Campus Sustainability Case Study Highlights:...

Full Title: Campus Sustainability Case Study Highlights: Sustainability Faculty Fellows Program at the University of Vermont

This is the second in a series of blog articles highlighting the many excellent case studies AASHE has received to our campus sustainability case study database. Virtually all of the case studies currently in our database have been submitted as part of our annual awards program. Although we can only recognize a few campus submissions as "official winners" for that program, there are many exemplary case studies in the database worthy of recognition and wide dissemination (this is also a reminder to our campus readers to submit to our awards program and database. We know you have great case studies to share!).

This weeks case study highlight comes from the University of Vermont and describes the successful sustainability faculty fellows program at the university.

Co-authored by Tatiana Abatemarco a graduate fellow in the Office of Sustainability, Wendy Verrei-Berenback, Director for the Center for Teaching and Learning, and Stephanie Kaza, Professor and Director, of UVM's Environmental Studies program, the case study describes "integrating sustainability into courses across disciplinary boundaries with a modest budget, Provost-level support, and a handful of dedicated campus partners."

The case study overview and background is included below;
"Welcoming its first cohort in 2009, the program brought together sixteen faculty members from across disciplines via luncheons, a two-day January retreat, and online communications. The faculty revised existing syllabi and created new courses for 2010-2011. The enthusiastic, broadly interdisciplinary exchange of ideas indicated deep interest in integrating sustainability principles into undergraduate education. The program will continue in 2010-2011 with internal funding for a new cohort and we are looking into long-term base funding.

The Sustainability Faculty Fellows Program is a joint endeavor of the Office of Sustainability, the Environmental Program, the Center for Teaching and Learning, and the GreenHouse Residential Learning Community at the University of Vermont (UVM), in partnership with the non-profit educational center Shelburne Farms. The program builds on strong environmental academics at UVM and high levels of student and faculty engagement in sustainability. The goal was to create a peer learning community for faculty across multiple disciplines to receive support and develop skills to implement sustainability concepts into their courses. Two of the project partners, Stephanie Kaza (Director of the Environmental Program) and Wendy Verrei-Berenback (Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning) attended AASHE’s “Sustainability Across The Curriculum Leadership Program” in January 2009 to develop the curriculum. For more information on the program, please see the news story here."

To read the full case study please visit, "Sustainability Faculty Fellows Program at the University of Vermont".

Readers may also be interested in the resource list of other campus sustainability faculty development workshops that AASHE maintains .

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