June 28, 2002

PENN STATERS TO BUILD STRAW-BALE LITERACY CENTER, HOPE ON NORTHERN CHEYENNE INDIAN RESERVATION

University Park, Pa. – The three little pigs might be afraid of the Big Bad Wolf, but a group of Nittany Lions will be fearless as they build a literacy center made of straw -- and in the windy Great Plains of Montana, no less.

A class at the Pennsylvania State University will travel to Lame Deer, Montana, where students and alumni will help build a literacy center -- made of straw -- at a community college on the Northern Cheyenne Indian reservation.

Straw, a tough and abundant waste product of wheat production, is the key building block that students and alumni from both Penn State and the University of Washington will use to construct a much needed literacy center July 14 to 31. Invented centuries ago, straw-bale construction recently has gained in popularity in the southwest. To date, the partnering universities have helped construct three straw-bale demonstration homes on Northern Plains Indian reservations.

Community-built Sustainable Housing -- a cross-disciplinary honors course for architectural engineering, architecture and landscape architecture students -- explores how sustainable building methods, including straw-bale construction, can be utilized to improve the poor living conditions common on American Indian reservations.

A three-part learning experience, Penn State students met last spring to learn about the physical and cultural environment in which a straw-bale structure is designed and constructed, and the unique qualities of straw as a building material.

“Straw-bale homes are several times more durable and energy-efficient than the manufactured homes that are currently the only option for tribal members,” said David Riley, associate professor at Penn State who is leading the trip with professors Scott Wing and Michael Rios.
The second part of the course will take this July, as students from opposite sides of the country work alongside the Northern Cheyenne Indians to construct the literacy center, which will serve as a new home for a GED and adult basic education program. The project also will serve to build trust between the partners and the tribe. “We’re building a community facility, and building a relationship with this community,” Wing said.

Students will take more away from the experience than simply erecting a 1,500 square feet building.
“It’s really a two-way exchange,” Riley said. “Students go there with the impression that they’re just volunteering, but they soon realize they’re getting a lot more out of it than they’re putting into it. Students leave as ambassadors of what American Indians have to offer all of us.”
Students will research housing and economic conditions on the reservation, and experience first hand the overcrowded reservation dwellings that often lack insulation, plumbing and electricity. Among two million reservation residents in the country, more than 300,000 are homeless.

When they return to University Park in the fall, the students will reflect back on the project and suggest ways to advance the housing effort and improve the class for the future, thus concluding the third part of the interdisciplinary course. The course is part of the American Indian Housing Initiative, a joint effort of universities and non-profit organizations.

For more information on the project, visit http://www.engr.psu.edu/greenbuild/.

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Contact: Allison Kessler, Department of Public Information, (814) 865-7517 or akessler@psu.edu. David Riley, on site, (406) 477-6215, ext. 127.