Sustainability at Goshen College
Goshen College has been recognized as a leader in the field of sustainability among small liberal arts colleges.
We are a community of scholars committed to working for restorative and hope-filled solutions to our world’s sustainability challenges. We are looking for students who share our passion for restoring right relationships with each other and creation. We hope you join us.
Academic Programs
NEW: Majors in environmental & marine science, sustainability management, sustainability studies and sustainable food systems! Goshen College offers a variety of hands-on opportunities to learn about sustainability. Also, check out our Sustainability Leadership Semester, Agroecology Summer Intensive, master’s program and more!
Green Campus Initiatives
In recent years we have taken numerous steps to reduce our carbon footprint: converting 20 percent of lawn space to native plants and prairie restoration, building a solar hot water collection system for our Recreation-Fitness Center, and purchasing 100 percent of campus electricity from renewable sources. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Get Involved
At Goshen College, students have initiated all sorts of green projects on campus. Join our environmental club, EcoPax, volunteer with our student-led composting program, plants trees on campus, research with the Algae Town project, oversee controlled burns of the campus’s native prairies, and much more!
Where will you study?
The Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center is a 1,189-acre natural sanctuary located 35 minutes from the main campus and offers access to most of the habitats found in northeastern Indiana. It is home to the first LEED Platinum certified buildings in Indiana.
News & Features
Kinderforest program gets Goshen kids out of the classroom and into the woods
About once a month, 24 students from the Goshen College Laboratory Kindergarten class — a partnership between the college’s education department and Goshen Community Schools — spend the day climbing trees, building shelters and making mud pies in Witmer Woods, through Merry Lea’s Kinderforest program, the first of its kind in Goshen.
365 Vibrant People of Elkhart County: Ben Hartman '01
Ben '01 and his wife Rachel Hershberger '99 own and operate Clay Bottom Farm in Goshen. His book “The Lean Farm” is gaining a lot of attention in both the farming and business worlds.
Grants provide renewal for faculty scholarship
Goshen College President Rebecca Stoltzfus introduced the new Faculty Renewal Grants, with the first round of proposals funded last spring.
Merry Lea students forage on canoe trip along Elkhart River
Every year in September, Joel Pontius leads students in Goshen College’s Sustainability Leadership Semester on an eight-day canoe trip from the headwaters of the Elkhart River at Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center to Lake Michigan.
Five students finish summer intensive
Five college students have just finished the Agroecology Summer Intensive program at Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center's Rieth Village. It's been a broad ranging experience for them, from visiting area farming enterprises to leading lunch discussions to caring for goats.
Contact Us
Glenn Gilbert
Utilities Manager/Sustainability Coordinator
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(574) 535-7300
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Physical Plant