Krista Bailey
Associate Director for Campus Sustainability
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Krista Bailey has worked with Penn State Sustainability since 2022, bringing experience developing curriculum, teaching sustainability courses, and leading campus and community sustainability initiatives to the team. Throughout their career, they have put their skills in sustainability research, writing, training, project development, implementation, and evaluation into practice. As a faculty member in a Big Ten Sustainability Studies program, they developed and taught courses for both undergraduate and graduate students online, face-to-face, and in hybrid formats. All courses in the program utilized engaged scholarship and active learning and with a range of campus and community partners. As the first sustainability coordinator with the city of South Bend, Indiana, they developed the city’s first sustainability plan with input from a diverse group of community leaders and piloted a zero-waste city-scale event for the city’s 150th anniversary.
Bailey’s research is at the nexus of health, wellness, and sustainability and has focused research on creating a holistic learning environment that enables learners to put theory into practice.
Outside of sustainability work, Bailey teaches fitness classes, practices organic gardening, is an avid bicyclist and active member of South Bend Community Rowing and enjoys spending time with their two children and exploring and doing projects with their spouse.
Student-Led Sustainability Engagement in Research Labs: A Co-Curricular Consultant Program
Co-curricular learning experiences for undergraduates can enhance student learning and provide valuable professional experience. This field report will explore a Sustainable Lab Consultant program designed by and for The Pennsylvania State University’s Sustainable Lab Program. The rationale for the program’s design and outcomes for both participating students and research labs will be shared.
Because research activity contributes to sustainability challenges due to its inherently energy- and resource-intensive nature, Penn State partnered with nonprofit My Green Lab and adopted its certification program. Two central questions guided the development of a unique approach to supporting participating labs through the program:
• Where could students and an educational component be incorporated into sustainable lab efforts?
• Would the involvement of a student in supporting lab certification result in measurable benefits compared to labs without such support?
The result is a distinctive co-curricular work experience in which students are hired and trained as Sustainable Lab Consultants to support lab certification efforts over the course of an academic year.
This field report will describe essential elements of the students training program and activities. It will offer tips for structuring a co-curricular experience that enhances student learning and professional skills, results in transformative learning for students, and supports labs in identifying and implementing more sustainable practices without compromising research quality.
An evaluation of the program’s educational and professional development outcomes will identify essential elements for successful replication at other institutions. This session provides a sneak peek into an article that is awaiting publication and will invite questions, constructive criticism, and collaboration.
Krista Bailey
Associate Director for Campus Sustainability
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