A Commitment to Sustainability

Nebraska Environmental Trust Awards $330,000 in Grants to Help Establish Sustainability Learning Lab

Earlier this year, the Council of Independent Nebraska Colleges Foundation (CINCF) received $330,000 in grant funds from the Nebraska Environmental Trust (NET) to help establish a sustainability learning lab at Bellevue University. The grant funding from NET will be matched by Bellevue University and its partners and donors over the next three years.

According to Treva Haugaard, Executive Director of CINCF, the sustainability learning lab has tremendous potential to benefit the State of Nebraska by raising awareness and educating future generations of students and citizens about how to conserve, enhance and restore natural environments. Haugaard added that the grant and lab project aligns well with CINCF’s mission to provide support for students attending Nebraska’s private colleges and universities.

Bellevue University President Dr. Mary Hawkins said the grant serves as a prime example of a partnership resulting in a unique educational resource. “We are grateful for The Nebraska Environmental Trust’s support of this project and for the CINC Foundation’s advocacy on behalf of the state’s independent higher educational institutions,” she said. “We are confident that real world, applied learning that will take place in the lab will help preserve Nebraska’s valuable natural resources and strengthen the state’s workforce.”

Hawkins explained that the sustainability lab is part of a broader multi-million dollar innovation investment made by Bellevue University and the University’s donors into STEM education facilities, programs and student support resources. The sustainability learning lab is partially funded through a grant from the Nebraska Environmental Trust. The Trust is funded by proceeds from the Nebraska Lottery and has awarded more than $305 million to conservation projects in Nebraska since 1994.

Prep work on the 7,000-square foot indoor-outdoor facility supporting a greenhouse, solar and wind generation stations, a biofuel algae pond and an outdoor classroom began in early September, with a formal groundbreaking ceremony held on Friday, Oct. 4. When completed, the lab will support and facilitate science and environmental sustainability education, research, public awareness and green workforce development. The lab will support Bellevue University courses and degrees, and when completed is expected to engage and educate more than 2,500 students, educators, researchers and campus visitors a year.

Faculty, students, and staff all volunteered to help plant thousands of native plants as part of the groundbreaking event in October.

Dr. John Kyndt, Associate Professor of Microbiology, Nutrition, and Sustainability, is excited that the space will be available to the community.“We want to open it up for people to come and enjoy the space and work with us in the space,” he said. “We’re opening it up for people to plant their own plants if they want to as long as it’s native.”