At BSU Earthweek activities COTE announced the receipients of its fifth annual awards program. The awards fall into two main catagories:
COTE Exemplar Awards recognize individuals or groups with significant accomplishments promoting the sustainable use of natural resources or the protection of ecological systems.
Individuals who have a record of continual significant achivements are further recognized by the awarding of a "COTE Exemplar Lifetime Achievement Award".
COTE Green Initiative Awards recognize everyday activites, decisions or contributions that help to move Ball State University toward sustainability. Their purpose is to reward discrete contributions rather than a history of multiple accomplishments.
Exemplar Lifetime Achievement Awards
Recipients have a record of continual significant accomplishments throughout their lifetime promoting sustainable use of natural resources or the protection of ecological systems.
Donald E. Van Meter
Don Van Meter has a long and distinguished career promoting natural resource conservation and providing environmental education to groups of all ages. His educational background includes an Ed.D. in Adult Education from Indiana University, a M.S. in Resource Development & Soil Science from Michigan State University and a B.S. in Agronomy from Purdue University. He has served as Associate or Acting Dean in the College of Sciences and Humanities and as Chairman of the Department of Natural Resources, and is a Professor of Natural Resources and Environmental Management. He has created many videos on environmental topics including “The River Curriculum,” (part of the Eisenhower Professional Development Program) “Upper White River Watershed,” “Clean Water Indiana” and “Indiana Outdoors,” (with Nancy Carlson) for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources which has aired on public television.
Soil and Water Conservation, and the Journal of Forestry. He has been a member of the Advisory Council of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources since 1986, served as International President, Soil and Water Conservation Society of America, and was elected as a SWCS Fellow. He has international experience as a Leader of People to People Goodwill Program tour studying soil conservation in the Soviet Union, Poland, and West Germany, 1986 and as a Visiting Professor at Warsaw Agricultural University in Poland.
Association of Indiana in 2005, and the Outstanding Service Award and the President’s Citation from the Soil Conservation Society of America. Collectively, Don Van Meter’s activities have contributed significantly to the protection of natural resources at the state, national and international level. His environmental education efforts have reached thousands of viewers particularly through the popular “Outdoor Indiana” series.
Exemplar Awards
Recipients have a record of significant accomplishments promoting the sustainable use of natural resources or the protection of ecological systems.
Carol A. Friesen
Dr. Carol A. Friesen is cited as a co-recipient of this award for her dedicated and innovative integration of sustainability into an introductory Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) course, which for the last four years has enrolled some 140 students per semester offering. One of the concepts in the Body of Knowledge of FCS is sustainability of the environment; a thread that crosses all areas of FCS — including interior design, hospitality and food management, fashion design, merchandising, dietetics, family and child, residential property management, and FCS education — having a widespread immediate impact on these students and will continue to do so in their future careers.
Nancy E. Thompson
Dr. Nancy Thompson is cited as a co-recipient of this award for her dedicated and innovative integration of sustainability into an introductory Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) course, which for the last four years has enrolled some 140 students per semester offering. One of the concepts in the Body of Knowledge of FCS is sustainability of the environment; a thread that crosses all areas of FCS — including interior design, hospitality and food management, fashion design, merchandising, dietetics, family and child, residential property management, and FCS education — having a widespread immediate impact on these students and will continue to do so in their future careers.
Carla Caudill-Waechter
Carla Caudill-Waechter has donated a permanent Conservation Easement to the Red-tail Conservancy (RTC), an East Central Indiana Land Trust. This will permanently preserve The Meramec Center in Delaware County. She has spent hundreds of hours volunteering for RTC on every level including editing the newsletter and other letters, plant rescues, non-native plant eradications, tree planting, event organizing, envelope stuffing, etc. No task has been too simple or too complex for Carla. Her dedication to land conservation in East Central Indiana has made her a key player in the success of this local land trust.
Green Initiative Awards
Recipients have made discrete contributions that help to move Ball State University toward sustainability.
Carissa Buchholz is cited for her enthusiasm about and dedication to creating a more sustainable environment on the Ball State campus. As a member of Students for a Sustainable Campus she submitted legislation to the Student Government Association which suggested specific improvements for the Ball State University Recycling Program