The Graham Sustainability Institute recently accepted 25 undergraduate students into its 11-credit Sustainability Scholars Program—an exclusive, interdisciplinary program through which participants receive special access and funding for field-based experiences, participate in sustainability leadership skills building activities as a cohort, and earn a “Sustainability Scholars Certificate” from the Graham Institute upon completion.
The new scholars, who will start the program in Fall 2012, include the following students (listed alphabetically by last name followed by their home school and academic majors):
- Diana Bach, Engineering, Civil & Environmental Engineering
- Hillary Bedeian, Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA), Program in the Environment (PitE)
- Megan Biner, Ross School of Business, Business Administration
- Michelle Busch, LSA, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (EEB)
- Meeri Chang, Ross School of Business, Business Administration
- Madeline Dunn, LSA Residental College, Social Theory & Practice
- Samuel Facas, LSA, PitE & French
- Samantha Fischer, LSA, Economics
- Katherine Globerson, LSA, Anthropology
- Aaron Handley, LSA, PitE
- Hannah Heyman, LSA, PitE
- Talia Kula, LSA Residential College, Social Theory & Practice
- Patrick Lau, LSA, Public Policy/Political Science
- Jeffrey Lavine, Ross School of Business, Business Administration
- Jamie Leasia, LSA, PitE
- Sylvia Lorenzini, Ross School of Business, Marketing
- Isabella Morrison, LSA , Women's Studies/Gender & Health
- Elena Marie Pascual, LSA, International Studies
- Marcella Pearl, Ross School of Business, Business Administration
- William Rogers, LSA, Psychology
- Hayley Sakwa, LSA, Political Science
- Chad Schram, LSA, Pre-Architecture
- Zoe Stahl, LSA, PitE
- Hannah Wolfson, LSA, Psychology
- Theresa Zettner, LSA, History
“We are pleased to see such a variety of majors and academic interests represented in our new cohort of Sustainability Scholars,” says Graham Institute Education Director Mike Shriberg, Ph.D., who teaches the popular Sustainability and the Campus class, which is required for the program. “Today’s sustainability challenges demand a new generation of critical thinkers who can look at problems and opportunities from multiple perspectives. Through a series of interdisciplinary coursework, field-based studies, co-curricular activities, and team building/leadership exercises, the Sustainability Scholars Program is designed to help cultivate such sustainability leaders on the U-M campus.”
U-M sophomore Talia Kula, of New York, is one of the new scholars. Already involved in the “Cultivating Community” organization on campus, Talia hopes to tailor her studies to urban food systems and public health, and she thinks the Sustainability Scholars Program will be a valuable asset in this pursuit.
“Being part of the Sustainability Scholars Program will allow me to explore my passion and teach me how to be a leader in the movement for change,” she says. “I expect to be both challenged and supported by people who care about sustainability and am excited to participate in field-based experiences.”
To learn more about the Sustainability Scholars Program, which now has 70 active students, please visit the Student Programs section of the Graham Institute website at www.graham.umich.edu.