The Robert F. Schumann Foundation has generously awarded the College of the Environment (COE) a 5-year, $2-million grant to focus on the areas of food security, environmental justice, and sustainability. The Schumann Institute of the COE will be adding new positions to enhance teaching, research, and community engagement; building a network of local community organizations that specialize in the areas of food security, environmental justice, and sustainability; providing opportunities for Wesleyan environmental studies students to work with these organizations to help their efforts; and creating a “pipeline” of professional training for graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and professors of the practice so that they will have the skills and knowledge needed to contribute importantly when they leave Wesleyan. Enhanced courses; student immersion in community engagement projects; student internships; campus and community seminars, symposia, and workshops; scholarly output on environmental issues; and other related activities will all be supported with the grant.
“Our partnership with KNOX Hartford Foundation is the first of what will be many partnerships we are able to establish and support thanks to the generous grant from the Robert F. Schumann Foundation,” said Barry Chernoff, director of the College of the Environment and chair of environmental studies. “The grant will also allow us to hire for several newly created positions, including our current search for a professor of the practice to teach undergraduate courses in the areas of environmental justice and food security.”