Vassar Nature Rx

Vassar Nature Rx (Est. 2024)

VNRx is a campus-wide initiative to foster the health and well-being of the Vassar community through engagement with nature. Long known for its bucolic Hudson Valley campus with a verdant tree canopy, Vassar has privileged nature and landscape—on its grounds and in its curriculum—from the founding of the college in 1861. Currently an Arbnet-accredited Level II arboretum, the campus encompasses a striking range of natural areas: lawns, woods, grasslands, farmland, lakes, ponds, and streams, with miles of trails winding through these varied landscapes. Greenhouses, an herbarium, and a natural history museum bring nature indoors.

Vassar is committed to supporting the physical, mental, and spiritual health of its campus community. VNRx was conceived to familiarize the community with the many opportunities to engage with greenspace, and to promote awareness of nature’s healing powers. Faculty, staff, and students can experience different types of campus nature via both structured and unstructured activities, from research projects and guided nature visits to mindful labyrinth-walking, outdoor drawing and journaling, and individual or small-group walks and runs. The campus and many of these events are also open to, or conceived for, the local community. Vassar’s ultimate goal is to steward a sustainable and resilient campus landscape accessible to everyone, to foster a just and healthy campus community.

Convened by the Office of Sustainability and the Arboretum Committee, VNRx draws together partners from across the campus who engage nature and its healing powers in their work, research, and teaching, including:

• Vassar Greenhouse and Herbarium

• The Preserve at Vassar

• The Environmental Cooperative at the Vassar Barns

• Vassar Health Promotion and Education

• Vassar Counseling Service

• Office of Religious and Spiritual Life and Contemplative Practices

• Vassar Office of Residential Life and House Advisors

• Environmental Studies Program

• Departments of Art, Biology, and Earth Science and Geography