Sustainable Academics

Our aim is to understand the challenges of peak oil, global climate change, and natural resource depletion.  More importantly, we want to work to create the solutions to those problems.

~Jim Ellefson
Professor; Poet-in-Residence

Faculty Resources

Sustainability is a topic critical for 21^st century citizens to understand, regardless of field or profession. In conjunction with the Center for Instructional Practices, we have created some development opportunities and resources to support our faculty members.

Seven ways to integrate sustainability into your course 

Adapted from The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)

Aside from participating in energy conservation measures and proper waste reduction on campus, we hope faculty will consider helping to foster a true culture of sustainability by infusing it throughout the curriculum. Here are 7 steps to include sustainability concepts across disciplines, with examples of what's already happening on campus.

1. The Hidden Curriculum: Using sustainability examples to illustrate key concepts
   COR330: Survivor Morocco with Cyndi Brandenburg and Mike Lange. What will it take to survive in the 21st century? This class explores the interplay between climate change and individual and cultural survival in Morocco. Using multiple disciplinary perspectives, what it means to survive in the face of environmental change, from a single person through an entire population is examined. By understanding survival in both human and environmental contexts, we illustrate how challenges faced by people in this region mirror challenges faced by everyone.

2. New Assignments: Developing assignments based on aspects of sustainability
   Event Management Senior Seminar: Peter Straube has students investigate and present on green hotels, green restaurants, and green events.

3. New Readings: Assigning readings focused on sustainability that correspond with course content
   History 415: Seminar on World Contemporary Issues. Chris Colt assigns readings such as Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollen, Deep Economy by Bill McKibben, and The Transition Town Handbook.

4. New Student Projects: Assigning new projects to illustrate sustainability concepts covered in class
   In Contemporary Media Issues 315 with Rob Williams, the mid-term video project assignment is to shoot, edit and upload a one minute YouTube video on a specific sustainability related project on campus.

5. New Unit or Module: Devote one section of the course to sustainability related concepts
   Concepts of Community with Cyndi Brandenburg, uses Hurricane Katrina as an environmental justice case study.

6. Develop a New Course
   COM 401: Environmental Communication taught by Peter Lynch. In this field and seminar course, students will explore the complex dimensions of Environmental Problems through Communications. They will come to understand "Sense of Place" as applied to the Champlain Valley, and as a model for global understanding. Students will form an effective and ethical response to a problem by developing a Communication Plan to meet the needs of a client.

7. Use a Guest Speaker
   Ask another faculty member or outside speaker to guest lecture for one of your classes. Or include virtual guest speakers/lectures found in one of the many multimedia collections, such as Academic Earth, TED (a search on sustainability yields many lectures.) Need suggestions? Contact us.  

Day-to-Day Classroom Greening Tips
 

Writing assignments:

• Ask students to use .75" or 1" margins (many default settings are at 1.25")
• Use 1.5 paragraph spacing instead of double spacing
• Use 1-side clean scrap paper for drafts that are turned in
• Print double sided
• Submit electronically (if instructor needs to print for reading, use scrap paper or print double-sided)

Readings:

• Post electronically, encourage double-sided or scrap paper printing if necessary

Prints/posters/display assignments:

• Encourage re-use of poster boards, etc. when possible

Further Resources

• 147 Practical Tips for Teaching Sustainability: Connecting the Environment, the Economy, and Society
  Bruyere, Dunbar, Kimmel, Mizia, Newman, Timpson, 2009.
• Teaching Environmental Literacy: Across Campus and Across the Curriculum
  Reynolds, Heather L., Eduardo S. Brondizio, and Jennifer Meta Robinson (eds.), Indiana University Press,2009.
• New Earth Achive -  This resource provides a streamlined resource network of powerful books, films, and other social media with the ability to inspire student-lead innovation and solutions for the contemporary global issues that face our society.
• Northwest Earth Institute's Discussion Courses for Higher Education
• Sign up for a Sustainability Across the Curriculum Leadership Workshop (AASHE member-rates available)
• Greening  Your Curriculum website from the Illinois Green Economy Network

Student Projects

A small staff and a long list of projects = plenty of opportunities for students to get involved. These projects could be class research projects, independent studies, internships, etc. Contact us for more information.

See the current project list (as of February 2011)

Students have made significant contributions to campus sustainability efforts. A few examples include:

• Melissa Kennedy '11, Graphic Design: developed a new waste separation campaign "Sort it Out"
• Joel Wilke '11   Website Development: developed an interpretive booklet for Perry Hall
• Susan Alden '11 Graphic Design: developed a logo for the Eco-Reps Program