Today was the bees knees! 🐝 6th graders from Ashley Hall learned about native bees in Charleston and their importance. They also got to “bee” creative and paint bee houses to protect local populations!
Bee houses are safe nesting sites, can protect bees from predators and harsh weather (which is important as we start hurricane season) , and overall helps boost pollination for gardens and crops 💐🦋
⭐️ Highlight ⭐️
Ellery Newcomer is an EVSS Spring 2026 graduate. During her time in the program she worked with Dr. John Peters to complete her internship, Exploring the Effects of Motivation and Self-Efficacy of Volunteers at ARCHELON on Volunteer Retention and Engagement in Sea Turtle Conservation Work 🌊🐢
Ellery is going to be the Camp and Volunteer Officer for ARCHELON at their project site in Kyparissia, Greece for the 2026 season. ARCHELON is a nonprofit organization that focuses on the protection and conservation of sea turtles in Greece. At Kyparissia we will be conducting nest monitoring, habitat protection, and public awareness.
“One of my favorite parts of this experience has been getting to work with people from all over the world who share a passion for conservation. Completing research that combines conservation with nonprofit management, while also helping improve understanding of volunteer engagement in conservation work, has been very rewarding.”
Congratulations to all of our Environmental and Sustainability Studies graduates who crossed the stage this commencement season and to those celebrating this milestone in quieter ways. We are so proud of each and every one of you!!
Today we celebrate a group of thoughtful, passionate, and driven sustainability leaders who are ready to make meaningful change in the world. From research and resilience to conservation, policy, education, agriculture, GIS, community engagement, and beyond, your work matters, and we are excited to see the impact you will continue to make in your communities and professions.
Thank you for the energy, ideas, leadership, and care you brought to our program. It has been an honor to support your journeys, and we cannot wait to see where your paths lead next.
Congratulations EVSS graduates!! your future is bright, and the world needs your work now more than ever. 🌎💚
The EVSS program had a great time at the end of the year party yesterday!
We would like to give a HUGE thank you to our wonderful faculty and staff for all of their support throughout the year 💚
We can’t wait to see what next semester brings 🌈
🌎 Happy Earth Day 🌎
Today the EVSS program celebrates the power of informed action, community collaboration, and innovative thinking to shape a more sustainable future. From local ecosystems to global challenges, our students are turning knowledge into impact every day.
Huge congratulations to all of our students who successfully defended their thesis this spring! 🎉 We are so proud of all the hard work, resilience, and dedication it took to get here. It’s been incredible to watch your ideas come to life, and we’re so excited to support you on your next steps. Great work, all!! this is a big moment! 👏📚✨#gradschool #collegeofcharleston #environmentalandsustainabilitystudies #cofc
The Environmental and Sustainability Studies Education class (EVSS 595/ENVT 490) took a field trip through the Charleston Harbor Estuary with South Carolina DNR 🐠
On this trip, they learned about the biological and physical factors in the harbor through observation and sampling of the ecosystem. They took physical parameters of the water and organisms to learn more about the estuary and its complex interactions. Through becoming familiar with data collection, they learned the importance of triangulation, water properties, and plankton sampling, as well as a group activity of pulling organisms from the trawl net and identifying them according to their family.
So proud of our EVSS students for showing up and showing out at the CofC EXPO 👏🌎
The level of research, creativity, and passion this year was incredible, and we are so excited to celebrate these achievements:
🏆 Graduate Sustainability Category Winners
🥇 1st Place
Melanie Thorn, Daniel Barney, Angelina Arcidi, Jacqueline Winston, Advised by Casey Conrad
Project: Wetlands Potential Water Storage Model Builder & Dashboard
🥈 2nd Place
Laina Caywood (Advisor: Norman Levine)
Project: Spatial Modeling of Climate-Driven Permafrost Thaw and Carbon Remobilization in the North Slope Borough
🏆 Graduate School Award Winner
🥇 1st Place Overall
Kylie Warden (Advisor: Dr. Leslie Hart)
Project: The Times They Are A-Changin: Spatial Influences of Phthalate Exposure in Sarasota Bay Bottlenose Dolphins Over Thirty Years
We also want to celebrate the incredible work of all of our students who presented their research:
Nick Sturr, Avery West, Griffin Murray, Matthew Swanson, Gwenaelle Monnet-Yague, Will Roberts and Emily Morris 👏
Your applied and impactful work is pushing forward solutions to real-world environmental challenges and we are so proud of each and every one of you 💚
#CofC #EVSS #ResearchMatters #Sustainability #GraduateResearch CofCEXPO
Celebrating Our Outstanding Student Award Nominees 🌿
We are proud to recognize several EVSS students who were nominated for Student Employment and Graduate Student of the Year awards this year!
Among those honored:
- Kate Leturgez: Graduate School Office
- Will Roberts: Center for Sustainable Development
- Abby Malloy: Center for Sustainable Development
- Marchant Harris Steyer: Environmental & Sustainability Studies – Sustainable Agriculture Program.
- Becky Tarbox, an Environmental & Sustainability Studies and Biology undergraduate student, who was nominated for her incredible work in the Sustainable Agriculture Program gardens.
So much of what makes our campus community thrive simply wouldn’t be possible without the dedication, initiative, and care of our student workers and this is only a snapshot of the incredible students working on campus. You all bring energy, creativity, and commitment to everything you do and it truly makes a difference.
Thank you for all that you do, we are so grateful for you! 🌱 and thank you to the career center in your continuous support of our program and students!
We’re excited to spotlight alumna Robin Coker as she takes the next step in her academic journey!
Robin will begin her PhD in Wildlife and Rangeland Sciences at Texas A&M University Kingsville in Summer 2026 within the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. She will be working in an assistantship in Geospatial and Movement Ecology at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, where she’ll also play a leadership role supporting the Spatial Analytics Laboratory and Technology hub (C-SALT).
We’re so proud to see Robin combining her passion for wildlife, geospatial science, and research leadership. Congratulations Robin!
Celebrate Arbor Day with the Run for the Trees: Happy Little 5k!
Everyone who registers by April 1st using the link in our bio will receive a Happy Little T-shirt, sticker, a commemorative bib number, and a finisher's medal. We will be allowing participation between April 18 and 26 to encompass Earth Day (April 22) and Arbor Day (April 24).
If you run through campus, take some pictures with our trees and tag us!
