President's leadership class focuses on innovative ways to conserve energy, reduce campus costs
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Thirty Purdue students spent their first year working closely with Purdue's president, campus leaders and other experts to learn leadership skills while devising possible ways to cut costs through novel sustainable practices.
"The President's Leadership Class is a new Purdue tradition for the 21st century, and this is the second year that we've combined leadership learning with the theme of sustainability," said President France A. Córdova. "It's an opportunity to parallel leadership lessons with action, as the students are challenged to present creative ways for the campus to conserve energy and reduce costs."
The five proposals devised by the class covered topics such as how exercise equipment at the Student Recreational Sports Center could be used to generate power, new cooking technologies that could be used in the dining courts, the creation of student ambassadors for sustainable solutions, establishing an electronic ticket system for athletic and entertainment events, and developing a method to collect and reuse rainwater from the roofs of residence halls.
"These ideas are preliminary but they have potential, and we certainly want to consider them as we move forward with the Sustainability Strategic Plan that we launched on Earth Day," said Robin Ridgway, director of sustainability and environmental stewardship and one of the course instructors. "The proposal for the electronic tickets, possibly a swipe card, is a way to reduce paper use. In addition to being cognizant of paper as a resource, the students are very committed to water stewardship. The ability to collect rainwater from residence hall roofs would provide a resource to irrigate campus lawns and use for non-drinking applications."
The course, started in 2000, is composed of a diverse group of 30 first-year students with high academic and leadership potential. During the fall semester, the students heard from professors in political science, agronomy and agricultural economics, as well as senior Purdue administrators, about sustainability and leadership. The leadership component focuses on team building, research and presentation skills.
"The President's Leadership Class is just one of many opportunities that Purdue students have to develop leadership skills," said Pablo Malavenda, associate dean of students.
Other opportunities through the Dean of Students office include participating in the Leadership Journey, other leadership classes, attending leadership conferences, utilizing the Leadership Resource Center or learning to lead a student organization on campus.
Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu
Sources: France A. Córdova, president@purdue.edu
Pablo Malavenda, 765-494-1232, pablo@purdue.edu
Robin Ridgway, 765-496-6405, rmridgway@purdue.edu