| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 76.41 |
| Liaison | Krista Bailey |
| Submission Date | Dec. 12, 2023 |
Pennsylvania State University
AC-7: Incentives for Developing Courses
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 2.00 |
Krista
Bailey Sustainable Campus Strategist Sustainability Institute |
Does the institution have an ongoing program that offers incentives for academic staff in multiple disciplines or departments to develop new sustainability courses and/or incorporate sustainability into existing courses? :
A brief description of the incentive program(s):
Penn State Sustainability provides funding for a full-time Academic Programs Manager (APM) whose primary role is to encourage and help faculty to integrate sustainability into their courses. Over the last three years, the APM has provided support for curricular or co-curricular program development in each of University Park’s thirteen colleges. Examples include:
• Virtual workshops over the course of a semester, meeting 3-4 times, to integrate sustainability into their coursework
• Supporting college-level cohorts for curricular and research development for both faculty and graduate students
• Support for curricular development for the Drawdown Research Experience for Undergraduates, a summer program focused on climate solutions
• In person 2-3 day workshops for curricular development, which include supplemental pay for participating faculty
• Provided one-on-one consulting or in-person or virtual lectures to dozens of faculty members in over five academic departments;
Penn State Sustainability also runs the Sustainable Communities Collaborative (SCC), which connects faculty and students with local communities to address sustainability challenges. Each project is a facilitated effort involving interdisciplinary faculty and students, and is co-led by a key community leader and the University’s SCC staff. The SCC coordinator provides incentives for developing sustainability focused engaged scholarship into their courses by providing training, resources, and partnership connections. In AY2021-22, 17 faculty integrated an SCC project into their classes, some with multiple sections.
The College of Arts and Architecture hosted the Sustainability Teaching Roundtable from fall 2019-2020 (extended because of COVID-19). The goal of the series was to embed sustainability education and pedagogy into the teaching culture of the College. The series included discussions on a wide range of topics concerning sustainability, curricular planning, and engagement across the college’s academic units.
SUSTAINABILITY TEACHING ROUNDTABLE SERIES
October 6, 2020–November 9, 2021
https://sites.psu.edu/aasustainability/home/events/roundtable-series/
College continues Sustainability Teaching Roundtable Series in 2020–21
https://arts.psu.edu/news/sustainability-roundtable/
2021 Arts & Architecture Sustainability Teaching Roundtable
https://sustainability.psu.edu/event/arts-architecture-sustainability-teaching-roundtable-sustainability-and-environmental-justice-integrating-environmental-justice-into-teaching/
The Dr. John Roe Fund for a Just and Sustainable Future was established in 2019, in memory of a math professor and department head whose passion was sustainability. Funds will be used to support faculty members who integrate sustainability into their coursework, as well as for student engagement opportunities, and to establish a Student Sustainability Award. The first curricular development awards will be used to incentivize the development of environmental justice coursework.
A brief description of the incentives that academic staff who participate in the program(s) receive:
The Penn State Sustainability academic programs manager is available to help interested faculty integrate sustainability into their courses. Faculty who participate in the three day workshops receive supplemental pay to integrate sustainability into their courses.
Staff from the Sustainable Communities Collaborative facilitate and help to oversee partnerships between community partners and faculty who wish to incorporate experiential learning elements into their courses.
Faculty in the College of Arts and Architecture were invited to apply to the Sustainability Teaching Roundtable. Funding for that series has been provided by several units within the College, as well as the university-level Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence.
Funds from the Dr. John Roe Fund for a Just and Sustainable Future are offered on an annual basis. The first curricular development awards will be used to incentivize the development of environmental justice coursework. They were first awarded in the 2020-21 academic year and continue to be awarded annually.
A grant from the Mellon Foundation provided approximately $30,000 from 2018 through 2020 for the development of courses that provide connections between performance and other disciplines. A course in the College of Nursing will bring performance, environmental sustainability and nursing practice together. The Academic Programs Manager assists in this course development.
Website URL where information about the incentives for developing sustainability course content is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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