A $500,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation will allow Lawrence University faculty and students to explore environmental justice issues in the Fox-Wolf Watershed in collaboration with the College of Menominee Nation.
The three-year grant agreement will facilitate collaborative efforts between Lawrence and CMN, including an Indigenous-led residency program, community-engaged courses, faculty exchange and collaboration, and experiential learning opportunities for students, all focused on environmental justice and sustainability issues in a Fox-Wolf Watershed that includes the Lawrence campus in Appleton and the tribal college 60 miles to the north.
“I’m excited for the opportunity to not only expand our knowledge and teaching about environmental justice issues in our community, but to also work to improve the health of our shared ecology,” said Sigma Colón, assistant professor of environmental studies and ethnic studies at Lawrence. “Partnering with the College of Menominee Nation and community to build a mutually beneficial relationship will help us make a lasting impact.”
Colón joined Lawrence colleagues Gregory Hitch, assistant professor of environmental studies, and Claire Kervin, assistant professor of English and director of fellowships advising, in leading the development of the project in partnership with Peter Blitstein, Lawrence’s provost and dean of faculty, and Jennifer Gauthier, director of the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) at CMN.
Conversations with College of Menominee Nation leaders about greater collaboration began six years ago. In 2022, Hitch joined the Lawrence faculty as the Jill Beck NEH Postdoctoral Fellow in the Humanities, bringing with him over a decade of experience in partnering with the Menominee Nation.
Among other courses, Hitch introduced Indigenous Ecology: Ancestral Knowledges and Science in Action, giving Lawrence students an avenue to hands-on research and advocacy with Menominee organizations. In fall 2024, Hitch was named an assistant professor of environmental studies, a tenure-track position,m further bolstering Lawrence’s curricular focus on environmental humanities.
“This grant signifies just the beginning of a strong and reciprocal partnership between the College of Menominee Nation and Lawrence University as we collaborate on addressing environmental injustices while promoting innovative teaching and public understanding of our shared watershed,” Hitch said.
Kervin said the grant will fund activities that will cultivate an abiding partnership between Lawrence and CMN, centered on the health and interdependence of the Fox and Wolf rivers.
The work aims to guide new conversations about the history and future of the Fox and Wolf rivers, including Lawrence’s place and voice in the watershed. Doing so in partnership with the Menominee improves the likelihood that the work will continue well beyond the three-year window of the grant.
The authors of the Mellon grant proposal pledged to study and teach about environmental justice issues while also seeking paths to greater sustainability in the region. They point to such environmental issues as settlers clearing forests, uprooting prairies, and damming rivers, all of which produced historical and contemporary environmental injustices that have impacted the Menominee; a proposed sulfide mine that the Menominee are fighting over concerns of its impact on the waterway and Menominee heritage sites; and nonpoint source run-off pollution from roads, farms, and lawns that affect the aquatic food chain and water quality of the Fox-Wolf Watershed.
