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van Bekkum
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ATLANTA – After earning her bachelor's degree in psychology at Agnes Scott College, 2008 graduate Lies van Bekkum returned to campus almost immediately as the college's first sustainability fellow.
van Bekkum’s recent college experience on campus at Agnes Scott is key to her new role in helping to build a "green" culture among the college’s community of about 900 students. She also is supporting the effort to design and launch educational programs to foster personal and community sustainability at Agnes Scott.
"This is a continuing fellowship, and right now we are working on the student engagement part," van Bekkum said. "But it will be ongoing. Another aspect might be water or perhaps trees on campus. The focus chosen by students will likely be something different each academic year."
van Bekkum’s role as Agnes Scott’s sustainability fellow is shared with the city of Decatur where she works closely with the city’s new Environmental Sustainability Board which held its orientation meeting in late January.
This partnership, according to college administrators, is just another example of how the college and city work well together. And is one of the reasons The Princeton Review consistently cites Agnes Scott and Decatur with having "a great town/gown relationship."
"I will continue to attend (Decatur Sustainability Board) meetings as part of the Agnes Scott/Decatur partnership," van Bekkum explained. "Other projects are still in the works.
"The issues I am working on at Agnes Scott are ensuring increased visibility and communication, community involvement and student engagement for all our sustainability initiatives this year and next," van Bekkum said.
"We are building sustainability, including community involvement in Decatur and student engagement at Agnes Scott," said van Bekkum, who is also planning for 2009-2010.
Agnes Scott Director of Sustainability Susan Kidd sees van Bekkum’s role as essential to the college meeting its goals for sustainability.
“The best way we could ensure that Agnes Scott would make student engagement central to its sustainability initiatives was to hire a 2008 graduate to shepherd that work,” Kidd said. “It was after Lies was selected for the fellow position that I realized she had grown up in a place where sustainability was a way of life.”
van Bekkum was born and reared in the Netherlands, home of multiple man-made answers to environmental challenges. Fifty-five percent of the Netherlands sits below sea level while the same area is home to more than 60 percent of its people. In addition, that low-lying part generates 65 percent of the country’s gross national product. van Bekkum’s formative years helped her understand the need to change how the college impacts its environment.
"The question is really -- how do we create sustained change?" van Bekkum said. "Both in awareness and in creating sustained change at the behavioral level."
“That behavioral change must be measurable, with the ultimate goal that these students will graduate, go back home and live their lives -- get new jobs and take what they've learned with them,” she said.
"As greater numbers of people embrace sustainable lifestyles and move around the country and world, it creates a ripple effect, You can find it right here at Agnes Scott. Ultimately, it's more than just the numbers reduction (for greenhouse gases and other "sustainability footprint" measurements) but also in education and awareness.
In Sept. 2007, Agnes Scott President Elizabeth Kiss became a signatory to the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, and college leaders have committed themselves to making Agnes Scott more sustainable. In September 2008, Agnes Scott met its first deadline by reporting its greenhouse gas emissions -- creating an important benchmark. By September 2009, the college must have developed and initiated a climate action plan.
“At the end of the day the most rewarding part of sustainability work on a college campus is the work with students," Kidd said. "It is incredible to see the Agnes Scott students using their intelligence and energy to help make this change happen.”
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Agnes Scott College educates women to think deeply, live honorably and engage the intellectual and social challenges of their times. Students are drawn to Agnes Scott by its excellent academic reputation, exceptional faculty, and metropolitan Atlanta location – offering myriad cultural and experiential learning opportunities. A diverse and growing residential community of scholars, this highly selective liberal arts and sciences college is known for its dynamic and challenging intellectual community. Encouraging students to engage the wider world through study abroad and presenting its curriculum with international context, Agnes Scott College delivers on its promise: The World for Women.