Outreach & Engagement Programs and Scholars Database

The UConn Environment Corps (“E-Corps”) is an undergraduate STEM program centered on a model that combines classroom instruction, service learning, and Extension outreach. There are currently three E-Corps classes, each addressing the local impacts of, and responses to, a pressing environmental problem: climate resilience, brownfield redevelopment, and stormwater management. Students enroll in a classroom semester, during which many active learning techniques (group projects, guest lectures, role-playing exercises, field trips) are employed to give them a “real world” feel for the issue at hand. The classroom semester is then followed by an optional practicum semester, during which students are formed into teams and paired with community partners to work on projects; the goal is for the project results to be valuable and actionable for the community. E-Corps has enrolled 264 classroom students and 122 practicum students, who have completed 107 community projects.

Contact: Chester Arnold

Email: chester.arnold@uconn.edu

Keywords: environment, stem

Website: https://outreach.engagement.uconn.edu/programs/uconn-environment-corps/

Community Partners: Most E-Corps projects are with municipalities. To date, we have completed 107 community projects have involved 93 municipalities and 15 other entities, including Regional Councils of Government, Land Trusts, and municipal Development Corporations. We also partner with NGOs, particularly Sustainable CT.

Grant Funded Agency: National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education/Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) Program; Award#1915100.