Saint Mary's University is dedicated to public accessibility and regional, national, and international education and outreach. As part of our community outreach commitment, we actively search for ways to engage community members and students in innovative ways. Currently we are implementing a project, Green Citizens, the aim of which is to engage faculty, students and community members on environmental issues in a variety of forms and media.
Through funding from the Canadian International Development Agency’s (CIDA) Public Engagement Fund (PEF), we have the opportunity to engage community members in our Green Citizens project. There are three components to the project - a student video competition, International Development Week activities and greenmapping activities.
Jody Armstrong, our former Green Citizens Public Engagement Assistant, and Dr. Cathy Conrad, a faculty member in the Geography Department, facilitated a greenmapping workshop on June 21, 2008 for members of the Community Based Monitoring and Evaluation Network (CBMEN). Participants were encouraged to share greenmapping tools, skills and strategies learned in the workshop with members of their organizations. We are planning to work with interested organizations over the summer months to support them in the production of greenmaps of their communities. At the same time, international partners will also work on maps of their own communities. In November, 2008, we will bring together the completed greenmaps in an exposition in Halifax which will highlight the work of the local and international organizations. Hard copies of all of the greenmaps will be sent to all partners in order for them to hold similar expositions in their own communities. Our current Public Engagement Assistant is Maryanne Nduati.
The key message of Saint Mary’s University’s Citizen Science project is that everyone can participate in finding solutions to global issues. Community members and students require a forum to share their knowledge, concerns and to learn from others. The University has a wealth of knowledge and resources that can be shared with the community in order to understand global issues and to encourage others to take action on those issues.
