Carsey Institute

The Carsey Institute conducts policy research on vulnerable children, youth, and families and on sustainable community development. We give policy makers and practitioners the timely, independent resources they need to effect change in their communities.

Center for New England Culture

The Center for New England Culture promotes understanding of the region's diverse culture and rich history, and it fosters an appreciation of the value of regional culture in contemporary American life. 

Certificate in Sustainability Politics and Policy

The Certificate in Sustainability Politics and Policy is administered by the Department of Political Science Graduate Program, though it can include coursework from a number of other graduate programs. The Certificate is designed to give current graduate students, alumni and others in the community training and analysis on issues connecting environmental and social sustainability, politics and policy making initiatives. Such training is increasingly valuable for careers in the public sector, in non-profit organizations and in the private sector for both smaller and larger companies.

Culture & Sustainability Discussion Group

Spring 2012: Sustainability as a Pedagogical Project

The UNH Sustainability Academy and the UNH Center for the Humanities are launching a monthly working group devoted to sustainability and the humanities as part of UNH's Culture and Sustainability Initiative.

If, as UNH Chief Sustainability Officer Dr. Tom Kelly puts it, sustainability is a “shared outlook” that “attends to interactions” among ecological, social, political, and cultural realms, then what does it mean to teach the Humanities within this shared outlook? What roles can the Humanities play in sustainability efforts? How should we sustain the Humanities, and our Humanities teaching, especially given the conditions currently facing public universities?

This spring we’ll explore the three winning proposals (in Classics, English, and Women’s Studies) from the UNH Sustainability Academy’s Fall 2011 call for Liberal Arts & Sustainability courses. We hope to use these discussions to generate teaching units that could be used across the curriculum and repeated over time, allowing faculty and students to collaboratively build knowledge about sustainability’s larger questions through a series of concrete exercises. The group is also intended to help us build community across the various disciplines and groups of teaching professionals.

Ecosystem Task Force

The UNH Ecosystem Task Force (EcoTF) examines sustainability issues related to land use, development, and ecosystem management. The overarching goal of the EcoTF is to serve in an advisory capacity to the UNH President and be responsible for making recommendations on the full range of issues that relate to land use, landscaping, ecosystem health, biodiversity and development.

Energy Saving Tips

Environmental Advocates

The Environmental Advocates (EA's) are Hall Council elected student representatives who work with ResLife, the Sustainability Institute and others to get the word out about UNH sustainability to students. Environmental Advocates auxiliary members of the UNH Student Sustainability Alliance, an umbrella student sustainability network comprised of Student Environmental Action Coalition, Net Impact, Trash2Treasure, Slow Food, Organic Garden Club and others. Leaders of these groups meet monthly with staff from the Sustainability Institute to share information with each other and work on projects together. The Environmental Advocates (EA’s) can join any of these clubs separately if they wish. The EA’s work through a communication system of both online documents and community, as well as occasional meetings with staff from the Sustainability Institute.

Food System Task Force

The UNH Food Task Force examines sustainability issues related to food and its role in the UNH community. The overarching goal of the Food Task Force parallels the UNH Energy Task Force and Ecosystem Task Force: to serve in an advisory capacity to the UNH President and be responsible for making recommendations on the fullrange of issues that relate to food across the CORE (curriculum, operations, research, and engagement).

The Food Task Force will formulate recommendations by considering the teaching, research, and engagement mission of the university and its core value of sustainability. The Food Task force will also consider the ways that UNH operations intersect with food, such as its long-range Master Plan or by supporting Healthy UNH’s goal of being the healthiest campus community by 2020. The Food Task Force complements and integrates the work of related UNH groups including:

• UNH conventional and organic dairies
• UNH farms and greenhouses
• UNH Organic Garden Club
• UNH Dining
• UNH Slow Food
• Healthy UNH
• Cooperative Extension

Isle of Shoals Marine Laboratory

The Shoals Marine Laboratory (SML) is located on beautiful Appledore Island, in the Gulf of Maine just 6 miles off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. This field station caters to undergraduate students interested in focusing on marine topics in their college majors. The Shoals Marine Laboratory is jointly operated by the Division of Biological Sciences at Cornell University and the Marine Program at the University of New Hampshire. SML offers over 20 summer credit courses designed especially for undergraduate students. Shoals courses give you a chance to study marine biology in the marine environment, enjoy small, intense classes of equally dedicated students, learn with students and faculty from across the country, and live on a beautiful Maine island while you're doing it. Course topics include marine: ecology, geology, research, climates and law. For course listings and more information on the Shoals Marine Laboratory, please visit the SML main web page at www.SML.cornell.edu. For information highlighting SML's sustainability efforts on Appledore Island, visit www.sml.cornell.edu/sml_shoalsissustainable.html.