Summary of Idea
The College Farm is a revolutionary idea that is in the process of being realized. As an educational production farm, it has grown programmatically in leaps and bounds ever since being founded in 2007. As an anchor of the college’s sustainability initiatives that aids in the recruitment and retention of Dickinson students, the farm is also a hub for innovation, where active and applied learning takes place. Twelve years later, with ever-increasing interest and relevancy in food studies, ecosystems, land management, sustainable energy, civic engagement, and applied learning the only thing limiting the College Farm from fully realizing its revolutionary potential is space. This proposal seeks to remedy this limitation through the design and construction of a new facility at the College Farm to support research, coursework, and co-curricular programs that are true distinctions for the college.
Integral to the College Farm mission is to serve as a living laboratory for the Dickinson academic community and beyond. For more than a decade, the College Farm has sustained great achievements by building rapport and drawing connections with students and faculty between the farm, course studies, and research that help connect in-class learning with hands-on experiences. The College Farm is also recognized as a center for experimentation and education in sustainable agriculture and renewable energy. Beyond the Dickinson campus it is regularly called upon as a collaborator and resource by the farming community, agriculture research centers, and peer institutions. As such, the farm is a hub for academics, student life, civic engagement and community outreach – all key elements of the Dickinson experience. Each year, the farm hosts hundreds of Dickinson students for curricular and co-curricular purposes, as well as countless visitors. However, as a working farm and outside learning venue, seasonal fluctuations and the lack of indoor facilities limits the majority of farm-based classes, research, events, and visits to just a few weeks during the spring and fall semesters.
How does your idea relate to or support the college’s strategic framework?
As the college seeks to implement strategic plans that will give it a distinctive advantage within an ever-changing world and the liberal arts arena, the College Farm and partners see great potential in expanding opportunities for our campus community members and others through the establishment of a multi-use farm-based facility. This structure will demonstrate alternative energies, carbon neutrality, and appropriate technologies, as well as provide a physical space for academic endeavors like long-term research, new course development, and summer classes, in addition to student and campus programming, and event space for new revenue generation. Examples of how the proposed facility will support the college’s strategic framework include:
1. Pioneering Education - Embedded in the design and construction of the multi-use farm facility are innovative and appropriate technologies that utilize the landscape of the College Farm and renewable resources available to us. From passive solar and waste-to-energy to greywater recycling and high efficiency construction, this facility will serve as a tangible teaching tool, in addition to providing a functional space for a range of scholarly, co-curricular, and community activities. At its core, the proposed facility provides Dickinson students and faculty a working example of sustainable and green design from which courses and labs can be developed over time; from long-term ecological studies to energy innovation design that will enable students to better understand green building and equip them with literacy in this emerging professional field.
2. Cultivating Community - A true incubator, the farm-based facility would serve as a space where “transformative learning and living” can take place. As a venue for in-class and out-of-class explorations, the proposed facility seeks to enable student-oriented programming to better connect students with one another, nature, food systems, and the community that surrounds them. Dynamic in nature, the farm-based facility would also provide a foundation for future program development. Emerging interest in and the need for the scholarly examination of sustainable food systems, natural resource management, and renewable energy systems provides Dickinson and its students the opportunity to remain a forerunner in these fields. The proposed farm-based facility would support future endeavors within this realm as a space to house and support new initiatives.
3. Educating Global Citizen Leaders - Existing partnerships with sustainable agriculture organizations and research centers afford Dickinson students the opportunity to engage in real-world problem solving. On-going partnerships with the Rodale Institute and Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture have involved students in field-based research and data collection. The addition of a farm-based facility would expand our program’s capacity to further develop land-based research, both with Dickinson faculty and outside entities through the establishment of a space where data collection can take place, specimens and sensitive equipment can be stored, and tests run.
4. Sustaining Our Strength - As an active participant in Dickinson’s efforts to build and sustain its connections with prospective students and alumni, the College Farm hosts hundreds of visitors each year through collaborative programming efforts. From Alumni and Homecoming Weekend programs to Student Life programming, Admissions Open Houses, events for Alumni Council and Board of Trustees, and Donor Relations efforts the College Farm lends its space and resources to help cultivate strong ties to Dickinson. The addition of a farm-based facility would expand existing options (currently limited to seasonally appropriate times of the year) to host unique events yearlong that further connect students, from prospectives and alumni to social groups within the enrolled student body.
What partnerships, on campus and off campus, do you envision?
As listed above, this proposal has garnered the support of a diverse range of partners across campus and beyond. Collaborative interactions between the farm-based facility and listed partners include better integration of the College Farm and its resources in existing and new courses. With the addition of a farm-based facility, farm staff would work directly with faculty across academic divisions to brainstorm labs, on-going research, and other scholarly connections that make full-use of the indoor space.
Additionally, the College Farm envisions working with non-academic departments, especially active partners like Alumni Relations, Student Life, and Admissions to expand existing offerings by the farm as a venue and to envision new and innovative programming that supports the needs of the college. Furthermore, this idea significantly broadens opportunities for education and outreach programming in conjunction with departments across campus that seek to cultivate active learning environments for students - from hosting future Posse Retreats and newly developed nature-based spirituality programming to farm-to-table events and student-led retreats.
Outside of supporting campus space and programming needs, the proposed facility has great potential as an event venue for non-Dickinson groups and, as a result a source of significant revenue generation. As public demand increases for farm weddings, networking platforms, and regional conferences Dickinson is poised to tap a variety of niche markets.
How will your idea positively affect the education of Dickinson students?
Currently the College Farm is used frequently by faculty and students as a space for labs, field trips, independent studies, and research. However, facilities on the farm do not allow for the appropriate space for storing sophisticated equipment, limiting the farm's ability to support teaching at the cutting-edge of the educational realm. Providing students and faculty with a pioneering facility where they can explore hypotheses that have a positive impact on our region and its landscape promotes the global citizenry that Dickinson strives to cultivate for its students and graduates. Accordingly, the establishment of a farm-based facility maximizes the farm and its partners’ potential to achieve the goals of the college.
The College Farm is a genuine working farm that distinguishes itself through the active pursuit of drawing connections between what the land has to offer and course studies. Classes, events, and educational programs are highly susceptible to the weather and seasonal fluctuations. A farm-based facility would make great strides in bringing this popular site for educational and co-curricular activities up to par with the rest of campus. The proposed facility would provide a dynamic space where the college’s academic and co-curricular programs can be experienced and realized.
How will your idea positively impact the world beyond Dickinson’s campus?
At a time when technological advances are replacing human and natural capital at a rapid rate, the College Farm serves as a touchstone that cannot be made obsolete. Instead, the farm remains a tangible anchor to place, space, and time. A farm-based facility designed with multi-use functionality creates opportunities for community connections to the land, its resources, and the agricultural sector. It will help to advance student pursuits in sustainable energy, land use, and food systems through greater and broader reaching academic support built to strengthen competencies that Dickinson graduates will bring with them into the world.
Do you anticipate resource needs to prepare a detailed proposal if selected as a finalist? If so, please describe.
In 2014 Dickinson Alum, David McIlnay ('87) generously donated his time to work with farm staff and members of the College Farm Advisory Committee to draft an architectural design of what a multi-use farm-based facility might look like. Integral to his proposal was the inclusion of alternative designs that maximize existing natural resources. In line with submitting a final proposal, we anticipate the need for nominal funding support to update the existing architectural design to better match new technologies in use at the College Farm, as well as existing farm programs, and the needs of campus partners.