Webinar Chat:

Can you tell us what some of the partners' ideas/desires were?

How did you define "sustainability" for your colleagues and students?

Were the faculty in your field conference only STEM colleagues?

Do you have a program or website that calculates their "ecological footprint"?

Curious about funding mechanisms, say for the field conference/

How wide was the Pledge cast? Students only? faculty? Admin? campus wide?

Global footprint network is the best footprint calculator I've found

Thanks :)

We used this Footprint activity in our freshmen seminar

Have you kept track of former students' progress in sustainability careers after their time at your institution?

About 1/3 of our students do work like the work of our partners

Thank you!

Do you feel like you have Admin buy in? In the sense that "this is a good thing" not just, "sure, we will do it".

At either Wittenberg or Shippensburg (or other campuses that have campus-wide sustainability/environmental programs) have you seen an evidence in the admissions process that students are using environmental-ness as a factor in choosing undergraduate colleges?

I have been in a very traditional "Geology" program for 13 years- incorporating a Sustainability program into our department has at least doubled the number of students majoring in our department.

Great.

What have been your most effective methods of student recruitment?

At Oregon State, the soil science course (200 studenst) does service learning projects in the community. The term wraps up with a poster session where studenst describe project and connection to SOIL

New campus group, The Leaves. Permaculture and sustainability oriented. That said, we do not (campus wide) have a strond faculty Sustainability focus. The students are starting to ask for more, but admin is SLOW to see benefits.

We have had mixed success. A big challenge at a small community college has been to maintain student leadership.

I agree.

We have established an Office of Sustainability at IUPUI that helps to move these efforts forward. Advisory committees on both academics and administration have been helpful in establishing priorities and programs.

We have a graduation requirment where students need to take at least one class that has a sustainbility requirement in which at least 20% of the class time is dedicated to topics around sustabilility. But like Mike, being at a 2yc, student leadership has high turnover.

As a parent of a college student, I'd be inclined to ask "how do sustainability majors earn a living?" Do you get that question, and if so what do you say?

I have student leadership challlenges too, course based implementation are easiest to sustain.

UA Little Rock has a university-level sustainability committee that promotes sustainable activities on campus. Among these activities, this committee provides annual grants to support faculty in topics related to sustainability.

I am a fellow for Energize Colleges which is funded by Strategic Energy Innovations. We have similar goals but we are oriented towards renewable energy. What I am setting up on campus is internships with community partners, building new curriculum in particular solar installation certificate, and high school outreach. I am in the initial stages of implementing this program and it is very well received on campus and in the community.

Hofstra started the Sustainability Program about 5 years ago. As I mentioned, this has catalyzed student energy about environmental issues into more robust academic programs. We have also hired a Sustainability Officer. Challenges include answering the question Kim asked about employability, we have only graduated a few years' worth of students so data is limited.

at OSU we do Sustainability as a 2nd major

at OSU we do Sustainability as a 2nd major#1 primary major is business!

Thanks. Sounds like a good plan!

My college is in rural north-central Illinois. We always have interesed students, but the leaders are always leaving.

Thanks, Sarah! and

We can do small projects, but they are hard to sustain over time because new leaders have new interests.

Also, we launched our major online first, which helped with admin buy-in. Lots of $$

Did you already have service learning type courses when you started these partnerships and if so were their any challenges in incorporating environmental/sustainability partnerships with existing criteria?

What is the best way to engage faculty in engaging more in sustainability programs especially faculty that have a lot on their plate?

Gotta run! Thanks presenters, e Rory!

Thanks! Bye!

Does anyone here know of a good "concept inventory" that has been developed for either environmental or sustainability areas? I know of the Geoscience Concept Inventory, I'd be interested in finding others...

Good idea for online. InTeGrate has some free online modules that some here might be interested in,

Thanks all!

Thanks everyone for participating. Email if you have any further questions! Sean

SISL & InTeGrate have concept ideas & see the InTeGrate rubric

T117. Innovation and Collaboration Supporting UndergraduatesSarah K. Fortner, Elizabeth Heise, Jennifer C. LatimerCouncil on Undergraduate Research Geosciences Division; National Association of Geoscience TeachersWe seek broad examples of service learning (e.g., outreach, social media engagement, science advocacy, community-based or campus research, and collaboration with non-profits, artists, and businesses). Approaches that serve diverse students and institutional setting are welcome.GeoscienceEducationSubmit an abstract to this session