Environmental Science

Tiny House Project

Westminster chemistry professor serves as GEM mentor

Westminster College students present water quality research to watershed group

About the Project

The Tiny House (TH) Project will allow Westminster College to develop a unique living/learning educational experience that integrates concepts of sustainability, simple living, environmental science/studies into students’ coursework and lifestyles.  In Phase I of the project (Spring 2016), a team of students will help design and plan the building of the first TH.  Ideally, we will construct the TH through a “community build” where students, faculty, staff, community members, and alumni are able to support the building of the TH through physical participation in the build, donations, and/or other contributions.  Pending success of Phase I (and funding), we will plan for 2-3 more TH’s.  Each student enrolled in a TH-linked course will experience “tiny living” for approximately one-two weeks (new students will rotate into the TH’s every one-two weeks).  Student learning objectives associated with tiny living will be meaningfully integrated into TH-linked coursework.  This novel educational model which incorporates tiny living into the student’s academic experience will position Westminster College as an innovator in sustainability education.

Goals

The overall goal of the Tiny Housing Project is to help elevate Westminster College to a position as a leading innovator in sustainability education while providing undergraduate students in a variety of majors with a living experience which links environmental/sustainability concepts to other elements of a liberal arts education.

The integration of tiny housing with academic experiences will enable the College to advance several of its mission-based student learning outcomes, including “to acquire knowledge of self, society, human cultures, the natural world, and human relationships to God,” “to apply knowledge to contemporary issues,” and “to demonstrate moral and ethical commitments to neighbor, society, and the natural world.”

Objectives

In addition to serving as a novel means for forwarding Westminster’s mission, the Tiny Housing Project will enable a series of more specific objectives to be achieved, including:

• Provide unique and marketable student learning experiences (and associated student learning outcomes) that are made possible by integrating tiny housing with academic experiences.
• Establish Westminster College regionally and nationally as an innovator in sustainability education and sustainable living.
• Recruit increased numbers of sustainability-minded students (especially those who may not otherwise have Westminster College on their radar screens).
• Gain greater visibility for Westminster College, regionally and nationally, through marketing and promotion of the Tiny Housing Project.