| Overall Rating | Platinum |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 85.89 |
| Liaison | Jennifer Andrews |
| Submission Date | Oct. 24, 2024 |
University of New Hampshire
AC-7: Incentives for Developing Courses
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 2.00 |
Elisabeth
Farrell Culture & Sustainability, Food & Society Initiatives UNH Sustainability Academy |
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):
In 2021, the UNH Sustainability Awards program was launched to recognize sustainability efforts by UNH faculty, staff, students, and alumni. The program seeks to celebrate and incentivize research and scholarship, curriculum development and teaching, campus initiatives and culture, and external engagement activities and achievements that best embody the principles and practices of sustainability. The Sustainability Institute coordinates the program. Between 2021 and 2023, more than 150 faculty, staff, students, and alumni received an award. All awardees are celebrated at an annual recognition ceremony. Awardees receive a certificate of recognition and are featured on the Sustainability Institute website.
Awards included a curriculum category, including recognition for both existing and new/emerging curriculum. Examples of awardees include:
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a Business and Economics Librarian, who developed curriculum materials and key resources using the UN Sustainable Development Goals for the Paul College of Business and Economics and several other campus programs, including a resource guide for first-year students to brainstorm and develop sustainable business ideas, as well as a school comprehensive resource guide for each of the SDGs to support faculty curriculums.
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a Professor of Education, who led the creation and development of UNH’s new BA in Educational Studies: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, a major directly implementing aspects of sustainability, cosmopolitanism, glocalization, and DEI.
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a Postdoctoral scholar, who collaborated closely with the Sustainability Institute to develop novel curricula with UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for first-year mechanical engineering students.
Sustainability Awards’ nominees were eligible to request a financial incentive award of up to $2,500 to extend their work over the following year. Examples of curriculum awards included funds to support a developing climate change curriculum, executing a World Climate Simulation game with Hamel Scholars with a goal to include as an opening retreat activity for all 300+ Honors College students, and the development of a classroom reader on economics and climate change.
A brief description of the incentives that academic staff who participate in the program(s) receive:
Sustainability Award nominees were qualified to be considered for funding to extend the work of their project, research, or curriculum development thanks to the Sustainability Institute's partnership with, and the generous support of, the Responsible Governance and Sustainable Citizenship Project at UNH's College of Liberal Arts.
A total pool of $10,000 was available in the inaugural year of the awards program; in 2022, the total incentive amount increased to $20,500; and in 2023, the total was $32,000. Faculty are asked to specify the amount of funding requested between $500-$2,500, how it will be used, and the potential impact/value. Funding was allocated by a financial awards committee based on the caliber of the faculty member's past work, as well as the potential for future enhancement. Funding to support curriculum could include both existing curriculum and the development or refinement of new curriculum to increase student learning of sustainability.
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