University of Massachusetts Amherst
AC-7: Incentives for Developing Courses
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 2.00 |
Darci
Connor Maresca Project Manager, Sustainability Programming ECo |
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? :
A brief description of the incentive program(s):
After COVID, the university formed the Sustainability Hub Working Group under the Sustainability Curriculum Fellowship (SCF) Program. Six faculty worked to assess the needs and opportunities to create an online hub (or toolkit) to assist faculty, students, and the broader education community in integrating sustainability into courses. They worked for 18 months on the project during a time when asynchronous, flexible learning and digital information was extremely valued and in demand. This cohort of faculty leaders developed a long-term strategic vision and action framework toward an accessible, inclusive, comprehensive sustainability curriculum hub for UMass, bringing the university’s existing sustainability initiatives into greater alignment with AASHE recommendations as well as with exemplary, innovative practices from other higher education peer institutions. The Sustainability Hub cohort was built on the work of seven previous Sustainability Curriculum Fellows cohorts 2013-2020.
A brief description of the incentives that academic staff who participate in the program(s) receive:
The Sustainability Curriculum Fellows program provides two types of incentives -- membership and a small financial incentive of $1500.
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.