University of California, Santa Barbara
AC-7: Incentives for Developing Courses

"Turning over a New Leaf: Greening Your Course": Mini-Grant Program for Faculty Infusing Sustainability Into Curriculum The goal of the New Leaf Grant Program is to catalyze the infusion of sustainability in courses across disciplines at UCSB. Those applying may consider integrating sustainability by asking students to: • Identify one or more serious environmental problems and examine its underlying causes and possible consequences. • Explore the conceptual foundations of our environmental attitudes, values, and challenges from a variety of cultural perspectives. • Examine humanity’s role as the planet’s ecologically dominant species and how that affects the continuing viability of habitats for life on Earth. • Demonstrate the interconnectedness of environmental, economic, and social systems. • Investigate how our relationship to the natural world has been shaped historically, politically, and/or economically. • Examine the controversies surrounding questions of values and ethics as they relate to creating a sustainable future. • Utilize tools to communicate effectively about sustainability issues Successful proposals seeking to infuse sustainability into undergraduate courses will encompass one or more of the following: •Service learning experiences that make use of the university or local community as a “living laboratory”: There are ample demonstration sites (solar panels, bioswales-biological filtration for stormwater, organic gardens, and farms, etc) which could be used as teaching tools in academic courses. With each of these locations, there are opportunities to use campus staff and community members as guest lecturers or mentors for student projects. •Opportunities for the broader campus or community to learn from student research/projects: Class assignments/projects that are structured such that they can be shared with a larger audience, by students, or instructors (or both). •Community building: Provides an opportunity for community outreach or community building around environmental issues. •Demonstrated Learning Outcomes: Student learning of sustainability is measured/demonstrated. •Interdisciplinary: Collaborative projects which involve faculty and/or students from different disciplines to explore cross-cutting themes, such as environmental justice, human food systems, and scarcity of natural resources (water, air, soil, etc.). Examples of Positive Outcomes: Kim Yasuda (2012-13) $1,025 was given to Professor Yasuda in the Art Department to incorporate sustainability awareness into her course "OutThere: Sustainable Design & Building Practices in Real World Setting,"  Edwina Barvosa (2013-14) $1,000 was awarded to Professor Barvosa to incorporate sustainability awareness into the course "Introduction to Chicano/a Studies,"  John Foran (2014-15)  $3,147 was awarded to Professor Foran to incorporate sustainability awareness into the following Sociology Department classes: SOC 134CJ ("Climate Justice"), SOC 134EC ("Earth in Crisis"), SOC 134A ("Activism") and a new course titled "Sustainable Development." For more information about the New Leaf Grant Program in particular, please visit: http://grants.id.ucsb.edu/sites/default/files/NewLeafGrant_CallforProposals_2.pdf "The Faculty Curriculum Workshop and Networking Events" UCSB recently implemented The Faculty Curriculum Workshop and Networking Events which serves to engage, inspire and support faculty members across disciplines who are interested in infusing relevant climate change and/or sustainability concepts into their courses. This curriculum program was established by the Faculty Engagement and Education working group of the UC Office of the President's (UCOP's) Global Climate Leadership Council with the overall goal to boost climate change/sustainability education on each UC campus, with special attention on targeting students for whom sustainability may not be a focus. The program consists of three parts to ensure proper dialogue with faculty and infusion of climate change/sustainability into courses. The first part is a workshop, planned and led by two campus leaders, for about 20 faculty members which aims to include dialogue about climate change/sustainability concepts, campus and UC goals, examples of transformed courses, and brainstorming on how to revise courses. After the workshop, faculty are given 3-6 months and up to $1000 of support to revise their course in any number of ways to help with incorporating climate change and sustainability. Lastly, the two co-leaders of the program on each UC campus must create a follow-up Faculty Networking Event open to all faculty, which showcases the workshop participants' revised courses and develops further faculty interest in this type of curriculum development.

The New Leaf Grant Program offers a one-time award of up to $3,000 which is provided through funding from the Chancellor's Campus Sustainability Workgroup. The Faculty Curriculum Workshop offers a small incentive aside from the $1,000 of funding available for individual course revisions. Upon evidence of the revised course and participation in the Networking Event, faculty program participants are awarded $200 in compensation.

UCOP is currently funding the Faculty Curriculum Workshop for its pilot year, but to continue the program in future years, funding from the New Leaf Grant program may be redirected toward this program.