Fasola Foundation Awards Grant to C-N’s FCS Department

Carson-Newman Family and Consumer Sciences Department recently received a $20,000 grant from the Juanita Fasola Foundation, Inc. It is the fourth grant the Foundation has presented to FCS since 1998; the cumulative $75,000 has been dedicated to “greening” Duncan Cooperative Management Laboratory.

“Juanita Fasola was committed to the idea that Family and Consumers Sciences are important because our society needs people who are equipped to teach coming generations of educators and managers,” said FCS Chair Dr. Kitty Coffey. “I think she might get a little chuckle from the sense of excitement that surrounds the idea of sustainability these days. Those in the Family and Consumer Sciences discipline have practiced and taught sustainability for 100 years, but we just called it being good stewards.”

The most recent gift will make possible the fourth phase of effort “to transform the 1920’s Duncan Hall into an exemplary regional (East TN) model of re-adaptive, sustainable, green housing,” said Dr. Diana Carroll, who directs the DCML. The work will feature the replacement of a side porch roof with sustainable materials, safety railing for front porch steps, an energy audit and a sustainable landscaping plan. Other enviro-friendly projects include a natural gas, tank-less water heater, low flush bathroom fixtures, energy efficient models; and installing energy-star lighting.

The three previous Fasola grants provided a remodeled kitchen and laundry room, energy-star appliances, energy-efficient doors, energy-efficient lighting and sustainable flooring materials. Interiors were painted with low VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) paint and the decking for the side porch was replaced with sustainable LEED-approved materials. Students were able to work with those who installed the deck.

“Thanks to the Fasola Foundation’s support, our students are seeing up close and for themselves the importance of environmentally conscious management practices,” concluded Coffey.”