The Community Garden as a University-Community Platform

Ashley Rose Newton, Indiana State University

IntroductionThe intersections between sustainability

curriculum, diversity awareness and cultural competence are practiced each day at Indiana State University in the Community Garden. The

goal of case-study is to exemplify that community gardens create a wide variety of

benefits both to the university and to the community. This study explores the dynamics of the community garden from the aspect of being in association with a university so that researchers, sustainability directors, campus administrators, and campus planners may

consider a community garden for their affiliation.

The Institute for Community Sustainability (below) lies at the front of the garden and serves as a resource not only to the community, but fosters a

wealth of research experiences relating to sustainability within and beyond the garden.

Community-led teaching provides students diverse learning opportunities, such as

mushroom identification (above).

Tours, lectures, and other activities in the garden engage learners of all ages.

The ISU Center for Bat Research, Outreach, and Conservation provides bat boxes (artificial habitats) and learning materials to integrate the biological sciences into the community garden (left).

Conclusions

Methods: surrounding the images aggregate the activities which creates this university-community synergy

Acknowledgements/Data Sources

Community Gardens in partnership and in close proximity to a university allows for consistent

volunteerism, access to sustainable and organic food, extracurricular activity, and the ability to synergize the community and the university.

The community garden working in part with the Institute for Community Sustainability gives

important curricular applications.

Incorporating diversity and cultural idea transfer platform is an ongoing dynamic within the

community garden.

1. Latimer, J.C. Van Halen, D., Speer, J., Krull, S., Weaver, P., Petit, J., Foxx, H., in review. Soil Lead Testing at a High Spatial

Resolution in an Urban Community Garden: A case study in relict lead in Terre Haute, Indiana, Journal of Environmental Health.

Lead testing in community garden by ISU students, (above)(1)

Material for compost and path creation in the garden allows for ISU to save money in that all organic materials removed from campus can be reused rather than needing to be sent to paid waste facilities.