UC launches Center for Environmental Engagement
New center connects UC expertise with communities facing environmental challenges
The University of Cincinnati is launching the Center for Environmental Engagement, a new interdisciplinary initiative focused on supporting communities that face disproportionate environmental risks.
Faculty, students, community partners and environmental practitioners will work together to develop solutions to complex environmental challenges. The center’s mission is to serve the public by connecting communities with resources, subject matter expertise and community-engaged scholarship.
Housed in the College of Arts and Sciences, the center is designed to also draw on expertise from across the whole of UC including, for instance, the College of Law and the College of Engineering depending on needs identified by the communities with which the center works. Its work will bring together perspectives from the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and law.
Bob Hyland, Associate Professor – Educator, at the University of Cincinnati. Photo/Hannah White/UC A&S Marketing and Communication.
Years of conversations between Bob Hyland, the inaugural Director of the center, and environmental attorney Rob Bilott helped lay the groundwork for the center. Bilott, a recipient of the International Right Livelihood Award, and Hyland later brought together a core group of supporters to help shape the center and its approach.
Hyland said the center will help bring the expertise of a public research university into communities facing disproportionate environmental risk through a community-based approach that “honors and elevates the expertise of those who are being negatively affected.”
That community-based approach is central to the center’s mission. Rather than focusing on a single environmental issue, the center is designed to bring together expertise from different disciplines based on the needs of community partners. It plans to establish interdisciplinary faculty and student teams working with communities and support faculty-led, community-engaged projects through a mini-grant program.
Potential projects could tackle a wide range of issues, from environmental quality in urban parks and industrial pollution in neighborhoods to drinking water sources contaminated by mining activities. Addressing those problems requires more than university expertise alone. The proposal describes the center as a “doorway into the University” for affected communities seeking support and a place for building the trust needed to address complex environmental risks.
“The Center for Environmental Engagement is a powerful example of Discovery in Action,” said James Mack, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “It brings together expertise from across disciplines and puts that knowledge to work alongside communities to address complex environmental challenges.”
Students at the heart of the work
Students will play an active role in the center’s work through experiential learning and community-engaged research.
“Students, along with community, will be at the heart of the center's work,” Hyland said. Through center-supported research projects, students will have opportunities to participate throughout the research process and present their work at the annual Environmental Justice and Advocacy Symposium. The center also anticipates opportunities through co-ops and graduate assistantships as its programs develop.
Building and expanding the symposium is one of the center’s initial objectives, with the goal of developing it into a regionally recognized environmental conference.
Building partnerships across the region
Community organizations and other partners throughout the tri-state region will be an important part of the center’s work. It also will coordinate with existing university resources, including the 1819 Innovation Hub and UC Center for Community Engagement, to align efforts and avoid duplicating existing work. External partners such as Bilott will contribute expertise, while community organizations will help connect participating faculty and students with communities involved in the center’s work.
The Devou Good Foundation has made a generous six-figure gift to support the Center for Community Engagement’s during its inaugural year. The foundation partners with local nonprofits to assess the unique needs of Greater Cincinnati neighbors.
Looking ahead, Hyland hopes the center will become a regional leader in mobilizing transdisciplinary research in support of communities facing disproportionate environmental risk.
“In five years, the Center for Environmental Engagement will be recognized as the region’s leader in mobilizing transdisciplinary research to support communities of people who shoulder disproportionate environmental risk, as well as be the home of EJAS, the premier gathering of its kind in the Midwest,” Hyland said.
Featured image at top: UC created a new center dedicated to solving some of the most pressing environmental issues. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC
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