Weekly Sustainability Seminars Cover Local, National, and Global Topics
Every Wednesday at 12 p.m., WCU’s Office of Sustainability (OoS) offers a look at how WCU scholars, students, and staff explore and apply principles
of environmental, social, and economic sustainability in their research and practice.
At 50 minutes each, these Sustainability Research and Practice Seminars introduce
an array of topics related to sustainability in easily digestible segments. Free and
open to both campus and community, they are presented via Zoom or in person in Sykes
Student Union 209.
The complete schedule is below. Unless otherwise indicated, speakers are WCU staff and faculty members. NOTE: There will not be a seminar during spring break week, 3/10/25 and the April 2 seminar will take place in SECC 107.
Programs are recorded and archived in the Francis Harvey Green Library’s Digital Commons site. The series is co-sponsored by the Office of Sustainability along with the Office for Research and Sponsored Programs and the Sustainability Council’s Scholarly and Creative Activities Committee.
For more information and the Zoom link, visit wcupa.edu/sustainability or write to sustainability@wcupa.edu.
February 5
Dr. Megan Heckert (Geography & Planning), Dr. Randall Cream (English), and Dr. Tina Rosan (Temple University, Geography, Environment and Urban Studies): Using Walk Audits and Storytelling to Understand Neighborhood Environmental Problems
February 12
Dr. Emily Southerton (Learning Sciences), and Kate Southerton-Castillo ’26 (student, Transformative Education and Social Change): Getting “out in the woods” with students: Intergenerational work centering learners as creators of sustainable futures
February 19
Dr. Abbie Ganas (Chemistry): Sustainable Synthesis of Cellulose-Derived Carbon Materials
February 26
Dr. Lorenzo Cena (Public Health Sciences), Daniel Engelbrecht, and Jess Hampton: Why do mushroom farms in PA smell so bad?
March 5
Dr. Manu Ramalho (Biology): Fostering and understanding diversity, within the ant microbiome and our research group
March 19
Dr. Nica Davidov (Monmouth University, Anthropology): Nature Is Good to Think With: How Biomimicry Creates a “Sustainabling” Resource
March 26
Dr. Jason Vanfosson (English): “For All Its Problems, It’s Mine”: Writing and Sustaining Queer Appalachian Stories in Youth Literature
April 2 in SECC 107
Dr. Nur Ritter (steward of the Gordon Natural Area): Nobody Told Me There’d Be Otters! Species, Patterns, and Insights from 2+ Years of Wildlife Camera Monitoring in the Gordon Natural Area
April 9
Dr. Jason Wozniak (Educational Foundations & Policy Studies): On Environmental Debts, and Debt Abolition to Fight the Climate Crisis
April 16
Nick Ventrola (Resident District Manager, Aramark): Pursuing Sustainability in Campus Dining Services
April 23
Dr. Linda Stevenson (Political Science): Teaching and Learning Sustainability: An Interdisciplinary Global Studies Approach
April 30
Dr. Karin Volkwein-Caplan (Kinesiology): Healthy Aging in a Sustainable Manner
Visit the WCU Office of Sustainability.