The Center for Water and Environmental Sustanability (CWESt) was established in 2000 through the merger of the Center for Analysis of Environmental Change (CAEC) and the Oregon Water Resources Research Institute (OWRRI) at Oregon State University. CWESt operated as a research center in support of interdisciplinary research, education, and technology transfer in the areas of sustainability, water resources, and environmental cleanup. Sustainability activities included the adoption of sustainable practices on campus and the organization and sponsorship of workshops and symposia to OSU. Environmental cleanup activities were conducted through the Technical Outreach Service for Communities (TOSC) and Technical Assistance to Brownfields Communities (TAB)programs as the Western Region Hazardous Substance Research Center (WRHSRC)
CWESt was closed in August 2005 and its functions were reorgnized into three other centers. The water resources program was incorporated into the Institute for Water and Watersheds; sustainability activites were assumed by OSU's Institute for Natural Resources; and the environmental cleanup programs continued as a function of a separate Western Region Hazardous Substance Research Center with the College of Engineering.
The InterACTION Project operated at Oregon State University from 1994 to 2002 as a program of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Food Systems Professions Education (FSPE) Initiative. The InterACTION Project organized workshops and conferences to promote conversational skills and teambuilding within institutions.
The Center for Water and Environmental Sustainability (CWESt) Records consist of materials generated by the Center as as well as its predecessor programs, the Center for Analysis of Environmental Change (CAEC) and the Oregon Water Resources Research Institute (OWRRI). The records document strategic planning, conference participation, the organization of workshops, research project coordination, and evaluation of the InterACTION Project and include correspondence, grant proposals, staff meeting minutes, newsletters, newspaper clippings, photographs, publications, reports, research data, and survey materials.
The bulk of the records are project files of the Technical Outreach Service for Communities (TOSC) and Technical Assistance to Brownfields (TAB) Communities programs. These files reflect work with communities in Oregon, Alaska, Idaho, Washington, California, Arizona, and the Northern Mariana Islands to provide technical assistance in redevelopment of former industrialized landscapes and the cleanup of areas contaminated by hazardous substances. The project files include correspondence, photographs, reports, and survey materials.
Collection is open for research.
Center for Water and Environmental Sustainability Records (RG 226), Oregon State University Archives, Corvallis, Oregon.
Records transferred from the Center for Water and Environmental Sustainability in 2005.
This collection is not fully processed; this guide is preliminary.
The InterACTION Project Records (RG 222) provide detailed documentation of that program. Materials pertaining to the Oregon Water Resources Research Institute, as well as other OSU research centers, are available in the Research Office Records (RG 170).