About the Center

The Center for the Environment at Catawba College has been deeply involved in our state’s environmental issues since its inception in 1996. Our mission is to educate the region – both students and the general public – about environmental stewardship and sustainability and to involve our faculty, staff, students and the Center’s community partners in programs and activities that promote sustainable solutions to the environmental problems we face. Catawba students receive a value-added education through involvement in our activities. We strive to serve as a model to our region, lending our expertise on a wide range of issues – from air and water quality to land preservation and sustainable development.

FACILITY

From the first day the Center for the Environment facility opened in 2001, it became a model of sustainability for the state. Bill Holman, then secretary of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, called it “the wave of the future in resource and energy efficiency.” Everything about the building – from site design to the environmentally friendly building materials and green furnishings, from energy and water conservation issues to recycling and waste management – is grounded in principles of sustainability. It is a three-dimensional incarnation of the Center’s curriculum – an excellent teaching tool as well as an environmentally sound project.

ECOLOGICAL PRESERVE/WILDLIFE REFUGE

The college’s 187-acre ecological preserve, which flows seamlessly from the facility, speaks volumes about the Center’s commitment to environmental education and stewardship. It serves as a habitat for wildlife, a source of water purification and an outdoor laboratory for the students. In 1998 the Center worked with the LandTrust for Central North Carolina to place 130 acres of the preserve under a permanent conservation easement, which ensures that the land will always be held in its natural state. The Center also worked with the LandTrust to secure a 300-acre wildlife refuge, which has also been placed under a conservation easement. Both the ecological preserve and the refuge give Catawba students ample opportunities for analyzing ecosystems and learning about conservation management.

RECENT PROGRAMS

• N.C. Watershed Conference (at the time, the second largest statewide watershed conference in the nation)
• Clean Air Initiative which included a Clean Air Lecture Series (an award-winning program that served as a catalyst for addressing the health and economic impacts of poor air quality) and Clean Air Conference: Community Strategies for Action
• Faith, Spirituality and Environmental Stewardship Conference (one of the first and largest conferences of its kind in the Southeast)
• Conservation and management of Ecological Preserve (the first college in the state and one of the first in the nation to put its campus property under a permanent conservation easement with a land trust)
• Creation of the first “green” college campus building in the state and one of the first in the Southeast (prior to the LEEDS program)
• Leadership role in the creation of one of the earliest environmental programs in the state (The college offers degrees in Environmental Science, Environmental Studies, Environmental Education and Sustainable Business & Community Development. It was the first in the state to create a Sustainable Business degree at the undergraduate level.)