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The Environment Corps program at the University of Connecticut approaches community engagement by combining teaching, service learning, and extension work. This model of engagement harnesses the power of trained undergraduates in conducting meaningful and actionable projects for communities, building on the topical knowledge, outreach experience, and community contacts of seasoned extension professionals, and in turn expanding the reach of their programs. Over 175 projects have been completed in partnership with 96 municipalities, nonprofits, or other entities. The program has documented benefits to both students and partner communities. The program team is interested in assisting others to adapt the model. 

Abstract Record high temperatures were documented in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, on 18 March 2022, exceeding average temperatures for that day by nearly 30°C. Satellite imagery and stream gage measurements indicate that surface wetting coincided with this warming more than 2 months after peak summer thaw and likely exceeded thresholds for rehydration and activation of resident organisms that typically survive the cold and dry conditions of the polar fall in a freeze‐dried state. This weather event is notable in both the timing and magnitude of the warming and wetting when temperatures exceeded 0°C at a time when biological communities and streams have typically entered a persistent frozen state. Such events may be a harbinger of future climate conditions characterized by warmer temperatures and greater thaw in this region of Antarctica, which could influence the distribution, activity, and abundance of sentinel taxa. Here we describe the ecosystem responses to this weather anomaly reporting on meteorological and hydrological measurements across the region and on later biological observations from Canada Stream, one of the most diverse and productive ecosystems within the McMurdo Dry Valleys. 

An extensive faculty partnership at the University of Connecticut (UConn) that reaches across college and departmental lines is engaged in a project that seeks to enhance, expand, institutionalize, and study a new model for community engagement. The model, called the Environment Corps (E-Corps), combines the familiar elements of classroom instruction, service-learning, and extension outreach to create a method of engagement that aims to benefit students, faculty, surrounding communities, and the university community itself. This article describes the structure and history of E-Corps; details the institutional setting, faculty partnerships, and pedagogical strategies involved; and discusses early evidence of impacts and future prospects.