Strategic Goal 2
Develop sustainable communities, encompassing environmental responsibility and community capacity-building.
Team Members
- Mark Kinders, Chair
- John Schleede
- Joe Spence
- Christy Landsaw
- April Adams
- Michael Gibbons
- Mia Revels
- Michael Turner
- Ron Cambiano
- Jerry Cook
Sustainable communities can be communities of interest (e.g., the arts, business, education) and/or communities of geography (e.g., Northeastern State University, Cherokee County, Green Country).
On campus this entails adopting practices to reduce, re-use and recycle as they apply to all resources. We will model the way in innovative and best sustainability practices on campus to reduce our carbon footprint, and share them with others off-campus.
Through a holistic, systems-thinking approach in Northeastern State's external service area, faculty experts, student interns, and research teams will be coordinated to address the breadth and depth of leadership capacity building as well as sustainability-based community planning, development, commercial, social and cultural opportunities that ultimately define the quality of life on our campuses and across the region. By encouraging economic improvement through community capacity building and sustainability best practices, communities will generate resources that may be applied to resolve sociologic problems and enhance cultural development.
An institution that embraces sustainability practices on campus and in its service region:
- Becomes a "Model for Cash Positive - Carbon Negative, Sustainable Campus /Community Design";
- Benchmarks indicators and tracks integrated data on ecologic integrity, social justice, and economic vitality;
- Achieves maximum self-sufficiency and commercial value through vertically integrated campus, business and community models;
- Creates synergistic partnerships to build sustainable economic development, community arts, health care, and education through collaboration with community leaders and other forms of civic; and,
- Enables communities to find common ground by developing the abilities of community residents to enhance their decision-making to achieve preferred outcomes to the benefit of all.
Priority 1
Identify/Centralize Campus Outreach (Making Place Matter)
Identify and Centralize Campus Outreach Efforts in Making Place Matter.
- Action 1: Host 2nd Annual Regional Summit
- Action 2: Continue commitment to Economic Development
- Action 3: Continue commitment to Oklahoma Center for Rural Development
- Action 4: Create Regional Development Center
Develop a broad-based campus sustainability initiative, integrating student, faculty and staff leadership, along with Making Place Matter.
- Action 1: Inventory current projects to reduce carbon footprint
- Action 2: Inventory faculty and staff expertise
- Action 3: Identify faculty, staff, student leadership
- Action 4: Elevate visibility of campus sustainability initiatives
- Action 5: Initiate development of comprehensive plan