History – 鶹Ƶ Wed, 21 Jan 2026 23:15:13 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 /wp-content/uploads/2019/04/cropped-favicon_logo-32x32.jpg History – 鶹Ƶ 32 32 Climate Adaptation: Historical Perspectives /projects/climate-adaptation-historical-perspectives-2/ /projects/climate-adaptation-historical-perspectives-2/#respond Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:37:21 +0000 https://portal.epicn.org/case-stories/climate-adaptation-historical-perspectives/ Read More... from Climate Adaptation: Historical Perspectives

]]> The City of Elk River has not investigated its position on climate change and adaptation. The city is situated on the Mississippi and Elk Rivers. Along with a large number of wetlands, there is a significant amount of floodplain throughout the city. Increased rainfall has increased flooding potential for parts of our city. In addition, drought conditions will likely occur at times, requiring possible overuse of city wells for irrigation and potable water. Such water quality concerns and increased weather events are cause for concern and require planning and adaptation. Planning and adaptation now can reduce or mitigate adverse effects of climate change in the future. This is beneficial to the health of our environment, businesses, residents, and city government.

Through individual research projects, students in History and Climate will apply course content about how climate has mattered to human societies and how we can reasonably link climate changes to specific human developments to understand and examine potential changes Elk River may face due to climate change. Questions students may consider in their research include the following: 1) What climate change threats are there to Elk River? 2) What plans can Elk River make now? 3) What adapations can Elk River make now and in the future? 4) What costs will there be to the city? 5) Are there grants available for planning/adaptation now?

Project Overview Poster
City Outcomes
Students presented a summary of their work to the Elk River City Council.
Students’ research will be shared with the Energy City Commission and used to plan for climate resilience in the community.

]]> This course will introduce students to Cherokee History through the use of focused research assignments on
individual Cherokee people. Each student will follow one individual and their descendants through the archival
sources over time. For the purposes of the SCI project with SETDD, students will be focusing on individuals
who resided in the Hiwassee area at the time of removal. Students will gather and organize materials in
research portfolios throughout the term. In addition to writing a children’s biography about the person they have
studied, students will write a longer paper examining the contours and major turning points of Cherokee History
examined by historians, but with careful attention to how the individual’s life they have studied either reinforces,
challenges, or complicates the narratives written by scholars. Additionally, the students will share their research
portfolios with officials at the Hiwassee Heritage Center and SETDD for their use as they move forward with
projects that highlight the history of Cherokee removal from the region and the unique experiences of individual
Cherokees who experienced the full impact of removal policy.

]]> The is a destination for winter tourism. With a wealth of historic landmarks, natural scenery, cultural sites, and impeccable winter weather, the city effectively doubles its population during the winter months, all thanks to seasonal visitors. While the benefits from this winter tourism are plentiful, city officials wanted to utilize Apache Junction’s year-round potential to increase the city’s full-time residents and visitors.

To maximize the city’s tourism potential, city officials created the “Positively Apache Junction” marketing campaign—an effort to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses to sustainably increase tourism, benefiting their year-round residents.

In an effort to improve the “Positively Apache Junction” campaign, the city invited a course from 鶹Ƶ member to identify narratives and places of historical value that could be used as a marketing resource. By collecting these resources, participating students could develop communal histories which could empower Apache Junction’s marketing campaign.

Undergraduate students enrolled in the History in the Wild: An Introduction to Digital History course engaged in two objectives, which included: helping to identify, create, and digitize local histories for Apache Junction and locating places of communal value through an online mapping survey.

The digitization process focused on numerous areas of value, from the former location of the Superstition Ho Hotel to the Apache Trail—lands once occupied by Native tribes to women’s history within the city. The online survey encouraged residents to map places they value in and near Apache Junction through a Geographic Information Systems technique (GIS) known as community-values mapping. Together, both approaches allowed students to detect and measure attachment to local assets and places, which could inform the expansion of the “Positively Apache Junction” campaign.

