Opportunities to Get Involved

No matter what role you play at DU — from undergraduate students to tenured professors, graduate assistants to senior administrators — there are ways for you to engage with sustainability at DU. Your ability and desire to create change on campus is how we will all succeed, together.

Earth Month 2023 is coming! 

Departments all over the DU Campus have come together to put together a fantastic suite of opportunities during the entire month of April in celebration of Earth Month. Scroll below to see the full calendar of events, get more details, and register to participate. 

Earth Month 2023 Schedule of Events

  • Right to Repair Workshop

    Monday, April 17th, 5-8pm: Community Commons 1700 & 2700

    From patching your own clothes to fixing your bike tire to repurposing your unused t-shirts into bags, come learn how to take matters into your own hands and do things for yourself! Kicking off Earth Week, the Right to Repair Workshop is a great way to learn how to live more sustainably.

    Brought to you by the Center for Sustainability.

    Registration link to come!

  • Eco-Anxiety Workshop

    Tuesday, April 18th, 6:30-8:30pm: The Green Suite (Community Commons 1100)

    This eco-anxiety workshop led by licensed clinical social worker and climate aware therapist Kristen Greenwald, will offer a place for students and DU community members to learn, be heard, and share in community about feelings of eco-anxiety, grief, fear, helplessness and overwhelm related to climate change and the biodiversity loss crisis. The workshop will offer strategies for resilience and resources, supporting students, staff, and faculty in feeling more empowered to take action in addressing global environmental change. 

    Brought to you by EcoConscious & Divest DU.

    Registration link to come! 

  • Forest Therapy Walk

    Thursday, April 20th, 4:30-7pm: Harper Humanities Gardens

    Join a forest therapy walk, led by licensed clinical social worker and climate aware therapist Kristen Greenwald as a follow up to the eco-anxiety workshop on 4/18 (but anyone can join!). This will offer a time to immerse in nature to practice mindfulness and connect to the earth. 

    Brought to you by EcoConscious & Divest DU. 

    Registration link to come! 

  • Earth Week Celebration

    Friday, April 21st, 3-5pm: The Green Suite (Community Commons 1100)
    Register Here

    Join the Center for Sustainability and celebrate a week of learning, creating, connecting, and "DU-ing" in the name of promoting ecological justice on campus and beyond. 

    Pizza and beverages will be provided to those who engaged in volunteer projects throughout the week, light snacks will be available for all community members who stop by to celebrate. 

Earth Week of DU-ing Volunteer Opportunities

Sustainability Council

DU Sustainability Council Logo

The Sustainability Council is open to everyone in the DU community and is where the larger goals and strategy for sustainability at DU are discussed. The full council meets one time per quarter, with smaller committees meeting monthly — this is “where the work gets done.” The Council is your opportunity to have your voice heard as we move toward a more just and sustainable campus. Leave a lasting mark on campus by helping to craft policies that will drive decision-making at DU, put together action plans that will form the map we follow toward our goals or write goals for the short or long term.

Get Involved

Diversity Summit

Diversity Summit Logo

The Diversity Summit has acted as an important space for students, faculty, staff, alumni and prospective students to hold meaningful conversations, think critically about the word “diversity” and what it means at DU, and determine how to move forward to create an inclusive and equitable campus for nearly 20 years. The Diversity Summit harnesses the connective potential of our experiences, personal realities and learnings, forging a path forward through concerted, meaningful and combined efforts. Through skill-building workshops, informative panel discussions, impactful lectures and inspiring events, attendees will consider the question of “How do we get to ‘WE’?”

Learn more about the Diversity Summit here.

Earth Week of DU-ing

Earth Day Logo

The Earth Week of DU-ing seeks to immerse the DU community in the school’s vision of a private University for the public good. Organizing with more than a dozen community partners focused on justice and sustainability in Denver, this event sends students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends out into the wider Denver community to make a tangible and meaningful difference in our city’s vibrant neighborhoods.

Inspired by excellent partnerships with organizations in the wider Denver community, this event focuses on building connections between the DU community and the natural world. Through a planning partnership between the Center for Sustainability, the Center for Community Engagement to promote Scholarship and Learning (CCESL), Advancement, Alumni Engagement, Parent and Family Engagement and the Community + Values Initiative, we work to create a truly One DU event.

Spend your Earth Week connecting with nature, learning new ways to live sustainably, getting to know your fellow DU community members, and working with one of our amazing on-campus or community partners. 

Interested in hosting a volunteer project for Earth Day of DU-ing? Interested in bringing your whole staff to volunteer together? Email Julia at Julia.Senecal@du.edu. 

Pioneer@Work

Following Transformative Direction Four of DU Impact 2025, DU is advancing our institutional structures and becoming more agile and
networked with Pioneer@Work, DU’s talent management platform. Pioneer@Work launched its newest module, the learning management system (LMS), in August 2020. The system empowers employees to seek out learning opportunities, such as instructor-led classes, eLearnings, and 16,000 LinkedIn Learning courses. You may have experienced this powerful platform as you completed the DEI training or Faculty Institute for Inclusive Teaching (FIIT). This platform now hosts a curricula for Sustainability at DU. Targeting Sustainability Council members, these core sessions and associated playlist of mini workshops is open to anyone wanting to deepen their knowledge of sustainability and how this work looks at DU. This learning module can be incorporated into your annual performance management plan, and is great both for people brand new to their sustainability journey and for people seeking a deeper dive into content areas.

Check out the curriculum here

Bridge Community Garden

Located at the corner of Race Street and Iliff Ave, the Bridge Community Garden offers a growing green oasis at the south side of campus. DU community members are able to rent a garden plot for a growing season, which makes it possible for people without space at their own homes to garden and produce their own food. Additionally, the Bridge Garden hosts several public workdays to help maintain the garden beds, shared spaces and compost piles during the fall and spring quarters, which serve as a great opportunity to meet others at DU, get your hands dirty and learn more about what the garden is doing.

Interested in renting a garden plot or volunteering at a future garden workday? Email Julie at julie.morris@du.edu.

Interested in staying up to date with the awesome plants all over campus? Follow the Bridge Garden on Facebook and Instagram.

Center for Sustainability Events

students running a sustainability table

Every quarter, the Center for Sustainability hosts a huge sustainability fair intended to offer an array of opportunities to learn, engage, have fun, eat and take home some great sustainability swag. Fall quarter’s event features a Shop and Swap clothing thrift store and the winter quarter features the annual Local Market, which highlights locally and sustainably produced foods by small companies all over Colorado. Spring quarter focuses on the Earth Day of DU-ing and collecting donations during Move-Out. Beyond these larger events, the Center for Sustainability also hosts a variety of smaller events from Mobility Munchies, garden workdays and many more. Follow the Center for Sustainability on Facebook to get the scoop on all the ways to be involved!

Full Event Calendar