The Central Oklahoma Sustainability Collaborative (COSC) formed in the summer of 2021 as a community of students, staff, and faculty working to advance the awareness, understanding, and practices of sustainability on the University of Central Oklahoma campus and beyond. COSC became an official UCO Faculty-Staff-Student Association in November 2021. We aim to create a better world where the environment, society, and economy exist in balance to meet the resource needs of today and of future generations.
Our Priorities Are:
- Education
- Educate the UCO community and the greater Central Oklahoma region on sustainability issues grounded in research-based knowledge.
- Encourage a broad view of sustainability, including environmental, social, economic, and justice-related topics.
- Prepare future professionals to address sustainability challenges in the workplace.
- Support the academic minor in Sustainability Studies at UCO.
- Research, Creative, & Scholarly Activities
- Promote student, staff, faculty, and community research on current and emerging sustainability topics.
- Provide research-based information on sustainability to UCO, the greater Central Oklahoma region, and beyond.
- Student, Staff, and Faculty Programming
- Champion on-campus programming related to environmental, social, and economic sustainability.
- Assist current and emerging student, staff, and faculty sustainability groups and initiatives (for example: Students for Sustainability, Food Recovery Network, community garden, book clubs, Earth Day Fair, etc.).
- Campus Practices & Operations
- Reimagine a UCO Office of Sustainability.
- Foster a UCO campus-wide vision of sustainability.
- Continue and expand campus-wide recycling and composting processes.
- Collaborate with University divisions, offices, and departments on ways to reduce their environmental impact.
- Community Engagement
- Plan outreach activities including, but not limited to, the historically-important UCO Earth Day Fair, Local Food Summit, and the Oklahoma Student Sustainability Summit.
- Advocate for better environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable policies at the organizational, local, state, and federal levels.
- Be a voice for communities most impacted by the degradation of the environment.
Leadership Team
Ty Anderson, David Bass, Erin Clemons, Ed Cunliff, Katrina Lacher, Linh Pham, and Mark Walvoord
