Join Pitt in a month-long celebration highlighting native pollinator species!
Pollinators are essential to our ecosystem and survival, from pollinating crops so we can eat to supporting wildlife food chains across the globe. Pitt recognizes their importance globally and locally throughout the month of June from hosting informative lunch and learns, to crafting your own butterfly puddler, to giving away pollinator plants so you can make a pollinator habitat at home. All month-long Pitt will be celebrating the pollinators that make our world go round!
More Than Just Bees
Bees are superstars and probably were the first thing you thought of when thinking about pollinators, but there are many other insects, reptiles, and mammals that contribute to pollination year-round. Learn about them by attending one of the many events on campus celebrating Pollinator Month.
Pitt Events
June 5: Sustainable Landscapes (Faculty & Staff Professional Development)
Have you heard that Pitt’s Pittsburgh campus is a designated Tree Campus and Bee Campus? In this class you will learn about how Pitt is caring for our beautiful campus using sustainable practices, and Pitt’s efforts to protect native pollinators, increase tree canopy, and reduce stormwater runoff. You will also begin to understand how nature helps promote our wellbeing both physically and mentally. Participants will get to explore some gardens on campus and learn how to help keep our waterways healthy.
When: June 5, 2024 | 10 am to 12 pm Where: 342 Craig Hall
June 10: Pollinators & Our Food System
Did you know that small animals, including birds and bats and especially bees, butterflies, beetles, and even flies are responsible for our food?! Enjoy an hour planting in the Pitt Plant 2 Plate Garden with Corey Flynn as she discusses the importance of pollinators to our food system.
When: June 10, 2024 | 12 pm to 1 pm Where: Plant 2 Plate Garden, 246 Oakland Avenue
June 14: Stewards of the Earth: Sustainable Landscapes at Pitt
This engaging and informative lunch and learn will focus on the sustainable landscape methods implemented at our university. Attendees will learn how these methods have informed current planning and design projects, and how they continue to play a vital role in the maintenance and preservation of our campus landscapes. Join us in our commitment to environmental stewardship and learn how sustainable landscape practices can transform our campus and community!
When: June 14, 2024 | 12 pm to 1 pm Where: Virtual Event
June 17: DIY Nature Journal
Looking for a way to record your summer explorations? Make your own journal to fill with notes, drawings, leaf rubbings, or whatever else takes your fancy. Learn how to construct a simple book from scratch. Choose your materials, customize the size, and create your own unique passport for summer memories. No experience required. All materials provided. Facilitated by William Gillis, Center for Creativity.
When: June 17, 2024 | 4 pm to 5 pm Where: Text & conText Lab (310 Hillman)
June 18: Bee-Licious Pollinator Tour
Join the Pitt Pollinator Habitat Committee for a tour of Pitt’s pollinator-friendly gardens, bioswales and more. We will then join guest speaker, Randy from Bee Boy PGH, for a talk about an important pollinator, honeybees. Randy manages the hives located on top of The Porch and will talk about working with bees, what they do, and how he helps to care for them. A tasting of local honey will be available during the talk!
When: June 18, 2024 | 9 am to 11 am Where: Begins outside of Heinz Chapel at 9 am. Ends in the Global Hub (1st Floor Posvar Hall closest to Schenley Drive) for Randy’s talk from 10-11 am.
