize on the close collaboration between researchers, staff, students, and community partners, fostering symbiotic relationships that support both research and campus operations. Living Learning Lab experiences allow students to explore the interconnectedness of local sustainability challenges, such as how efficient campus landscaping can reduce water usage, lower utility bills, and conserve community resources. This approach helps students develop into not only skilled professionals but also informed consumers, designers, decision-makers, and change agents in their communities and careers. 

Submit a Living Learning Lab Project

 

OwlSwap

OwlSwap educates, inspires and empowers individuals to make the swap to live more sustainably through clothing. We create experiential learning opportunities and educational events that support our campus community. The Office of Sustainability co-hosts a monthly clothing swap campus-wide, a student resource clothing closet of professional and casual wear on each campus, as well as upcycling workshops and volunteer events for students to get involved. We have found that when people understand the impact that clothing and textiles have on communities, the environment and the economy, they make the swap to more sustainable clothing habits.  

Food Forest

The Kennesaw State University Field Station, managed by the Office of Research, is a 25-acre property located two miles from the Kennesaw Campus. The Food Forest is a one-third acre section of the Field Station that serves as a model of sustainable urban agriculture and demonstrates the potential food forests systems offer to mitigate environmental challenges and promote food security and health. The food forest functions as a Living Lab by providing volunteer days for students to get their hands in the dirt, learn permaculture principles, and experience growing, pruning, and harvesting food. The Field Station and Food Forest host multidisciplinary research opportunities for faculty, staff, and students to get involved.   

SEPAL: Safeguarding, Education, Propagation. And Applied Research

Located at the KSU Field Station, at Dr. Mario Bretfeld's helm, the Native Nursery and the SEPAL project safeguards endangered plants and grows highly important native plants that help ecosystems thrive. Through this Living Lab, students learn about the importance of native species vs. non-native and invasives, encouraging a future population of leaders that care, value, and nurture our local environment and species. 

Marietta Edible Garden

Our Marietta campus houses our Civil Engineering and Art, Textile and Surface Design majors.  This Living Lab is one in collaboration with Dr. Roneisha Worthy, Engineering, and Amanda Britton, Textiles, and to implement a combination edible, pollinator, and natural dye/pigment garden. Students of each discipline will create and maintain this garden and workshops will be hosted to educate on each aspect's importance. This interdisciplinary approach allows large groups of students to work together, gaining perspectives and educational experiences from one another while improving our campus landscape with beautiful flowers and edible plants.

Scrappy's Edible Pollinator Garden

In collaboration with our campus CARE Pantry, Dining, and Registered Student Organizations (RSO), the Office of Sustainability has established a Living Learning Lab to provide herbs and food for the dining hall, food insecurity program at KSU, and urban agriculture education to students directly on campus. EcoOwls, KSU’s preeminent environmental RSO, leads gardening maintenance workdays, harvesting volunteer events to restock the CARE Pantry’s produce shelves, and educational events about the importance of organic food access and food insecurity.  

Waste Characterization

KSU's greenhouse gas mitigation plan highlighted the need for a waste study to be conducted campus wide. The Office of Sustainability created a Living Lab where solid-waste engineering students in Dr. Roneisha Worthy's courses, both undergraduate and graduate level, collected waste from select sites on each campus to weigh, measure, and define our waste streams. They then analyzed the waste characterization data and identified waste diversion strategies to increase recycling and compost efforts. This study will be conducted again in the future to determine if our lessons learned have improved our waste diversion goals. 

 

RCE Greater Atlanta

Kennesaw State University is a member of the RCE Greater Atlanta, which brings together universities and colleges from across the Greater Atlanta region with nonprofit, community, government, and business partners. RCE Greater Atlanta was acknowledged by the United Nations as a Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development. It supports multistakeholder implementation of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals at the regional level through education and training. 

Sustainable Futures Fellowship

The SDG Futures Fellowship is aimed at educating students about the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), leadership, and professional development. This fellowship program spans the academic year and is open to college students from the 11 RCE Greater Atlanta affiliated higher education institutions (HEIs). 

For more information, please visit the Global Education website. 

 

Equinox Week

Established by Prof. Pegah Zamani in March 2017 as a platform to advocate the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the annual EQUINOX: UN SDGs is dedicated to socio-economic-ecological impacts of sustainability within the local-global framework. The initiative seeks to advance pathways of scholarship and partnership through multidisciplinary and inter-institutional programs focused on the interconnected Sustainable Development Goals.  

Learn More about Equinox

A multi-sponsored platform with local/national/international presenters and participants, EQUINOX was one of the first initiatives in the region to pioneer a week-long series of programs dedicated to the SDGs. Every year, EQUINOX initiates a diverse set of multidisciplinary programs to promote research cross-pollination, team formation, and actions on SDGs from micro to macro scales – for people and the planet. 

Professors from various departments have integrated Sustainability topics, including the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, into a wide range of courses. We encourage you to explore these courses or connect with them if you're interested in delving deeper into Sustainability within their coursework.

Current Faculty Teaching Sustainability

* Indicates faculty member participated in Sustainability Across the Curriculum workshop.

If you or someone you know wants to learn more about sustainability in their coursework, here are some classes to consider. Remember to check Owl Express for registration schedules and Degreeworks to stay on track with your program. 

Also, be sure to reach out to the faculty teaching each course to confirm that Sustainability is still part of the curriculum in each session.