Whether it\u2019s semester-long study away, shorter-term May experiences, internships, or presenting research at academic conferences both in the United States and abroad, Furman students have abundant opportunities for engaged learning outside the classroom.<\/p>\n
Last spring, Shi Center for Sustainability associate director Yancey Fouch\u00e9 and program coordinator Kelly Grant Purvis brought a cadre of Furman students to two important conferences in the field, the Smart and Sustainable Campuses Conference (Baltimore) and the Feeding the Planet Summit (Washington).<\/p>\n
At the conferences, Furman student delegates not only gleaned ideas to improve the university\u2019s already environmentally sound profile, they also helped themselves to a sea of networking and learning opportunities to bolster their marketability in sustainability-related professions.<\/p>\n
The Shi Center hosted Elly Gay \u201917, Logan Richardson \u201918, and Ying Yang \u201818 for the Smart and Sustainable Conference. The two-day meeting brought together international sustainability leaders from the private, non-profit, and higher education sectors to grapple with strategies for equipping college students to solve complex global problems.<\/p>\n
Fouch\u00e9 and Purvis tapped the three to attend the event for demonstrating leadership in the area of sustainability at Furman. As a sophomore, Gay completed a year serving as co-president of student-led Environmental Action Group; Yang and Richardson, only freshmen at the time, assisted in Furman’s sustainability assessment efforts resulting in a Gold rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System\u2122 (STARS\u00ae)\u2014a rating which only five southeastern universities achieved in 2015.<\/p>\n
Rubbing elbows with potential employers in the field of sustainability is especially important when headlines continue to cast gloom on the job market for the 25-and-under set. So Furman student representatives at the Feeding the Planet conference last May used the time to network with leaders in the field to reinforce their studies at Furman and shape their impressions about the types of jobs they may one day hold.<\/p>\n
Elisa Edmondson \u201915 says the meeting was \u201ca wonderful culmination to my Furman career that fused my interests in communication studies, poverty studies, and sustainability \u2026 Being surrounded by driven innovators, politicians, activists, and videographers made me feel excited to experience my future beyond Furman.\u201d Edmondson, who ran social media platforms for the Shi Center now works for an executive search and management firm as a social media recruiter.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s Feeding the Planet summit, an initiative of George Washington University\u2019s Planet Forward, centered on the theme, \u201cThe Story of Food in the Age of Climate Change.\u201d The intent of the annual meeting is to harness the power of student voices and the reach of digital media to explore innovations needed to feed a climate-challenged planet.<\/p>\n
One of those voices was that of Amanda Richey \u201917, who also shared her impressions of the summit. \u201cTo say I\u2019m a little overwhelmed after the Feeding the Planet Summit would be an understatement. Feeding all soon-to-be nine billion of us, fairly and sustainably, under increasingly sporadic weather is the ultimate test of my generation\u2019s lifetime. We have to do it using strained agricultural land and limited water and we have to do it fast.\u201d Richey, who later participated in Furman\u2019s MayX Slow Food Italy says, \u201cFeeding the planet is a gargantuan task, but this summit gave me hope that we can rise to meet the challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emily Anderson \u201918, who attended as a freshman, was struck by what can be achieved even on a small scale. \u201cWitnessing the accomplishments of the ideas and will power of individuals and small NGOs was inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n
Planet Forward founder Frank Sesno says, \u201cWe stand at a vital intersection of communications and sustainability.\u201d<\/p>\n
At this important crossroads, it\u2019s good Furman is part of the conversation for a lot of reasons. Students engage with leaders and peers in the sustainability sciences to better understand their own place as change-makers and leaders in an at-risk world. At the same time, students improve their employment outlook as they learn about opportunities in the field and connect with the larger sustainability community.<\/p>\n
Learn more about Smart and Sustainable Campuses<\/a> and Feeding the Planet<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Whether it\u2019s semester-long study away, shorter-term May experiences, internships, or presenting research at academic conferences both in the United States and abroad, Furman students have abundant opportunities for engaged learning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":257,"featured_media":4046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,18,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-centers-and-institutes","category-shi-institute-for-sustainable-communities","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/257"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}