Students discovered that residents, libraries, museums, and both former and current tourist sites offered great insight into the varied histories of Apache Junction. From their research, various strategies were generated to continue developing a strong sense of place and local history within the city, which include: 

  • Developing cultural and tourism assets related to places identified by the community-values mapping survey.
  • Creating plaques to commemorate historical sites within Apache Junction, to inform both residents and tourists. 
  • Producing and maintaining a digitized scrapbook of the City’s historical assets and current projects to restore and memorialize them.

The ASU course, and its students, helped Apache Junction calibrate their approach toward the Positively Apache Junction campaign. Their work identified meaningful sites as designated by residents and local histories. By identifying these sites, students hope to “change perceptions of Apache Junction” and “promote a positive view of the city for residents and visitors alike” ().

Arizona State University Project Cities Contact
Joshua MacFadyen
Associate Professor and Senior Sustainability Fellow
Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability
jdmacfadyen@upei.ca
902-620-5142
Twitter @joshmacfadyen

Stephani Etheridge-Woodson
Director of the Design and the Arts Corps & Professor
Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts
swoodson@asu.edu

City of Apache Junction Contact
Larry Kirch
Director
Development Services
City of Apache Junction
lkirch@ajcity.net
480-474-5082

Matt McNulty
Community Relations
Development Services
mmcnulty@ajcity.net

Read the full story of the partnership.

This part of the project was completed as part of a collaborative effort between four classes over two semesters. To see the other projects visit the pages linked below:

]]> ASU faculty and students help Apache Junction develop local histories and plans for a sustainable future /stories/apache-junction/ Fri, 24 Apr 2020 10:21:34 +0000 /?post_type=case_stories&p=1481 Read More... from ASU faculty and students help Apache Junction develop local histories and plans for a sustainable future

]]> A relatively young city rich in natural resources, assets, and Western histories, the has a lot to offer to their residents and tourists. However, local concerns surrounding seasonal tourism, homelessness, and solid waste management led the city to consider ways they could improve the overall experience for their entire population.

Apache Junction partnered with Arizona State University’s (ASU) Project Cities to dive into these issues and more. As member of the 鶹Ƶ, Project Cities “connects higher education with local communities” () to co-create sustainable solutions which progress cities toward a better future. Apache Junction invited 12 ASU faculty, and 213 graduate-, and undergraduate-level students, to bring the university’s expertise and resources to assist the city in its goal to reach a more sustainable future, all while celebrating its local history.

Watch the video about the partnership between Project Cities and Apache Junction!

]]> California State University, Chico /stories/csu-chico/ Tue, 02 Apr 2019 22:17:09 +0000 http://www.epicn.org/?post_type=case_stories&p=498 Read More... from California State University, Chico

]]> Resilient Cities Initiative

Website:

The Resilient Cities Initiative (RCI) is an interdisciplinary applied research think-tank for cities and communities established by the Institute for Sustainable Development at California State University, Chico in 2016. The RCI connects real-world community sustainability projects – identified and funded by partner agencies – with faculty expertise and student innovation, scaled for impact, from departments and disciplines across the University’s academic colleges. Partner agencies are able to harness incredible momentum to ‘move the needle’ on pressing community projects by focusing a broad and coordinated cross-section of the University’s academic resources on them. The RCI directly engages hundreds of CSU, Chico students each academic year, providing impactful opportunities for them to put theory to practice in their own community and region.

Fun Facts about RCI

The Resilient Cities Initiative undertook a three-year Pilot Project with the Public-Works Engineering Department at the City of Chico, a longer-term engagement with a single partner than is typical of 鶹Ƶ programs. The South Campus Neighborhood Project focused the energy and innovation of Chico State students on improving the public-rights of way in a residential neighborhood immediately adjacent to the campus and downtown Chico, where many of our students reside, socialize, do business and commute to campus, and where many of our campus and community interests intersect.

