Thomas More University is promoting a more sustainable community by kicking off its inaugural “Saints Sustainability Celebration Day: Care for our Common Home,” on Friday, April 22 at the Crestview Hills campus
In conjunction with the annual Earth Day festivities, this open-to-the-public celebration entails a variety of events, including a sustainability panel of community partners Duke Energy, Kroger, and TiER1 Performance, student research presentations, a festival with live music and exhibitors, and a theatre performance by the Villa Players.
“Sustainability should be at the forefront of how we are making business decisions and how institutions are responding to the social responsibility we all share with humanity and with future generations,” says Thomas More University President Joseph L. Chillo, LP.D. “In preparing our students for a successful future, we must engage them with these crucial topics. Pope Francis called for change in his seminal encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si, and Thomas More University is responding to that call by being responsible stewards of our community and world by viewing all of our policies, practices, and procedures under the lens of sustainability, equity, and justice.”
Thomas More students will play a key role in the day’s events, presenting research in the morning and participating in the afternoon festival. Many student organizations will have booths at the festival, including the Blue & Green Environmental Club, the Biology Club, and the Business Society. Students will also soon benefit from various departments of the University developing sustainability-related courses, concentrations, and programs. “It has now been shown over and over again that the companies who do sustainability well are the companies that are going to be most successful,” says Bruce Rosenthal, Ph.D., dean of the College of Business at Thomas More. “If we are not teaching our students what that means, then we’re doing them a disservice. Very few universities in the United States are focusing on sustainability in business, but I want that as a major thrust of what we’re doing.”
The College of Natural & Health Sciences at Thomas More has a long-standing tradition in both environmental research and education as faculty and students approach the idea of sustainability as it relates to the natural, physical environment in the Ohio River watershed. A variety of research projects which includes monitoring the River at the Biology Field Station in California, Ky., involve collaborations with other agencies, including the United States Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services, and ORSANCO, to name a few. Thomas More’s Biology Field Station offers several environmental outreach programs, including grade school field trips, STEM camps and teacher workshops, to area schools and groups.
The inaugural University-wide Saints Sustainability Celebration begins at 9 a.m. with a welcome from President Chillo. Student research will be on display with the panel of community partners discussing their company’s sustainability efforts beginning shortly after. The afternoon features a vibrant festival, complete with live music, an open mic, and 15 different exhibitors, including student clubs, non-profit, and environmental organizations. The day will close out with a Villa Players theatrical production of Seussical (the Musical) at 7:30 p.m.
For more information about Thomas More University, visit www.thomasmore.edu.
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