Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 68.55
Liaison Daryl Pierson
Submission Date Feb. 11, 2011
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.0

Portland State University
ER-14: Incentives for Developing Sustainability Courses

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 3.00 Shpresa Halimi
Academic Sustainability Program Manager
Center for Sustainable Processes and Practices
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have a program that meets the criteria outlined above?:
Yes

A brief description of the program(s):

In 2008, Portland State University was awarded a unique challenge gift of 25 million dollars. The challenge is designed to spur imagination and innovation in three programmatic areas related to sustainability over the next ten years.

The three programatic areas are:
1. Enhancing the student experience in the study of sustainability through enhancing and expanding our curricular offerings, supporting student success through student support and connections with the community, and providing financial support to students as they pursue the study of their major.
2. Expanding faculty excellence in teaching and research by providing support for curricular development and participation in trans-disciplinary teaching activities, developing facilities to support research and engagement activities and supporting the development of research activities with emphasis on trans-disciplinary projects that are locally focused but globally relevant.
3. Enhancing excellence in community engagement by supporting and expanding our ability to convene the community around important issues and to engage.

The grant provides an incentive for faculty to develop new courses related to sustainability by providing support for curricular development and excellence in education.


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

Competitively granted Miller awards provide financial support for faculty to develop new sustainability courses and programs. In 2008-2009, five awards were given for projects specifically targeted at sustainability curriculum development. These projects were:

Sustainability in Engineering Curriculum Development

Innovative Teaching Laboratory for Sustainable Water Quality Systems

Mapping and Expanding Sustainability Course Offerings in the University Studies Curriculum

Weaving Sustainability into the Secondary Graduate Teacher Education Program

Building Capacity for Sustainability through Faculty Development

The Center for Academic Excellence offers the Sustainability Fellows Program for Sustainability.
(http://www.pdx.edu/cae/cae-sponsored-funding)

Faculty interested in integrating authentic assignments and applied experiences into their sustainability courses are invited to participate in the program. This program engages participants in a multi-disciplinary learning community of faculty who are interested in and new to sustainability education and/or community-university partnership development. Relevant literature, curricular resources, and peer support encourage development of syllabi and course materials that more fully integrate learning outcomes with course components. These efforts contribute to continued refinement of the sustainability learning goal, its rationale, and appropriate means for its assessment. Resources include CAE staff support, appropriate support materials, and $1,000 per participating faculty member (total of $10,000).


The website URL where information about the program is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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