WCU Campus Gardens
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WCU currently has three gardens (North Campus next to the Merion Science Center, South
Campus, and at the E.O. Bull Center) that follow organic principles, and offer a place
for research, teaching, volunteering, experiential-learning, service-learning, and
recreation. Our gardens are also an important part of campus-wide sustainability initiatives
and efforts to reduce food insecurity among our students and in our community.
We receive ongoing support from the WCU Office of Sustainability and the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society's (PHS) City Harvest Program.
For more information on any of the gardens and/or to get involved, please contact
us at: gardens@wcupa.edu
Our mission is to educate students, faculty, staff and the community about environmentally
and socially sustainable gardening; to increase access to healthy, fresh produce;
and to contribute to WCU's campus greening efforts.
Dr. Cassie Striblen
Chair of the Philosophy Department, Associate Professor
You can compost at the North Campus Garden!
Please follow the guidelines posted at the garden when dropping off food waste.
DO Compost:
- Fruits and vegetables, including peels and rinds
- Eggs and egg shells
- Bread
- Tea bags, coffee grounds
Do NOT Compost:
- Meat, fatty food wastes. milk products, or bones
- Weeds, especially morning glory/bindweed, or ivy
- Sawdust from chemically treated wood
- Diseased garden plants
- Human or pet wastes
Thank you to our former staff who helped make the gardens what they are!
Dr. Ashlie Delshad
Dr. Delshad joined WCU's Political Science Department in 2011 teaching courses on
environmental policy, social inequality, and food politics. In 2015 she helped start
the South Campus Demonstration Garden and has continued to play an instrumental role
in the expansion and maintenance of the garden. Dr. Delshad also forged a relationship
with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's City Harvest Program. She takes students
to volunteer with their urban gardening efforts each spring an in return the South
Campus Garden receives plants and organic gardening supplies as a City Harvest member
site. Dr. Delshad also works closely with the WCU resource pantry. She established
weekly donations from the garden to the pantry in 2017 and helps with pantry dinners
designed to familiarize students with how to use the garden produce.
Dr. Joan Welch
Dr. Joan M. Welch established the first organic garden on campus in 2001 and has been
involved with the organic gardens ever since. As a human-environment geographer and
landscape ecologist, she incorporates sustainability into all her courses including
Geography of Agriculture Food and Sustainability, Environmental Conservation and Sustainability,
and Environmental Crises. She established the current north campus garden in 2010
as part of the Honors 314 Course Science, Technology and Environmental Systems. Dr.
Welch and the students of Honors 314 along with significant support from the Facilities
Department established an organic garden in 2017 in the back yard of Tanglewood, the
President's residence. The Tanglewood garden was expanded in 2018 with the students
of Honors 314 and support from the Facilities Department. These gardens serve as a
resource for students, staff, faculty and the community to participate in and learn
about all aspects of organic regenerative agriculture and sustainable food systems.
Dr. Lynn Monahan Couch
Dr. Lynn Monahan Couch, Associate Professor in WCU’s Department of Nutrition until
her retirement in 2019, was instrumental in creating the South Campus garden. Because
of her commitment to sustainable food systems, the South Campus garden is able to
donate fresh produce to those in need every year. Lynn passed in January 2023, and
we are honored to continue her legacy in the gardens.