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- Cultivating a community of care at SFU Surrey and beyond
- Celebrating 20 years of SFU in Surrey
- Bringing ArtsLIVE to SFU Surrey
- Sustainability in the heart of Surrey's city centre
- It’s all about CO-OPeration: My experience with SFU Co-op
- Renewing our commitment to reconciliation and decolonization
- Reconnect and recharge this summer
- Community on Campus: SFU Surrey's 20th Anniversary Recap
- 2021
- Supporting one another and raising awareness on sexual assault
- Why Bell Let's Talk Day matters to me
- International Women's Day: Celebrating the Strong Women in My Life
- The Glass Half Full: The Challenges of 2020 & The Promise of 2021
- Moving forward: Next steps for anti-racism dialogues at SFU Surrey
- Honouring the 215 lives lost
- Walking together towards inclusion
- Summer message from Steve Dooley
- Welcome back to campus!
- Honouring the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
- Introducing The Journey Here: a new podcast from SFU Surrey
- Holiday greetings, a look back on 2021 and hope for 2022
- 2020
- Let's talk about mental health and well-being
- Lift Each Other Up on Pink Shirt Day
- 2020 Homeless Count in Surrey
- Surrey campus vibe is alive-and-strong during COVID-19
- It’s Long Overdue - Moving The Dial on Racism & Discrimination
- Thank You President Petter for 10 Amazing Years
- Welcoming Joy Johnson, SFU's 10th President
- Get to know Steve Dooley, Executive Director of SFU's Surrey Campus
- In case you missed it: Fall 2020 Campus-wide meeting
- The fight against COVID-19: Surrey researchers at their best!
- Season's greetings from Steve Dooley
- 2019
- Community Perspectives on Living with HIV and where we go From Here
- Celebrating International Women’s Day at SFU’s Surrey Campus
- OppFest at the Surrey campus
- New campus building expands SFU Surrey campus
- Pink Shirt Day
- Power of Partnerships: Surrey Schools
- Welcome to Fall 2019
- SFU Surrey and Orange Shirt Day
- World Mental Health Week
- Health-related research and innovation is thriving in Surrey
- SFU Surrey students changing the world in 2019
- Podcast: The Journey Here
- Season 1
- Ep. 1 | Joy Johnson: Leading with Compassion and Care
- Ep. 2 | Kue K'nyawmupoe: Connecting and Serving Communities
- Ep. 3 | Doug Tennant: Empowering Leaders with Diverse Abilities
- Ep. 4 | Kathleen Burke: Igniting Community Leaders
- Ep. 5 | Rochelle Prasad: Sparking the Leaders of Tomorrow
- Ep. 6 | Bailey Mumford: An Advocate for Housing and Belonging
- Ep. 7 | Matt Hern: Supporting Community Development through Worker Co-operatives
- Ep. 8 | Joanne Curry: Engaging Our Campus and Community
- Ep. 9 | Michael Heeney: Building Surrey's City Centre
- Season 1
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Sustainability in the heart of Surrey's city centre
Today is Earth Day, and I would like to take this opportunity to highlight some of the brilliant work that has been going on at SFU's Surrey Campus around sustainability and environmental education.
If you’ve ever visited the original campus building at Central City, you may have noticed some leafy greens brightening up our campus spaces, like the outdoor raised-bed garden on the P3 parking level, as well as the indoor vertical garden located on Podium 3. Thanks to Embark Sustainability Learning Gardens, these spaces give the campus community an opportunity to learn about food production and security. Embark Sustainability hosts several free events and workshops at these garden locations throughout the year.
Last summer, we were pleased to welcome Pablo Vimos, Gardens Coordinator with Embark Sustainability, to lead an event called Summer Gardening and Beyond. This was a special edition of the Virtual Vibe and where Pablo shared some tips to help our Surrey faculty and staff optimize their gardens. His advice had a huge impact on my tomato production at home! You can check out his presentation here.
In addition, SFU Surrey will also be partnering with Embark Sustainability to sponsor this year’s Party for the Planet, the City of Surrey’s 11th annual Earth Day celebration. The event will be held at Surrey Civic Plaza (13450 104 Avenue) on Saturday, April 30 from 11 am to 7 pm. With free admission, come enjoy live music and dance, plant-based food trucks, a sustainable marketplace, Indigenous education, environmental workshops and more! SFU Surrey is so proud to be a sponsor for this event, and I am thrilled for the return of this in-person celebration. Be sure to visit Embark’s booth and check out their great work!
Of course, I would be remiss if I did not mention our new building, which opened in 2019 and earned the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification in recognition of its sustainable design and operations. This beautiful building is home to our School of Sustainable Energy Engineering (SEE). From developing engineering solutions for sustainable development to tackling climate change by developing solutions for the challenges facing alternative energy systems, our fantastic students, professors and researchers in SEE have already made an impact in our community in such a short time. In fact, the building itself will be a living lab for students develop and implement sustainability practices.
I am also thrilled to share that SFU is receiving $10 million from Pacific Economic Development Canada (PacifiCan) for its AGtech Innovation Sandbox (AGIS), which will support small and medium-sized enterprises to scale-up and commercialize agritech in ΒC. This program will support innovation to address food insecurity locally, nationally and internationally.
Across the broader university, SFU is continuing to make strides towards embedding climate action throughout its operations, research, academics and community engagement. You can read more about SFU’s 2025 Sustainability Plan and discover ways to get involved here. I want to thank Candace Le Roy and her amazing team at the SFU Sustainability Office for ensuring that all of us at SFU, including the Surrey campus, embed sustainability in our programs and practices.