Sustainability Program

Land Acknowledgement: 

Let us take a moment to acknowledge St. Lawrence University is part of a colonial settler culture that lives on land inhabited by the Kanien’keha:ka tribe of the Haudenosaunee people.

Spring 2024 Room Openings: APPLICATIONS DUE DEC 1

• Sustainability Program Spring 2024 House Openings: APPLY HERE
  • Applications for spring residence are due DECEMBER 1.
  • A small number of spots have become available in the Sustainability Program house for the Spring 2024 semester. 
  • Spring residents are required to participate in the household community, including daily/weekly farm animal and household chores, community meetings, involvement in managing transportation to and from campus, and other aspects of community life.
  • Spring residents are encouraged to take ENVS 3035SUS-01: Spring Practicum, a half-credit course involving weekly participation in farm and related activities, if spaces are available.
  • Joining the household for spring 2024 does not preclude or require applying to participate in the full program in the future.
• To apply, please fill out the application form here by December 1st. Feel free as well to express interest or reach out with any questions to Program Director Camilla Ammirati at cammirati@stlawu.edu.

Sustainability Program 2024-2025: We are moving!

Beginning in Fall 2024, after many treasured years working out of the farm site at 1894 State Highway 68, the Sustainability Program will be moving to the main campus at St. Lawrence University. Students will participate in a living-learning community in an on-campus residence and take core courses including a one-credit academic and half-credit practicum course each term focused on sustainability-related issues, experiences, and skills. See below for further detail about the program.

Apply to Sustainability Program 2024-2025: Application Details TBA

Please stay tuned for updates on when applications will open.

Early application available for BIPOC and international students, as well as students in FYPs or other SLU classes focused on environmental and sustainability-related issues. If you are interested in applying early, please contact Program Director Camilla Ammirati at cammirati@stlawu.edu.

Sustainability Program Information

We are a year-long, experiential living-learning program focused on exploring sustainability through a rigorous core curriculum and hands-on, locally-rooted participation in food production and community-building within the living-learning environment of the program residence. Learning through hands-on experience complements traditional in-class learning methods, making complex ideas tangible through day-to-day problem-solving. Students learn about global issues surrounding sustainability in the classroom, then they continue to explore these issues through lived experience in the living space and Practicum course. Learning continues beyond the standard class time, and living together is an opportunity for intellectual and social exploration. In this space, students may experience and reflect on how food, economic, energy, and sociopolitical systems are continually intersecting. We emphasize collective decision-making and value diverse perspectives. In addition to the core year-long living-learning program, there are a variety of ways students, faculty, staff, and community members can get involved with the program. All are welcome.

Sustainability Program Learning Goals

After completing the year-long core living-learning program (including Approaches to Sustainability, Communicating Sustainability, and fall and spring Practicum), students will be able to:

1. Describe how sustainability issues involve dynamic relationships among ecosystems and social systems that are embedded in ongoing histories of exploitation.

2. Discuss their own intersectional social positions within the ongoing histories of exploitation that have produced a planetary crisis in sustainability.

3. Evaluate and synthesize transdisciplinary knowledge of the systems involved in sustainability by intentionally seeking out multiple perspectives, including academic perspectives, community perspectives, and perspectives that have been marginalized.

4. Communicate about sustainability from different perspectives, to different audiences, and in different modes (e.g. speaking, writing, and art).

5. Articulate how participating in food production and community-building within a living-learning community is relevant to broader challenges of sustainability.