Year Program Established | 2016
Country | US
Federal Region of Program | 9

Public or Private Institution | Public
Number of students at institution | 17,200

Highlight Articles/Videos


 Chico News and Review, 12/2017
 Chico State Today, January, 2018
 Sustainability: the Journal of Record, October, 2017

City Partners

2016-2019 | City of Chico, CA • Population: 100,000

Contact Info

Ann Schulte, PhD
Director of Civic Engagement & Faculty Fellow for Rural Partnerships
(530) 898-5486
akschulte@csuchico.edu

Social Media Addresses
Twitter: @RCI_Chico
Facebook: @rcichico
Instagram: @RCI_Chico
LinkedIn: /resilient-cities-initiative

]]> University of St. Thomas, Minnesota /stories/ust/ Thu, 28 Mar 2019 04:28:17 +0000 http://www.epicn.org/?post_type=case_stories&p=558 Read More... from University of St. Thomas, Minnesota

]]> Sustainable Communities Partnership

Website |

The Sustainable Communities Partnership (SCP) collaborates with cities and government agencies to integrate community-identified sustainability projects into St. Thomas courses across disciplines engaging students in real-world, applied research and innovative problem-solving. Our partnerships seek to catalyze systems-level change towards human and ecological well-being in the Twin Cities area while preparing students for the complexities of problem-solving in contemporary society.

Since SCP’s launch in Spring 2016, over 2,000 students from more than 100 courses across 26 disciplines have participated in over 150 local and regional sustainability projects.

Our focus is on multi-year partnerships with communities seeking to make systemic changes toward interconnected economic, social, and ecological sustainability. We partner with cities, watershed districts, regional government agencies, non-profits focused on city sustainability, and on-campus initiatives.

Inspired by the transformative impacts of efforts that bridge art and sustainability, SCP launched .  SCP Arts develops partnerships and projects through which students across majors collaborate with local artists, writers, and communities to translate their project findings into artwork, bringing to life community-identified sustainability goals for people of all ages.  We have collaborated with partners on public art installations, such as the , on community exhibits, including , , and .  We also collaborate with writers and researchers to engage in community-centered explorations of .

Fun Facts about SCP

“SCP has been essential in showing how our education ties in with the UST mission. This project has allowed us to analyze real-world data, collaborate with classmates, and present solutions to problems that affect real communities. We are applying skills we have cultivated in the classroom to projects that advance the common good,” stated an Economics student whose project team determined that Delano, MN (pop. 5,464) could generate net savings of $854,000 over ten years with energy efficiency upgrades.

Year Program Established | Fall 2015
Year Program Launched | Spring 2016
Country | US
Federal Region of Program | 5
Public or Private Institution | Private
Number of students at institution | 10,245

Highlight Articles/Videos

Partners

2016 | City of Delano • Population: 5,464
2016 – 2017 | City of Elk River • Population: 23,746
2016 – 2020 | Mississippi Watershed Management Organization
2016 – 2017 | Freshwater Society
2016 – 2017 | Tiny Footprint Coffee
2017 – 2019 | City of Big Lake • Population: 10,060
2017 – 2019 | PLACE’s Via Development in St. Louis Park, MN
2017 – 2024 | Metropolitan Council
2017 – 2024 | Metro Transit
2019 – 2020 | Pillsbury United Waite House Urban Farm, Minneapolis, MN
2019 – 2021 | City of Cottage Grove • Population: 35,632
2020 – 2023 | Caponi Art Park, Eagan, MN
2020 – 2023 | NūLoop Partners and Mpls Downtown Council, Minneapolis, MN
2020 – 2023 | City of Woodbury • Population: 70,840
2021 – 2022 | Saint Paul Almanac
2022 – 2025 | Center for Mission, Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis Creation Care Team
2022 – 2025 | Great Plains Institute, in partnership with GreenStep Cities

Contact Info

Maria Dahmus
Director, Sustainable Communities Partnership
(651) 962-6391
medahmus@stthomas.edu

Banner image graciously provided by: University of St. Thomas Photo 

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