Environmental Studies Program at Roanoke College

05/20/2026

This is a month late but is the final installment in the work the the Environment Center Educators did this last semester! Take a look : -)

Six Roanoke College students who participated in our EC Educator Pr...

05/12/2026

Three generations of Maroons come together on this project at the Environment Center. Take a look.
https://youtu.be/1vLLsBIjkAY

The Purple Martin bird house was made possible by a generous gift from Charlie Cummins '77 given in memory of his friend and another alum, Tally Tripp '77.
Taylor Hollis '27 is an Environmental Studies major and interested in a career as a park ranger and nature interpreter. Therefore, this project of learning about purple martins, installing the bird house, and making this video was right up her alley.
Finally, to learn more about Purple Martins we found Ida Connors '63 who has a large Purple Martin colony in her yard in Roanoke County. We paid her a visit to see the birds. Her knowledge of these unusual birds is amazing. Thank you, Ida for sharing your birds with us.

This project unexpectedly brought together three generations of Maroons. The Purple Martin bird house was made possible by a generous gift from Charlie Cumm...

05/04/2026

Introducing The Environmental Studies new Honors Society and its members

Okios: Environmental Studies Honors Society

05/02/2026

So proud of our class of 2026 graduates! Your next chapter will no doubt be interesting -- whether you're going on to graduate school, doing water testing for the landfill (true story!), tracking down rabid animals (another true story!), working at a tiger sanctuary (ditto!) or just waiting to see what comes next - we know you will continue to make us proud. Special congratulations to members of Oikos, our new Environmental Studies Honor Society (check out the Chestnut leaf with maroon ribbon on many students' lapels!).

03/28/2026

Environment Studies Educators is a new program (one semester for credit opportunity) where our students learn how to do K-12 Environmental Literacy Programming. Then they deliver that programming in our very own local Hurt Park Elemetry. Our students are ROCK STARS!!!

We love when older students and younger students work together! And recently, the Roanoke College Environment Center Educators, led by Dr. Rachel Collins, ha...

03/02/2026

Introducing the Environment Center Educators! This group of six students is spending the semester developing and delivering environmental science lessons to the 5th graders at Hurt Park Elementary School. They are giving back and sharing their passion for science to the next generation. Check out the video of them in action. And stay tuned for more from them!
https://youtu.be/X8Zd43g6h-Y

02/07/2026

It is happening. Environmental Studies students will be in this space designed for Environmental Science teaching and learning in the fall. This was made possible by the leadership of the Board of Trustees. Here are some of them.

11/20/2025

Reduce Reuse Recycle
The Environment Center scored new chairs. Well new to us. They were in storage at the college and destined to end up in the landfill. These chairs replace much older hand me down chairs that had truly come to the end of their lives. The Environmental Studio pictured here has the best view on campus and now it has nice chairs, tool :-)

10/25/2025

Little Animals Big Deal
That was the theme of an outreach event we recently held for 1st-3rd graders from Salem Montesori School. College students gain real-world, outside-the-classroom experiences when they volunteer at the Environment Center.

09/06/2025

Just shy of two years since we planted the meadow, life is flourishing at the Environment Center.