The SOU Green House is for the student driven to create positive environmental change.
The GreenHouse emphasis on inquiry-driven, problem-based learning means that our graduates develop effective leadership and communication skills, learn to think in innovative ways, and have the ability to comprehend the impacts of environmental change and the priority for sustainability. GreenHouse graduates are poised to take practical action to solve the challenges of the 21st century.
In the GreenHouse, curious and passionate students and teachers work together to explore the world in which we live. Students transition from assimilating knowledge and passive learning to active learning and knowledge creation. Students collaborate with faculty, staff, and community members to learn about group process and conflict resolution, to study and solve real world problems, and to meet others who will become valuable colleagues and contacts beyond SOU.
Using information and resources from all of the disciplinary threads at our university, the GreenHouse creates a rich academic learning community and builds transferrable skills that can be applied in new ways. GreenHouse seminars guide student cohorts through a variety of research methods, training them to effectively participate in project teams, research teams, and business enterprises. Long-term projects offer the chance to build relationships that will open doors to career opportunities and entrepreneurial innovation.
The GreenHouse community serves as a regional resource for sustainable answers to social and environmental issues through a focus on local, regional, national, and international applied research. We find viable, realistic solutions to complex problems.
House Specific Objectives and Outcomes:
Program Objectives:
Facilitate a cohort-based experience that establishes relationships between students, staff, faculty, the SOU campus, and the region.
Offer ongoing cross-disciplinary collaborative seminar courses as a platform for community development, thematic learning, problem solving, and rigorous academic discourse around the theme of sustainability and environmental change.
Support student-led and student-initiated programming tied to the overarching mission of the House as a place of learning and exploration.
Recruit and retain highly qualified students eager to engage in hands-on research and projects in the fields of sustainability and environmental studies.
Support and encourage energetic, innovative and experiential teaching across disciplines and from the community.
Knowledge and Awareness Outcomes:
Has been exposed to a wide range of sustainability initiatives and topics
Is capable of sharing examples of and applying sustainable solutions to complex problems
Demonstrates deep understanding of the interdependence of economic, social, and environmental systems
Civic Engagement Outcomes:
Participates in and creates sustainability-related programs, projects, and events
Imagines and desires an ecologically and socially just world
Uses knowledge and perspective to act appropriately at all scales to effect change
Expresses deep commitment to the GreenHouse, Southern Oregon University, and the region.
Sustainability Leadership Outcomes:
Demonstrates confidence as a role model for sustainability
Inspires others to participate in sustainability through action and attitude
Models collaborative leadership with deep commitment and value for organizational interdependence
Relationship Outcomes:
Shows capacity to engage in self-reflection and self-improvement
Is willing and able to accept feedback
Seeks common ground and effective potential on issues and perspectives
Life Skill Outcomes:
Values life-long learning as a key element of citizenry
Exhibits intrinsic motivation and self-determination
Is capable of transformation, creativity and innovation
Exhibits clarity about personal goals, ambitions, and purpose
The Southern Oregon University GreenHouse is a solution-oriented learning community focused on sustainability, adventure, leadership, and applied research. Students, faculty, staff, and community members work together to understand and solve community-based problems through adventure, investigation, innovation, hands-on work, and action.