June 18: Make a Splash: Creative Butterfly Puddlers
Did you know that pollinators are responsible for 1 out of every 3 bites of food you take? Celebrate these environmental powerhouses during Pollinator Week 2024 (June 17-23) with the Center for Creativity and Pitt Sustainability. Make your own backyard butterfly puddler using a variety of recycled materials and give native butterflies the nutrients they need to keep the region growing. All materials provided. Please bring a reusable bag or small box to take your puddler with you. Facilitated by Ariel Skovera and Erik Schuckers, Center for Creativity
When: June 18, 2024 | 12 pm to 1 pm Where: C4C: The Workshop (University Store on Fifth)
June 20: Peacocks & Painted Ladies: Butterfly Art
Celebrate butterflies, those indefatigable pollinators who help keep our world growing, in this unique workshop. Start by visiting the University Library System’s Archives and Special Collections to discover the work of Andrey Avinoff, the internationally-known artist, lepidopterist, and professor who served as the director of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History from 1926 to 1945. Get inspired by Avinoff’s work and then visit the Text & conText Lab to create your own butterflies using different papercraft methods. No art experience required! Facilitated by staff from the University Library System and Center for Creativity
When: June 20, 2024 | 3 pm to 4:30 pm Where: Text & conText Lab (310 Hillman)
June 21: Matrix Gardening Lunch & Learn
You are starting a new garden. How many plants do you need? Where should they go? If you want your garden to look natural but not wild, and beneficial to pollinators while being pleasing to the human eye, matrix gardening may appeal to you. Matrix gardening is a design template that allows you the gardener to choose a set number of natural plants and is scalable from 10sqft to over 10000sqft. In this lunch and learn you will learn the tenets of design, receive information on a small number of native perennials, and leave with ideas for creating a matrix design plan ready for your lawn to meadow conversion
When: June 21, 2024 | 12 pm to 1 pm Where: Virtual Event
June 21: Cyanotypes from Nature
Uncover the world of cyanotype, an alternative photographic print method known for its rich blue tones. See how this camera-less process captures beautiful photograms using just UV light, some simple chemicals, and objects placed on paper. Learn about the science, essential materials, and equipment required for cyanotype printing. Then experiment with natural elements to make your own striking botanical prints. No art experience required. All materials provided. Facilitated by Angela Oddling, Center for Creativity.
When: June 21, 2024 | 4 pm to 5 pm Where: Text & conText Lab (310 Hillman)
June 24: Pollinator Plant Giveaway
Interested in transforming your backyard space into a pollinator habitat? Swing by the Pollinator Habitat Advisory Committee table on the WPU lawn for a free plant and some tips and tricks to turn your backyard into a wildlife haven. Only 1 plant per person while supplies last, rain or shine.
When: June 24 | 11 am to 1pm Where: WPU Lawn
June 26: Monitoring Monarchs
Each fall, millions of monarch butterflies from the northern US and Canada migrate up to 3,000 miles to overwinter in the same cluster of mountain peaks in central Mexico. However, the number of monarchs completing the journey has steadily declined over the past decades. Developing tracking technology to monitor monarchs’ migration is crucial for conservation efforts, yet the size and weight of the butterfly make developing this technology a challenge. In this talk, Dr. Inhee Lee, an assistant professor in the Swanson School of Engineering, will discuss his miniature electronic system, which uses the world’s smallest computer, as a proposed solution for tracking monarch migration. The tracking system will allow for the estimation of a butterfly’s daily location as they complete their 3-month migration journey. Come prepared to learn about the monarch’s amazing migration and how Dr. Lee has developed a technology small yet powerful enough to change the way scientists study monarch butterflies to support their conservation.
When: June 26, 2024 | 12 pm to 1 pm Where: Virtual
Pitt’s Pollinator Efforts
Pitt Bee Campus
As of June 2020, the University of Pittsburgh is a certified Bee Campus USA! Check out the 6 pollinator gardens around Pitt’s Pittsburgh campus.
Pollinator Habitat Advisory Committee
Pitt has created a diverse and interdisciplinary committee to help make our campus environment more supportive of healthy, native pollinator populations.
Landscape and Ecology
As part of our Landscape & Ecology goals, we are not only working to protect existing pollinators, but to create spaces on campus where pollinator communities can grow and thrive.
Bee Houses
In 2019, Pitt students designed and built 7 bee houses on campus for native solitary bees, getting guidance from pollinator research conducted by Pitt Biology professor Dr. Tia-Lynn Ashman.
Pollinator Gardens
Home to 6 pollinator gardens, Pitt’s green spaces exemplify how sustainable initiatives can help improve our environment’s health and reduce resources used for maintenance.
For more information about pollinators at Pitt, be sure to check out all of our landscape and ecology efforts, from green roofs to edible gardens!