Academic Affairs
Greening Initiative Core Team Meeting
Meeting Minutes
May 15, 2009
 2:00 p.m.
UN 277

Attendees:  Carpenter (Graduate Studies), Cox (Geography), Donahue (Facilities Planning), Gibby (AcR & Planning), Kurland (Management), Michaud (Political Science), Motti (Grad Student), Nirenberg (University Corp.), Pontikis (Family & Consumer Sciences), Sherman (Matador Involvement Center), Stephens (Chair) (AcR & Planning), Vasishth (Urban Studies), Wilson (Facilities Planning), Wohldmann (Psychology)

A.	REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF MINUTES

The meeting minutes of April 17, 2009 were approved. 

B.	ANNOUNCEMENTS / INFORMATION ITEMS 

1.	Institute for Community Health and Wellbeing:  Lou Rubino announced his appointment as the Interim Director and provided a brief overview of the Institute’s goals and activities at present.  He mentioned they have set up Foundation accounts to fund lab research and scholarship opportunities for students.   Rubino expressed a desire to partner with the Institute for Sustainability on projects that relate to both.     
	
2.	Advisory Board Meeting: Vasishth stated that the first meeting of the Advisory Board occurred on April 28, 2009.  Ideas were discussed in addition to an overview of accomplishments.  Building the relationship between the core team, advisory team, and Institute was stressed.  Vasishth noted that the Advisory Board will serve as liaison between the Institute and the colleges, as well as providing a communication link with the Departments.   

3.	Branding Update:  Stephens notified the team that the Institute’s logo will require further review and possibly revision before circulation.  She will advise the team as she receives feedback.  

4.	Curriculum Proposal Update:  Vasishth reported that he has received a positive response from the Provost’s office.  He reviewed the following highlights of the sustainability curriculum proposal: 

•	Each department would have the opportunity to offer an option of Sustainability 
•	Three interdisciplinary core courses (9 units) offered at the university level
•	Three elective courses (9 units) related to sustainability to be determined by the department, tailored to their needs and interests
•	Two sustainability curriculum coordinators to be appointed from every college to serve on a stakeholder group tasked with the job of refining the proposal  

Vasishth noted that designating courses will be the first steps to developing a program.   Further discussion is required.  

5.	Community-based Research Database:   Vasishth briefed the team on his meeting with Colin Donahue and CSUN’s future involvement/plans with the Reseda corridor and Northridge community projects. He added that the Institute would have the opportunity to develop a synergy between the community and our students.  The creation of a database of existing capstone-style courses involved in community-based research and which generate “products,” would enable the Institute to make a bigger impact possibly with student projects that could be more purposeful. Vasishth recommended that the database be made available to faculty and for collaboration purposes. Motti and Sherman offered to help with creating a database. 

6.	Food Gardens:  Motti reported on the research currently under way for establishing food gardens on campus.  He reviewed the following:    

•	Expand on available resources we have at CSUN to begin food gardens on campus  
•	Develop community-based program with an educational component 
•	Research other universities for ideas 
•	Pursue funding 
•	Provide additional education to local organic farmers 

Vasishth announced the next meeting of the food garden stakeholder group will be held May 28, 2009, at 11:00 am, in the Whitsett room.

7.	Permaculture Course:  Wohldmann reported she has put together an outline and an experimental course is being developed for the Spring 2010 semester. Vasishth added that it will be a sustainability practices course built around permaculture, whereby students will have the opportunity for hands-on experience in the garden. 

8.	A.S. Recycling Visioning Meeting:  Wilson reported that he received good input from around the campus and will email and post online the results of the session.  

9.	Best Practices Assessment:   Vasishth announced that Academic Affairs was interested in having a greening assessment of office operations conducted, and called for faculty interested in getting involved in the research effort.  The purpose of the team would be to present a “best practices” analysis of office operation procedures, which could then be implemented across the University.  He added that by examining operations and applying the best practices across the campus, the carbon footprint within our offices can be reduced.  Carpenter, Cox, Kurland, Michaud, Stephens, and Sherman all offered to take part in the research.  

10.	Waste Stream Analysis and Water:  Kurland provided an update of the two waste audits she and her students performed on campus.  Through a trash sort and survey, they were able to determine how informed students are and their level of interest in recycling activities.  

Kurland mentioned the possibility of the formation of a student Sustainability Club.  Michaud suggested creating a flyer to be sent to the core team and faculty for distribution to students.  If provided with names, Motti volunteered to contact students. 

Also, Kurland requested members contact her if interested in assessing the water footprint on campus.  

11.	Tree Tagging: Cox reported that 80% of the 3,000 trees on campus have been tagged with twelve students participating in the task.  She has assigned one of her students to do GIS mapping and will be building a database from the results. 
 
12.	URBS 495C:  Michaud announced that funding has been granted through the Judge Julian Beck awards. She noted the course will be offered in the Fall 2009 semester as a Special Topics course within the Urban Studies department. Concerns were voiced by members regarding problems associated with pre-requisites and issuing permission numbers. Vasishth mentioned possible solutions of either adding a comment on the SOC or, if feasible, removing the pre-requisites. 

Michaud then noted the necessity of scheduling a meeting sometime in the summer for the assessment of students. 

13.	Container selection: Nirenberg has a selection of new food containers he will present at the next meeting.  

C.	EVENTS

1.	UC/CSU/CCC Sustainability Conference:  Vasishth reminded members of the conference being held in Santa Barbara from June 21st to June 24th.  If interested in attending, members were encouraged to register.

2.	Farmers Market:  Wohldmann provided an update from the meeting she attended.  Several potential sites are under consideration, including: Sierra Walk, Bayramian Courtyard, or the OST lawn.  At this point, the market has been planned to take place on Wednesdays, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.  Also, offering internships to students is under consideration. 

3.	Water Day Workshop: Vasishth announced a workshop is being planned as a full day event during the fall semester.  The LADWP will provide information on topics related to water.  Updates will be provided as more details become available. 

ACTION ITEMS: 

•	Wohldmann to provide Nirenberg with a list of organic farmers. 
•	Gibby to email UCSB Conference site to Michaud. 
•	Michaud to initiate creation of URBS 495C posters. 
•	Michaud to schedule meeting for student assessment. 
•	Wohldmann and Motti to visit UC gardens for comparison. 
•	Core team members to contact Kurland if interested in water footprint. 
•	Wilson to email results of Visioning session. 

Next meeting:  Friday, June 19, 2009