Pacific Lutheran University

Awarded annually by the Sustainability Committee, the fellowships give students an opportunity to further PLU’s sustainability effort on campus by researching existing practices and the use of resources on PLU and at other college and university campuses.

This summer, Morean and Power-Drutis will be working on research projects related to residential life. Both of the projects were proposed by Tinglestad’s resident director, Courtney Bailey.

“A lot students don’t know a lot of ways to live sustainably in the residence halls. It can be a challenge,” Bailey said.

Bailey said she’s noticed a gap within the student body. A lot of students don’t know what “sustainability” means or what sustainable living looks like. Bailey hopes the fellows can develop new techniques and tools to bridge that gap.

Morean and Power-Drutis will be working on different aspects of residential life. Morean will evaluate PLU’s sustainable practices regarding renovations to residence halls, while Power-Drutis will concentrate on reforming residential life programming. The two also plan to create an educational campaign targeting students, Bailey said.

“The idea is not only what we can do on the technical side, but what campaigns we can develop to elicit student interest,” Morean explained.

The actions taken by PLU to care for the environment aren’t always accessible to students, Morean said. For example, the Morken Center has been touted as one of PLU’s biggest achievements. Students have been told about the cutting-edge geothermal pump system that regulates the building’s temperature without fossil fuels, but students have no idea how the system really works.

“We need to educate students about it, so they can take it out with them and use it in the future,” he said.

In making all of PLU’s sustainability efforts accessible to students, they will be more likely to incorporate the same ideas into their lives after graduation, Morean said.

For his project, Morean will analyze last summer’s makeover of Foss and Pflueger Halls to determine what improvements worked and what more can be done, along with evaluating what other colleges in the region are doing, he said. His results will be applied to future residence hall renovations.

Morean lived in Pflueger Hall for two years before the building’s renovation, and he was amazed to see all the improvements after the overhaul. He was drawn to this particular project because he recognized that many students, especially freshman, didn’t realize the drastic change.

Meanwhile, Power-Drutis’ project begins by reforming the annual training session for resident assistants held by residential life staff in August. The two-week training prepares the students to be effective leaders, but it also produces an excess of food and paper waste, which isn’t environmentally friendly, Power-Drutis said.

“A lot of research that is done is done without the expectation that anyone will do anything about it,” Power-Drutis said. “It’s exciting to be researching … exciting because what I do will be done in training next year.”

In addition to finding ways to reduce the amount of waste produced during the training, Power-Drutis will work with residential life to create new programming with an underlying theme that promotes sustainability. The programming will educate student leaders about how to live a sustainable life and create hall programming focused on the same topic.

“There are ways student leaders themselves can live more sustainable lives to set an example for others,” she said. “I really do think student leaders set the tone for the rest of the year.”

Power-Drutis said she was drawn to this project because she has worked in residential life for the past two years, first as a resident assistant in Foss Hall and then as the resident assistant with additional duties in Harstad Hall. Since she’s experienced the training before, she’s in a good position to critique the process, she explained.

While completing their research, the students will work closely Bailey. Morean will also collaborate with communication professor Amanda Feller while Power-Drutis works with geosciences professor Jill Whitman.

Learn more about the Sustainability Committee and the fellowships at www.plu.edu/~sustain.