KSU Selected For Pilot Climate Change Fellowship

KSU Selected For Pilot Climate Change Fellowship

Posted on August 28, 2014

Kentucky State University’s chapter of Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS) is one of just 26 programs from communities across the United States, Canada and Mexico to be selected to participate in an international pilot climate change fellowship.

 KSU MANNRS Chapter President Darrion CollerEECapacity – the national environmental education training program led by Cornell University in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other partners – announced the recipients of the Community Climate Change Fellowship, which will address the importance of climate change education and engagement at the grassroots, community level.

 KSU’s participating project will engage college-aged students in climate change education and action through workshops and in-depth trainings on climate change, how to best teach the basics of climate change. At the end of the program, MANRRS students will design and create an educational campaign about the simple changes individuals can make to reduce carbon dioxide emissions on campus and in the community.

 “I am extremely honored and excited to be a part of this initiative and to represent KSU and the College of Agriculture, Food Science and Sustainable Systems in this endeavor,” says Jennifer Hubbard-Sanchez, state specialist for sustainable programs, who designed the project that won the fellowship.

 Hubbard-Sanchez says further, “Empowering our students to understand our changing climate and to learn ways to lessen our impacts and carbon footprint is one more way that we are able to provide them with opportunities and the tools they need to build a sustainable future.”

 The fellowship itself was designed by a consortium of nonprofit partners led by the North American Association for Environmental Education. This eight-month program will promote leadership, networking and innovation, as well as creative strategies for reaching new and under-represented audiences.

 At KSU, participating MANRRS students will select an area of focus and develop an educational campaign, presentations and materials that they will work to disseminate throughout the 2014-15 academic year. The group will do community and public school presentations as well as participate in Earth Day, campus open house events and other local, regional and national events.

 “I am confident that the Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Science student group at KSU will do great things and reach new heights with this project for our campus and local community. I am thankful for the opportunity to be a part of it,” Hubbard-Sanchez says.

  More information on KSU’s project can be found at www.eecapacity.net/jennifer-hubbard-sanchez . For a complete list of fellows and projects, visit www.eecapacity.net/meet-the-fellows .?