Centenary celebrates Sustainability Week with lectures, events

SHREVEPORT, LA — A yearlong focus on sustainability at Centenary College culminates in a week of events celebrating scholarship, creativity, and community. The College adopted the concept of sustainability as a “21st century global challenge” focus for the 2017-2018 academic year and students, faculty, and staff have collaborated on initiatives and projects reflecting the theme. Some events during the week are generously underwritten by the Attaway Professorships in Civic Culture Program and most are free and open to the public.

“Centenary’s faculty adopted three 21st century global challenges to inform our annual curricular and co-curricular focus,” says Provost Jenifer K. Ward. “While students also concentrate on their individual major courses of study, these ‘challenge’ initiatives allow us to convene around issues that face all of us as citizens, regardless of academic discipline.”

Sustainability Week events include:

  • Friday, April 13, 2:00 to 5:30 p.m.  – 27th Annual Student Research Forum poster presentations (Mickle Hall, second floor). Free and open to the public.
  • Friday, April 13 and Saturday, April 14, 7:30 p.m. – Prince Orlovksy’s Ball presented by the Hurley School of Music’s Singers’ Workshop and Marjorie Lyons Playhouse. Sets for the show were constructed using sustainable practices and locally-sourced materials (Marjorie Lyons Playhouse). Tickets available at centenary.edu/orlovsky.
  • Tuesday, April 17, 11:10 a.m. – Lecture by Dr. Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado, noted researcher in the science of regeneration (Brown Chapel). Free and open to the public.
  • Thursday, April 19, 11:10 a.m. – Lecture by Dr. Lydia Hopper primate behavioral expert and collaborator at Chimp Haven (Whited Room at Bynum Commons). Free and open to the public.
  • Friday, April 20, 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. – 27th Annual Student Research Forum oral presentations (Carlile Auditorium/Mickle 114). Free and open to the public.
  • Saturday, April 21, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. – Art in the Meadow, a free community event featuring an outdoor makers fair, live music, and interactive games, crafts, and activities highlighting creativity, community, and sustainability (Jones-Rice Field). Free and open to the public. Food trucks on site with items available to purchase.

Dr. Kinsey Cotton Kelly, assistant professor of physics at Centenary, incorporated the sustainability challenge into the syllabus for her first-year Trek 116 course, “The Dawn of Robots: How the human imagination has shaped the future,” in spring 2018.

“The deliverable project for the course focuses on designing simple-circuit lights with Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) as well as 3D-printed housing for the lights and toys for those in need,” explains Kelly. “The students have developed lesson plans on how to build the simple circuit with an LED and eventually plan to facilitate these lessons with children through a local community outreach program. Thus, the project meets sustainability in multiple ways: environmental, economic, and social.”

The Centenary Muses, a group of alumni and friends who provide annual philanthropic support for specific projects at the College, recently awarded a grant to install a robotic garden in the greenhouse located on the roof of Mickle Hall. The new garden will provide students, including those in Kelly’s classes, with the opportunity to work with technology that will be crucial to agriculture and many other industries in the future. Kelly plans to incorporate projects with the robotic garden to meet the 2018-2019 challenge theme, Live a Meaningful Life.

More information about Sustainability Week events can be found at centenary.edu/events.

 

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