Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 72.66
Liaison Megan Litke
Submission Date March 5, 2021

STARS v2.2

American University
AC-7: Incentives for Developing Courses

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Courtney Stoner
Sustainability Analyst
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

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? :
Yes

A brief description of the incentive program(s):
The Ann Ferran Conference (AFC), an annual conference open to all faculty and staff, includes workshops on integrating campus sustainability into the curriculum and creates incentive for new sustainability courses. The conference is hosted by AU's Center for Teaching, Research, and Learning.

Relevant workshops:

2018 AFC-
106: Our Common Grounds: AU Arboretum and the Airlie Center: AU’s Arboretum and the recently gifted Airlie Center are tremendous resources for teaching, research, and service. Join us to learn how the campus Arboretum and Airlie have been utilized in the past and participate in planning for how they might be used in the future.

2019 AFC-
304: American University Arboretum & Gardens: Resource & Partner & Research Funding Opportunities: In the spirit of the “&” model, AU’s Arboretum is partnering with other organizations to provide avenues for student learning and scholar-teacher and research funding opportunities. Collaborations underway between the Arboretum & Smithsonian Institution, Center for Environmental Filmmaking, and Department of Environmental Science will be featured. The session concludes with an interactive brainstorm focusing on creative ways to forge new opportunities.

2021 AFC-
307: Not Just the Environment: How Sustainability Affects Our Lives at AU and Beyond 
Presenters: Megan Litke (Office of Sustainability), Yana Sakellion (Art) & Kim Westemeier (Center for Teaching, Research & Learning)
When discussing sustainability, many assume “the environment” will be the primary focus. However, the definition of sustainability goes beyond environmental impacts. In this presentation, we will discuss the three pillars of sustainability: environmental, social, and economic. With these pillars, we will brainstorm ideas for incorporating sustainability into your curriculum by encouraging your students to use this multidisciplinary approach.  
Each year, there are more and more faculty who are interested in integrating sustainability in the curriculum through Arboretum and Gardens tours, Sustainability tours, and using parts of campus as a living laboratory for sustainability.

A brief description of the incentives that academic staff who participate in the program(s) receive:
Faculty receive professional development training, free of charge, in this subject area at the AFC. The conference is usually held the Friday before classes begin in January, and many faculty attend each year. For staff that attend, it is paid time.

The Office of Sustainability, Arboretum & Grounds, and Facilities staff are available to all faculty to provide sustainability tours, data, and other benefits as requested year-round.

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the incentives for developing sustainability course content is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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