Nurturing the Foundation of a UW-Stout Collaborative for Integrating Environmental Sustainability in Course Curricula

Menomonie, Wisconsin

The compelling story the motivated our project...

A series of events and actions at UW-Stout form the contextual foundation of this MRCSE Seed Grant project.  In September 2007, Chancellor Charles W. Sorensen signed the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), making the campus a Charter Signatory for the pledge.  Immediate actions to fulfill this commitment included creating a Stout Sustainability Coordinator position and organizing the Stout Environmental Sustainability Steering Committee (ESSC). The charge given to the ESSC is to:

Develop and recommend an environmental sustainability action plan including strategies to move towards sustainable campus operations, encourage the incorporation of sustainability into the curriculum, and increase public awareness and participation of the plan.

2008-2009 proved to be a pivotal academic year for the advancement of sustainability initiatives at UW-Stout. First, the UW-Stout Applied Research Center (ARC) conducted a series of focus groups during the spring 2009 semester to initiate a process for establishing an environmental sustainability action plan.  A report summarizing the results of the focus groups indicated “knowledge systems” was one of the top three priorities in six of the eight focus groups.  The three subthemes with the largest number of comments were: 1) initiatives to increase knowledge: provide education; increase awareness; 2) integrate sustainability into courses: integrate sustainability topics across all courses; communicate that sustainability is a priority; and 3) classes in sustainability: implement sustainability majors, courses. Second, Chancellor Sorensen established the Mission, Vision and Values Review Team to engage the university in a participatory process to develop a brief mission statement that reflects the new polytechnic designation, and review the vision and values statement.  One of the outcomes of this process was the inclusion of a new value statement: “The pursuit of innovation, technology and sustainability with a constant eye to the future.” Third, the Stout Student Association created a new Sustainability Senator position with the responsibility of overseeing a student Sustainability Council. Fourth, Provost Julie Furst-Bowe agreed to fund 4 teaching faculty, representing each of the UW-Stout colleges, to attend the Midwest Regional Collaborative for Sustainability Education (MRCSE) workshop with the goal of establishing an initiative to integrate environmental sustainability across the curricula. 

These institutional initiatives and changes have led to a collaboratively generated vision for the inclusion of sustainability across the UW-Stout campus, but this vision is one which presently lacks clear faculty voices. In order to maintain and increase the momentum generated by students, staff, faculty and, administration, MRCSE Seed Grant funding will be used to nurture the foundation of a UW-Stout collaborative for integrating environmental sustainability across the curricula.

The PIs of this MRCSE Seed Grant project have experiences and strengths that will help ensure the success and sustainability of this project. Krista James and Joan Menefee are co-faculty advisors to GreenSense, the student environmental organization.  They are also involved with the Green Living/Learning Community; students live on the same dorm floor and have the opportunity to take linked courses:  Science, Society and the Environment (BIO 111) taught by Krista James and English Composition with an Environmental Emphasis (ENG 101) taught by Joan Menefee.  Anne Hoel uses an interdisciplinary approach to teaching Principles of Management (BUMGT 304); she incorporates problem-based learning to integrate theory, knowledge, and practice from business, social, and natural sciences to explore current environmental issues and strategic challenges facing organizations. Jeanette Schermann is active within the UW-Stout Library community in initiating and promoting sustainability initiatives.

A systems representation of our project...

A vision of future our project hopes to bring forth...

The inclusion of sustainability across the UW-Stout campus

The formative project update...

Phase one of the project occurred during the fall 2009 semester.  We worked with UW-Stout's Academic Research Center (ARC) to develop an informative and persuasive powerpoint presentation that was subsequently delivered to over 20 academic departments by graduate students employed by the ARC. We felt it was important to have students give the presentations, since it reflects the fact that this initiative is supported by UW-Stout students. As a result of these presentation, more than 60 faculty and instructional staff signed up to attend our UW-Stout Sustainability Across the Curriculum (SAC) World Cafe Event. 

Phase two of the project consisted of 2 parts.  First, Krista James attended the Integrating Sustainability Across the Curriculum AASHE Workshop in Atlanta, George in January, 2010.  This workshop was very inspiring; Krista came back to Stout with many ideas for a 2 day summer workshop that will be held May 25-26th at UW-Stout (see phase three below).  Second, a UW-Stout Integrating Sustainability Across the Curriculum World Cafe event was held during professional development week at the beginning of the spring 2010 semester. Of the 60 that originally signed up, 30 actually attended.  The World Cafe started at 9AM and ended at 1PM.  Three very important questions were addressed:  1) What are some strategies for integrating sustainability in the course curricula at UW-Stout?  2) When a student graduates at UW-Stout, what should they know and what skills should they have related to sustainability (competencies)?  3) How could you integrate sustainability in your course? An art professor created a graphic display after each question session.  All notes were typed-up and distributed to all Sustainability Across the Curriculum members. 

Because of MRCSE seed grant funding for Phases 1 and 2 of this initiative, UW-Stout is moving on to Phase 3, which will be funded completely through UW-Stout budget allocations.  We are currently working with UW-Stout Outreach Services to plan a 2 day summer workshop for May 25-26, 2010.  Details of the workshop can be found at the following website:  http://www3.uwstout.edu/outreach/sustainability/ 

In addition to the workshop, the Stout SAC is meeting monthly to develop strategies to create a sustainable process for integrating sustainability across the curriculum.  These strategies include working with the New Faculty Orientation Workshop committee to present on Stout's Sustainability Across the Curriculum Initiative.  We are also working with Stout's web designer to create a "Sustainability" link on Stout's main page, and collaborating with the "Campus Preview" program to integrate sustainability in the scripts for the student's giving the campus tours.  Provost Julie Furst-Bowe has also requested that we submit a budget to her office for continued funding for the 2010-2011 academic year.