University of Connecticut
AC-7: Incentives for Developing Courses

The Provost’s Office General Education Course Enhancement Grant Competition:
The Provost’s Office General Education Course Enhancement Grant Competition is designed to promote the ongoing enhancement of UConn’s General Education curriculum. Every year the General Education Oversight Committee solicits proposals for interesting or innovative revised new general education courses. Winning proposals are awarded between $1,000 - $7,500 to be applied to buyout of semester salary, summer salary, course-related expenses, or to a faculty member’s ledger 2 research account. With the university adopting an Environmental Literacy GenEd requirement in 2019, this program directly relates to environmental literacy. For the 2021-2022 award cycle two of the courses were directly related to sustainability, Environmental Justice Writing and Sustainable Energy in the 21st Century, and one other is heavily related, Introducing Decolonization and Indigenous Worlds.
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Supporting Background Information:
Environmental Literacy General Education Requirement:
In February 2018, the University Senate approved an Environmental Literacy General Education Requirement, which requires students to take at least one sustainability related course during their education at UConn.
Environmental Literacy (EL) courses provide students with the ability to understand, and articulate perspectives on, the interactions between human society and the natural world, as well as the challenges of environmental stewardship. A course from any disciplinary area may satisfy the EL requirement, provided that it focuses throughout on one or more of the following:
1. theories, observations, or models of how humans impact the health and well-being of the natural world;
2. theories, observations, or models of how the natural world affects human health and well-being;
3. public policies, legal frameworks, and/or other social systems that affect the environment;
4. moral and/or ethical dimensions regarding the environment;
5. cultural, creative, or artistic representations of human-environment interactions.

Environmental Policy Advisory Council (EPAC):
The Environmental Policy Advisory Council (EPAC) is an advisory council to the President, Provost, and other senior administrators about strategies for enhancing the university’s environmental performance in many areas. The role of this council includes, “distinguishing our academic, operational, and community outreach reputation by promoting leadership initiatives.” The EPAC meets once per semester and aids in developing strategies for engaging students in environmental initiatives, such as the requirement for the school’s Environmental Literacy graduation requirement.

Green Campus Academic Network (GCAN):
As a point of emphasis in recent years, the OS has also reached out to newer, non-tenured and non-tenure track faculty to form the Green Campus Academic Network (GCAN). GCAN has the purpose of raising awareness among interested faculty members about opportunities for engagement in campus sustainability activities and events, and collaboration on experiential learning projects and research opportunities, which might help them achieve tenure or enhance their sustainability-related courses. https://sustainability.uconn.edu/green-campus-academic-network/

Courses and programs that have emerged from GCAN:
• ENVE 1000 (Env Engineering 1000): An interdisciplinary course in Environmental Sustainability, structured around experiential learning and campus as a living laboratory
• UConn@COP Fellowship Program: The UConn@COP Fellowship Program strives to build future leaders in climate science and policy, and to promote UConn’s leadership on climate change and sustainability issues. Since 2015, UConn has sent a delegation comprised of faculty members, staff, and 12-16 students to the annual Conference of the Parties (COP). The experience results in several for-credit independent study opportunities for the participants, and allows fellows to share their experiences with the UConn community at the OS’ annual Climate Change Café.
• Assistant Engineering Professor Kristina Wagstrom, a GCAN member, has enhanced her course content by installing local air monitoring stations around campus. These installations were funded in part by UConn's Campus Sustainability Fund as a result of GCAN-based collaboration.
https://cace.lab.uconn.edu/

The Provost’s Office General Education Course Enhancement Grant Competition provides faculty with a monetary incentive continue enhancing UConn’s General Education curriculum through the creation of a new course, or the innovative revision to a current course. Winning proposals are awarded between $1,000 - $7,500 to be applied to buyout of semester salary, summer salary, course-related expenses, or to a faculty member’s ledger 2 research account.

In February 2018, the University Senate approved an Environmental Literacy General Education Requirement, which requires students to take at least one sustainability related course during their education at UConn. Having this requirement incentivizes professors to add sustainability components to their principle coursework, and to offer more sustainability related courses in general.

Additionally, UConn offers a variety of niche courses, allowing students the opportunity to tailor their degree program to their specific interests. But because they are so narrow in focus, many of these courses are affected by low enrollment. The Environmental Literacy General Education Requirement provides incentive for faculty participation – by registering their courses for the program, faculty are likely to increase enrollment in their course. This ensures that the course will be able to proceed, and that students maintain the ability to take such niche courses.

The Environmental Literacy Workgroup and GCAN, as well as spin-off task forces and programs, like UConn@COP, and even subsequent Centers and Institutes, incentivize interdisciplinary faculty involvement by providing a platform for sponsored and applied research and for experiential learning, through numerous community-based programs and activities (see above).