Hartwick College
Campus Category
Four year and graduate institutions under 5,000 student FTE
Contact Information
Brian Hagenbuch
Director, Pine Lake Institute
Education and Research
Hartwick College began offering courses in environmental science more than 30 years ago and acquired the Pine Lake Environmental Campus (PLEC) in 1971. The College offers an interdisciplinary Environmental Science and Policy (ESP) minor and a major in Environmental Chemistry. The faculty is actively engaged in research. Dr. Stanley Sessions, professor of biology, and his students contributed important findings to the controversy surrounding deformed frogs. Their research was published in Science, and was recently featured by the BBC's Earth News. Their work has been partially funded by a three-year National Science Foundation grant. Hartwick maintains a biological field station at the PLEC and faculty have conducted more than 30 ongoing research projects, biological surveys, and environmental assessments at the Lake, some of which focus on the water quality in the Susquehanna River, the largest tributary in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Students enrolled in the Environmental Science and Policy Program complete a capstone senior seminar in environmental assessment and have performed internships with the National Weather Service, Harvard and Cornell Universities, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the New York State Environmental Research and Development Authority. ESP students have studied abroad in Africa, the Bahamas, Costa Rica, the Galapagos Islands, Thailand, and Madagascar, and graduates of the program have earned doctoral degrees in fields such as ecology and evolution from the University of Chicago, Yale University, the University of Michigan, and Syracuse University. One graduate is currently serving in the Peace Corps in Malawi.
The Pine Lake Environmental Campus, is a small-scale model for “green” communities. The PLEC has served as a demonstration site of sustainable design and has a history of hands-on education in green building techniques. Students in the class Architecture of the Sacred constructed a 900-square foot strawbale house. Constructed of compressed strawbale and finished with natural plaster, the house is economical and environmentally friendly. The Strawbale House is the site for many of the PLEC’s education and outreach activities, including the Conversations at the Lake speakers series which focuses on topics related to the environment and sustainability.
Hartwick College piloted its first intentional‚ living-learning first year seminar course last year. The Idea and Practice of Sustainability integrated the theory and application of sustainable living on local and global scales. In addition to required reading, applied research, and involvement in special events at the PLEC, the class also participated in a community service project at an organic farm. Students also conducted needs assessments, developed surveys and questionnaires, interviewed faculty and staff, and developed proposals on energy and water saving projects. Since 2002-03, Hartwick’s academic year theme has focused on topics related to the environment, including globalization, water, climate change, and balance. Leaders in the sustainability movement, including Vandana Shiva, Bill McKibben, Peter Finn, David Orr, and Winona LaDuke have spent time at Pine Lake, led college activities, and made public presentations.
Campus Operations
In 2005, Hartwick received a Kresge Foundation Green Building Initiative planning grant to partially fund green design of Golisano Hall, the College’s newest academic building. In keeping with Hartwick’s emphasis on hands-on learning, the project provided the basis for a course titled Sustainable Design. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification process for Golisano Hall is currently underway. Golisano Hall will be the first LEED-certified building in Otsego County and one of a small number of academic buildings in New York State to achieve LEED certification. The building’s systems use approximately 75% less energy than the average building on Hartwick’s campus. Many of the LEED points earned will be based on energy efficiency, site selection, and water use reduction. A large, green space is being created adjacent to the building site which replaces a paved area, and all landscaping consists of only native plants. Golisano’s block, brick, and concrete were procured locally, and the project used 50% certified wood.
The efficiency measures in Golisano Hall were also partially funded through grants and incentives from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. According to a study funded by NYSERDA, the energy savings associated with this project are equivalent to permanently removing eight cars from the road and the annual reduction in carbon dioxide is over 79,000 pounds. The final stage of the project, the demolition of Arnold Hall, was completed last fall. Steel was recycled, architectural elements such as cornerstones, pediments, and the face of its clock were salvaged, and hardware and doors are being reused.
The Pine Lake Environmental Campus is a unique living laboratory for sustainability where ecological principles such as energy conservation, organic gardening, composting, waste reduction, and recycling are practiced every day. Water used for drinking, cleaning, and waste removal comes from two wells on the property and wastewater is treated via septic fields and tanks. Low flow shower heads are installed in all restrooms. All buildings use compact fluorescent bulbs and in fall 2006, the College installed 6,000 square feet of solar panels on Robertson Lodge which provide half of the lodge's power. Through netmetering, the photovoltaics will enable Hartwick to sell electricity back to the grid. Cabins at the Lake are heated by pellet stoves, which use waste wood supplied by Catskill Craftsmen, a furniture-maker in nearby Stamford, New York. The PLEC offsets all CO2 emissions by investment in renewable energy certificates. The PLEC is also the site of two green buildings– the Strawbale and Cob Houses which offer Functional lessons in sustainable design.Students at Pine Lake work together on a community organic garden where they plant vegetables and herbs for their own use, and Pine Lake residents carpool to and from PLEC
Based on its choices of green power, the PLEC has been recognized through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership which supports procurement of electricity produced from renewable resources. .
Administration and Finance
In terms of planning, Hartwick students are catalysts for sustainability initiatives at on the main campus and at the Pine Lake Environmental Campus. Students in the first year seminar class, the Idea and Practice of Sustainability worked with a coalition of upperclassmen representing more than 13 campus groups such as the Grassroots Environmental Club and the Pine Lake Club on an agenda to create a more economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable campus. Their recommendations were presented to Hartwick’s president, Margaret Drugovich, EDM last December. The Pine Lake Institute has adopted the actions of the five-point agenda as priorities for 2009-2010.
Last spring, a group of seniors surveyed the campus community and made recommendations. Another group of students initiated a campus-wide inventory of Hartwick’s greenhouse gas emissions. Students helped pilot an energy saving campaign, Hartwick Unplugged!, that raised awareness of campus energy consumption and implemented low-cost energy saving mechanisms such as sensors which reduce the electricity consumption of vending machines. Students are also driving initiatives to manage waste and reduce residence hall energy consumption. Next year the Pine Lake Institute will offer students the opportunity of purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates which offset the fossil fuel-based electricity that the student use during on campus. Purchasing as many units of RECs as dorm rooms use in electricity, offsets energy consumption and has a direct 1:1 correlation to reducing pollution. Participating students receive a Green U card and a window decal to acknowledge that they have offset a portion their carbon footprint by investing in clean green energy.
In terms of access and affordability, fully 95% of Hartwick students receive financial aid; 25% receive Pell grants. Roughly 15% of the College’s students come from families with incomes below $30,000; almost 30% from families with incomes below $60,000; and approximately 21% are first-generation college students. The College has kept tuition increases below the average for schools of its size and type over the last five years and since 1990, minority enrollment has more than doubled. Hartwick is also committed to creating a more diverse faculty, staff, and board of trustees.
