In early 2021, SLS announced its new Signature Partner Program aimed to further foster sustainable practices by deepening its relationships with some of its closest community partners. Through other signature programs, such as the Sustainable Communities Summer Internship Program, students can reap the benefits of these ever-growing partnerships through experiential learning and meaningful hands-on work.
SLS currently has three signature partners: the Center for Civic Innovation, a community organization driven to fight inequality in Atlanta and advocate for local policy change; the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance, an organization committed to improving the quality of life within the West Atlanta Watershed through the protection and restoration of natural resources; and the Center for Sustainable Communities (CSC), an organization focused on supporting a wide range of sustainability initiatives throughout the Southeast. CSC Founder and President Garry Harris has an…
Research has shown that 40% of solid waste comes from construction and demolition (C&D) projects, and the current building material reuse rate is less than 1% of total C&D waste. Lifecycle Building Center (LBC) is a local nonprofit in southwest Atlanta that diverts usable building materials from landfills and directs them to local communities.
This summer, our Serve-Learn-Sustain interns, Jackie Zong and Taylor Campbell, both worked at LBC on a deconstruction workforce training project and a Community Reuse Toolkit funded through an EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) grant. Both projects were developed using an asset-based community development approach, which was aided by Jay Basset and Dr. Jenny Hirsch. In short, rather than looking at problems within the community, we identify and mobilize existing, often unrecognized, community assets that can benefit local residents. Jackie and Taylor also supported daily…
The application for the SDG Futures Fellowship, a program created by RCE Greater Atlanta Student Interns, has opened. We’re happy to announce that the SDG Futures Fellowship has been awarded the AGREC grant of $10,000 and will receive additional monetary support from the Georgia Tech Center for International Business Education and Research center in Scheller. The program will run from October 2022 - April 2023. The fellowship will be co-led by Georgia Tech and KSU with involvement from RCE GA community partners. There will be in-person and virtual events and workshops, with some open to the public (so stay tuned for those).
WHO CAN APPLY?
Any Youth (17-29) from any of the 11 RCE GA Affiliated HEIs interested in Sustainable/Professional Development are invited to apply. Our goal is to select 1 - 2 fellows from each HEI. Young professionals interested in transitioning to sustainability…
Below, WAWA interns Roxanne Raven and Megan Jermak share the focus of their work at WAWA this summer. Janelle Wright, Climate and Equity Program Coordinator at WAWA supervised Megan and Roxanne’s work.
Roxanne Raven, City and Regional Planning, ’23, shares “I worked on forming and implementing WAWA’s community outreach plan regarding their new green infrastructure updates and getting a better sense of the community’s vision for their space and the Bush Mountain and Oakland City Neighborhoods. I also design a comprehensive maps for the areas WAWA stewards, including the trails of the Outdoor Activity Center and the Sandy, Proctor and Utoy Creek watersheds.
Megan Jermak, Civil and Environmental Engineering, ’25: This Summer I worked with the current cohort of the Atlanta Watershed Learning Network (AWLN). Noteworthily, I helped design and publish our summer newsletter. Additionally, I helped plan for the design and construction of outdoor classrooms by Georgia Tech…
In March 2022, Serve-Learn-Sustain (SLS) began co-leading an exciting new project, “Public Interest Technology (PIT) for First-Year Engineers,” in collaboration with the Writing and Communication Program (WCP). Under the supervision of the project’s co-principal investigators, Andy Frazee, the WCP’s Director, and Ruthie Yow, an SLS Service Learning and Partnership Specialist, four Marion Brittain Fellows, Lee Hibbard, Mike Lehman, Renee Buesking and I, Suchismita Dutta curated interdisciplinary courses that allowed undergraduate students at Georgia Tech to collaborate with four community partners who are working towards fostering more sustainable communities in Atlanta. These courses offered our first-year engineering students a unique platform to explore themes like sustainable community engagement in Atlanta, the contested future of Atlanta’s most endangered sites, pre and post apocalyptic experiences and the politics of global hunger alongside generating difficult yet timely…
Dr. Stepanov joined the faculty of Georgia Tech’s School of Modern Languages in August 2021. We are thrilled that she is working with Serve-Learn-Sustain, and excited to share more about her teaching and research. This semester, Dr. Stepanov is teaching two SLS-affiliated courses: ARBC/FREN/ SWAH/WOLO 3420A, “Introduction to Africa,” (taught in English) and a new course, FREN 4813A/8803B, “In-Humanity: Cruelty/Literature/Media,” (taught in French).
If you’re interested in analyzing how literature, media, and policy each operate in their own, distinct ways to portray and define violence against people and place, then “In-Humanity: Cruelty/Literature/Media” is the course for you! This class is broken up into various categories of violence (war, massacre, genocide, ecological collapse) via literature, diverse media, and policy. We’ll be reading a novel, a graphic novel, short stories, and excerpts from theoretical texts, as well as looking at photographs and…
A new term and Phase II registration is upon us! We hope you’ll seize the opportunity to register for one or more of the courses described below—one of which is brand new, co-taught by SLS’s own Service Learning and Partnership Specialists!
If you are contemplating a minor, take a close gander at the SLS-affiliated Sustainable Cities Minor! The minor in Sustainable Cities emphasizes sustainability, community engagement, and social justice. It provides students with a deep learning experience that integrates classroom learning and real-world, community-based project experience in creating sustainable communities, with a focus on the built urban environment. You can learn more about the minor, and all the details on how to integrate into your present course of study, by visiting SCARP’s…
This summer, I participated in the Sustainable Communities Summer Internship Program as the SLS iGniTe intern. In this role, I was the Team Leader for two sections of the SLS-affiliated Sustainable Communities GT 1000 class, assisted with planning SLS events for iGniTe students, and created sustainability-related materials for GT 1000 students. A major focus of my work this summer was teaching incoming first-year students about opportunities that Serve-Learn-Sustain provides inside and outside of the classroom, particularly as it relates to SLS’s work with community partners in the Atlanta area. Throughout this experience, I learned how Georgia Tech students can incorporate sustainability and community partnership work into their classes and extracurricular activities. Not only was I able to teach this to incoming first-year students, but I better learned how I can do this myself.
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An article recently published by the School of Literature, Media, and Communication highlighted SLS affiliated faculty Hugh Crawford and his Spring 2022 course LMC 2050: A Cultural History of Trees
When Georgia Tech announced that the iconic white oak tree in front of Tech Tower would be removed during the winter break due to disease, tree enthusiasts across campus and Atlanta mourned its loss. Although its exact age was unknown, the 103-foot-tall tree appears in campus photographs dating back to 1888 — just three years after the Institute was founded.
Hugh Crawford associate professor in the …
SLS Service Learning and Partnerships Specialist Rebecca Watts Hull recently contributed to a NAFSA article entitled "Goalkeeping on a Global Scale." The article highlights the importance of SDGs as an essential part of preparing students across multiple disciplines for a challenging—and necessarily global—future. Read the complete article HERE.