University officials hope a recent $1 million grant helps propel the University onto the center stage of campus sustainability. Students, staff and faculty members have the chance to help reach that goal.
The T&J Meyer Family Foundation recently awarded the University the grant that will fund faculty, staff and student projects. A committee will award $200,000 each year for three to eight projects during the next five years.
Officials say they hope the grant unites students from different departments and schools.
“The idea is to promote interdisciplinary projects that relate to sustainability,” said Paul Elstone, director of corporate and foundation relations.
The projects could affect curriculum and research at the University and beyond, Elstone said. Projects could be applied at other universities or into the private sector.
“These projects will have a real application in society,” Elstone said. “I think we’re going to see new partnerships and see new things that haven’t happened at the University or in education.”
The grant will provide seed money to help students start new projects, which will be environment-related.
“The projects that will get funded aren’t projects we’re already doing,” Elstone said. “They need to be new.”
The grant will only fund projects for the first year, but after that, project leaders will need to find other sources of money.
“The seed funding allows us to try out new and exciting ideas,” said chemistry professor Jim Hutchison, head of the steering committee. “It can be really difficult to find that money.”
Hutchison said he wants to see projects reach beyond campus.
“What would be really exciting is if we can establish some cutting-edge, new projects that use this as a stepping stone for self-sustaining projects that can be replicated across the nation,” Hutchison said.
He added the projects could be used in research, teaching and campus operations. Hutchison said the entire campus could benefit from the projects.
Donor Tim Meyer, a native of Oregon who lives in London, was flying to the U.S. Tuesday and could not be reached, but he prepared a statement in a press release.
“The idea of sustainability is one of the big issues of our generation,” he said in the press release. “Leaving the earth better than when we found it must be one of the great goals of society. The University should be an ideal place to lead our society’s thinking about this issue.”
Meyer didn’t attend the University, but he does have ties to the school. He helped expand Kettle Foods, a Salem potato chip maker, into England in the late 1980s. Some of his family members, including architect and brother James Meyer, graduated from the University.
The University has been working with Tim Meyer this year to figure out how to use the money.
The steering committee that Hutchison heads wrote a proposal process for the grant money.
A faculty committee independent from the steering committee will choose the projects, said geography professor Pat McDowell, a member of the steering committee.
Students who wish to apply will need a faculty adviser to apply for the grant, McDowell said. Lane Community College students are also eligible to apply. McDowell said she expects to see joint proposals from both schools.
Projects should identify an environmental problem and present a work plan that addresses a solution, according to the steering committee’s guidelines. Projects can be in any field, and examples include course development, workforce training, public outreach, case studies and lab work.
Pre-proposals are due Jan. 9 by 5 p.m. and can be submitted to sustainability director Steve Mital at [email protected]. Individuals whose projects are selected will be asked for a more detailed proposal, which is due Feb. 13.
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