Villanova University Celebrates Earth Week 2025

VILLANOVA, Pa. (April 8, 2025)-From Monday, April 21, through Sunday, April 27, Villanova University will host a series of activities, events and lectures in commemoration of Earth Week 2025. Sponsored by Villanova Sustainability, Earth Week is an opportunity to celebrate our planet, learn more about the natural world and critically examine our relationships with the environment.

For a full listing of the University's Earth Week events, please visit the Villanova Sustainability website.

Earth Week 2025 Highlights

• On Monday, April 21, at 6 p.m., the Albert Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest will kick off the week's events with a virtual "Panel on Natural Disasters and Oral History," addressing subjects ranging from hurricanes in Los Angeles and Puerto Rico to climate change in the Himalayas.

• On Tuesday, April 22, at 5 p.m. in the St. Rita's Hall Community Room, Lisa Sewell, PhD, associate professor of English, will give a poetry reading. Dr. Sewell is the author of a new book, Flood Plain, a collection of poems engaging with the pressing realities of environmental change.

• The annual Sustainability Fair will take place on Wednesday, April 23, from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Connelly Plaza. One of Earth Week's largest and most iconic events, the fair will feature vendors, student research, activities from the Student Sustainability Committee, giveaways and more.

• This year's keynote address, "Art and Advocacy: Creating a Deeper Connection With the Natural World," will be delivered by multidisciplinary artist Rebecca Rutstein on Thursday, April 24, at 6 p.m. in Driscoll Hall Room 132. A recipient of the Pew Fellowship in the Arts, Rutstein has crafted painting, sculpture, interactive installation and public art inspired by the natural world for over 20 years, actively collaborating with oceanographers, ecologists, microbiologists, molecular scientists and planetary geologists in the process.

• On Saturday, April 26, Villanovans are invited to take part in an "Earth Day of Service."

Sustainability at Villanova University: In 2007, Villanova University President the Rev. Peter M. Donohue, OSA, PhD signed the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment. In 2018, the Villanova Sustainability Leadership Council was established to develop a 10-year actionable and measurable plan to guide the University's comprehensive effort to support the planet and its people and to ensure prosperity for all. By committing the University to the Laudato Si Action Platform and developing a customized Laudato Si' Plan, Villanova University is taking decisive and unflinching action to build a better future. At the core of all sustainability activities, both large and small, is the University's vision to establish an ethos of sustainable living. As an Augustinian Catholic institution, Villanova is committed to generating and advocating sustainable action to help create a future that provides enough, for all, forever.

About Villanova University: Since 1842, Villanova University's Augustinian Catholic intellectual tradition has been the cornerstone of an academic community in which students learn to think critically, act compassionately and succeed while serving others. There are more than 10,000 undergraduate, graduate and law students in the University's six colleges-the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Villanova School of Business, the College of Engineering, the M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing, the College of Professional Studies and the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law. Ranked among the nation's top universities, Villanova supports its students' intellectual growth and prepares them to become ethical leaders who create positive change everywhere life takes them. For more, visit www.villanova.edu.