Tufts University
ER-14: Incentives for Developing Sustainability Courses

TELI, the Tufts Environmental Literacy Institute, is a multi-day faculty development workshop that is intended to enhance faculty environmental literacy, with a goal of assisting participants to incorporate these themes into existing or new courses. The ultimate goal of the TELI program is to increase the exposure and knowledge of all Tufts students to enable them to effectively engage with the issues that will shape their generation. Emphasis is placed on recruiting faculty participants from a wide range of disciplines. Past workshops have included interactive presentations by a variety of experts in the field of environmental science and policy, field-based learning experiences, access to a range of resources for course development, and opportunities to share creative teaching experiences with other faculty.

TELI is advertised to all the Tufts campuses and is open to any Tufts faculty or teaching graduate student. The intention is to make teachers more familiar with environmental issues and to give them the tools to integrate it into their curriculum - irrespective of which department or school they teach. The participants apply through a registration form and to date we have never turned anyone away. Emphasis is placed on recruiting faculty participants from a wide range of disciplines.

The Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE) funds the faculty facilitators' stipends, participant stipends and other course needs. TIE also provides logistical support of the program: TIE staff organize the rooms, the food, coordinate the people who oversee each day, etc.

TIE, Tufts Institute of the Environment, specifically allocates 10 to 15 thousand dollars towards the development of new content and curriculum for courses related to sustainability.

The WSSS program, Water: Systems, Science and Society, an interdisciplinary certificate program for graduate students, is given money every year to further develop their program and courses.

Funds are also provided for the development of new sustainability courses and programs. For example:
A masters program in conservation medicine was created with 100,000 dollars.
An engineering course in water resource management was created with 8,000 dollars.
Three Experimental College (http://www.excollege.tufts.edu/) courses have been funded.

Participants in TELI receive a stipend (funded by the Tufts Institute of the Environment) which varies from year to year. Participants also have access to course development resources, through an internal website.