environmental sustainability

Tiny House. Big Lessons.

Austin Collier '19 helps a middle school student use a cordless drill while putting up walls for a tiny house.

Randolph students help middle schoolers build a small house as part of STEAM-based program Wearing a white hard hat and eye-protecting goggles, Dai’Dieon looked the part of a young construction worker. Hammer in hand, the seventh-grader at Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle School for Innovation lined up his nail and prepared to drive it into the... READ MORE >>

Randolph College ranked #16 in nation for Green Colleges

Green globe in green grass

Randolph College is one of the nation’s most “green” colleges, according to rankings released Wednesday by The Princeton Review. Randolph ranked #16 in the nation and was one of only two schools in Virginia to make the list. The ranking was part of The Princeton Review’s Guide to 375 Green Colleges: 2017 Edition, which recognizes... READ MORE >>

Sierra Club honors Randolph as a 2017 ‘Cool School’

Students conduct research on trees and plant life in Natural Bridge State Park.

Randolph has once again been named a “Cool School” by the Sierra Club. The College was one of 227 higher education institutions across the nation and only one of a handful in Virginia to earn the recognition in 2017. Sierra magazine’s Cool Schools ranking is open to all four-year, degree-granting undergraduate colleges and universities in the... READ MORE >>

Diving into Research

Physics and environmental studies professor Sarah Sojka, Tyrah Cobb-Davis '19, and Libby Exline '19 construct artificial seagrass

Earlier this summer, Tyrah Cobb-Davis ’19 and Libby Exline ’19 looked like they were going on a diving expedition. They packed wetsuits and swimming goggles into a car before loading up the most important item—a large, black mass of intertwined plastic tubes, or artificial seagrass. For their Summer Research project, the students are working with... READ MORE >>

Resilient Research

(From left) Sustainability coordinator Sara Woodward '16, Shataaxi Joshi '19, Arnav Upadhyay '19, and the Herzog Family Chair of Environmental Studies Karin Warren discuss their project while walking on campus.

Growing up in Nepal in the shadows of some of the world’s tallest mountains, Arnav Upadhyay ’19 endured brutally cold winters and frequent snowstorms. As he grew older, he could sense the winters getting slightly warmer and more tolerable each year. This summer, he is taking action by helping Randolph College and the City of... READ MORE >>

Randolph president pledges support for Paris Agreement

Randolph College Banner

This week, Randolph College President Bradley W. Bateman joined more than 1,219 governors, mayors, business leaders, and colleges and universities from across the nation in signing a pledge to continue efforts to reduce carbon emissions and uphold the conditions of the Paris Agreement. The climate declaration, titled “We Are Still In,” is a response to... READ MORE >>

Environmental science lab to be installed in Moore Hall

Moore Hall

Randolph College’s Moore Hall Lounge will be converted to an environmental science lab this summer. The renovation will be funded by the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges (VFIC). The $9,616 grant from the VFIC will allow the College to install new flooring, a larger sink for washing field equipment, countertops and cabinets, a storage area... READ MORE >>

Middle school students team with Randolph College mentors to build tiny house

Photo by Lathan Goumas/The News & Advance

By Josh Moody/The News & Advance (reprinted with permission) A program at Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle School for Innovation has students swinging hammers and stretching tape measures, all in the name of science, technology, engineering, arts and math. Dunbar students are working to sharpen STEAM skills through the construction of a 20-foot-long and 8-foot-wide tiny... READ MORE >>

Randolph president signs President’s Resilience Commitment for climate action

President Bradley W. Bateman signs the President's Resilience Commitment organized by Second Nature. Standing are (from left) Rick Barnes, professor of psychology and environmental studies and the Mary Sabel Girard Chair in Psychology; Sarah Sojka, professor of physics and environmental studies; Sara Woodward '16, sustainability coordinator; Michael Maningas, assistant dean of students; and Karin Warren, Herzog Family Chair of Environmental Studies.

Today, Randolph College strengthened its commitment to environmental sustainability when President Bradley W. Bateman signed the President’s Resilience Commitment. The document, organized by the nonprofit Second Nature, pledges that Randolph will develop a plan for climate resiliency. Per the agreement, the College will incorporate a joint campus-community task force and submit an annual review of... READ MORE >>

2016 graduate hired as research chemist

Yashaswi Shrestha ’16

Yashaswi Shrestha ’16 was recently hired as a research chemist for Beautycounter, a beauty and personal care company based in Santa Monica, California. A chemistry major when she was at Randolph, Shrestha now researches, screens, and reviews chemicals and ingredients used in the company’s products, ensuring that they are both safe to use and not... READ MORE >>