Bee Campus USA

What is Bee Campus USA?

Bee Campus USA fosters ongoing dialogue to raise awareness of the role pollinators play in our communities and what each of us can do to provide them with healthy habitat.

​The Bee Campus USA program endorses a set of commitments, defined in an application, for creating sustainable habitats for pollinators, which are vital to feeding the planet.

College students, faculty, administrators, and staff have long been among the nation's most stalwart champions for sustainable environmental practices. That's why our aim is for Bee Campus USA to become a national movement.

Bee Campus USA Logo

So why is Syracuse University Involved?

900 Acres of Opportunity

The University offers a vast habitat perfect for pollinators spanning over 900 acres across the campus. The Grounds crew is very active in providing healthy, native habitats to all pollinators who buzz across the orange blossoms.

Global Impact

The goals of Bee Campus USA correspond directly inline with the University's goals for a more sustainable world while spreading awareness and educating all students who walk through our doors.

Pollinator Awareness

The University has the unique ability to create a platform for all pollinators through awareness opportunities and our passionate students.

The Bee Orange Project

In 2019, Associate Teaching Professors Lisa Olson-Gugerty and Mary Kiernan in Falk College were awarded a Campus as a Lab grant to place six honeybee hives on campus. The hives were placed on South Campus in the spring of 2020 and produced over 27 gallons of honey in their first season! Their contribution as a pollinator helps support one-third of the world’s food production as well as the reproduction cycle of hundreds of bee-friendly plants.  This in turn benefits the local ecosystem and cultivates biodiversity.  Unfortunately, North American beekeepers are experiencing high colony loss due to a variety of diseases, the use of pesticides, and the reduction of pollinator-friendly and native plantings. To help bolster the local ecosystem and biodiversity, we are proposing to establish honeybee hives on Syracuse University grounds, offer educational workshops on beekeeping for the University and local communities, and support bee-friendly initiatives throughout the area.

How to get involved

If you are a student, faculty, or staff member at the University and would like to be more involved in Bee Campus USA, reach out to Sustainability Management at