| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 73.33 |
| Liaison | Maria Dahmus |
| Submission Date | Nov. 30, 2023 |
University of St. Thomas
AC-7: Incentives for Developing Courses
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 2.00 |
Elise
Amel Faculty Fellow Office of Sustainability Initiatives |
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):
The Office of Sustainability Initiatives offers a variety of incentives for faculty to integrate sustainability into courses:
a) Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability course development grants to integrate sustainability into courses. All part- and full-time faculty across the university are eligible to apply. Faculty can develop new courses or integrate sustainability into existing courses. Grants are for courses to be taught the next academic year. This program has been in place for over 10 years.
Outcomes: From Fall 2020- Spring 2023, 14 grants were distributed to faculty across 12 disciplines.
b) The Curricular Innovation in Sustainability Award recognizes faculty for innovation and excellence in integrating sustainability into a single course, both through innovation in sustainability content and demonstrated student learning and engagement with sustainability.
Outcomes: Three faculty have earned the Curricular Innovation in Sustainability Award since 2020:
2021 Joshua Stuchlik (Philosophy)
2022 Craig Eliason (Art History)
2023 Susanne Wagner (Modern & Classical Languages: German)
Previous awardees come from a range of disciplines including Computer Science, Economics, English, Operations & Supply Chain Management, Biology, and Communication and Journalism.
c) Our Sustainability Curriculum Workshop provides insight into best practices and a supportive environment for generating innovative ideas for integrating sustainability into one or more courses. Attendees receive a stipend for submitting a reflection about how their course(s) will change. They are encouraged to apply for a course development grant to execute their changes.
Outcomes: 9 participants in May 2023
d) The Sustainable Communities Partnership provided mini-grants to St. Thomas faculty to integrate environmental justice into a spring 2022 course. Outcomes: Fourteen faculty across 12 academic disciplines including biology, English, engineering, film studies, French, geology, history, justice and peace studies, psychology, Spanish, social work, and theology received a grant for this work.
A brief description of the incentives that academic staff who participate in the program(s) receive:
a) Faculty who receive the annual implementation grant receive $1,000 during the summer to create or reformulate their syllabus.
b) Curricular Innovation in Sustainability Award recipients receive $1,000.
c) Workshop attendees receive $400 plus breakfast and lunch while attending.
d) Environmental Justice mini-grants were $200 each
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:
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.