Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.09
Liaison Joseph Kahn
Submission Date Oct. 15, 2020

STARS v2.2

Central Michigan University
AC-7: Incentives for Developing Courses

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Julia Johnson
Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
Office of the Provost
"---" 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 institution believes that all staff and faculty gain through exposing more students to sustainability. In the last three years, Central Michigan University has developed four educational paths which focus on sustainability and lie within different departments. New majors include Environmental Engineering, Environmental Science, and Environmental Studies, while a new minor, Sustainability and Environmental Policy, has been created. All have a central focus on sustainability, and the minor overlaps with numerous other majors, therefore enabling students from all departments with the opportunity to obtain it. If CMU staff and faculty are able to educate more students about sustainability, then they will inherently have more opportunity to present at conferences and develop more sustainable systems for the University. Additionally, departments which have more majors receive more funding, so there is an ongoing need for departments to establish new degrees and programs.

In summary, Students who engage in the new majors and minors related to sustainability are likely to bring more attention to the faculty teaching these courses via capstone projects and conferences.


A brief description of the incentives that academic staff who participate in the program(s) receive:

Through the implementation of these four new educational pathways, CMU has expanded the scope of students which have exposure, and educational opportunities related to sustainability. The incentive gained lies in the fact that CMU and its stakeholders will benefit from more students being knowledgable regarding sustainability. More students can engage in sustainability research, and work sustainability jobs in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, as well as Facilities. Since the beginning of these programs, there are more capstone projects, and large conference appearances by CMU students with sustainability related research topics and presentations.

In addition, all faculty who mentor an honors student and help them complete their capstone project (which can be sustainability focused or related) receive funding for their department as an incentive from the honors program.


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.