Chatham University
ER-14: Incentives for Developing Sustainability Courses

USDA-NNF Program:

Food and Agricultural Sciences National Needs Graduate and Postgraduate Fellowship (NNF) Grants Program
This grant program supports: (1) training students for Master's and doctoral degrees in food, agricultural and natural resource sciences, and; (2) Special International Study or Thesis/Dissertation Research Travel Allowances (IRTA) for eligible USDA NNF beneficiaries. Awards are specifically intended to support traineeship programs that engage outstanding students to pursue and complete their degrees in USDA mission areas. Applicants provide clarity about the philosophy of their graduate training, and relevance to USDA mission sciences, NIFA priorities and national science education policies and statistics. Applications are being solicited from institutions that confer a graduate degree in at least one of the following Targeted Expertise Shortage Areas: 1) animal and plant production; 2) forest resources; 3) agricultural educators and communicators; 4) agricultural management and economics; 5) food science and human nutrition; 6) sciences for agricultural biosecurity; and 7) training in integrative biosciences for sustainable food and agricultural systems.

Dominion Higher Education Partnership:
Educating our citizens and meeting the varied work force needs of business and industry are challenges that require diverse solutions. Grants from the Dominion Higher Educational Partnership program better align Dominion's work force needs with the company's support of higher education.

In the area of post-secondary education, Dominion accepts grant applications, up to $50,000, to encourage the development of programs for post-secondary students, aimed at developing a skilled work force in areas critical to Dominion (see award categories for more details).

USDA-SARE:
Every day, farmers and ranchers around the world develop new, innovative strategies to produce and distribute food, fuel and fiber sustainably. While these strategies vary greatly they all embrace three broad goals, or what SARE calls the 3 Pillars of Sustainability:

• Profit over the long term
• Stewardship of our nation's land, air and water
• Quality of life for farmers, ranchers and their communities

There are almost as many ways to reach these goals as there are farms and ranches in America. This program works on research that leads to sustainable agriculture.

School of Sustainability faculty receives startup funds to development their research agenda. In the last year we received over $40,000 from three different foundations to support for sustainability courses and faculty research. The faculty receive funding to help develop sustainable courses.