Vanderbilt University
AC-7: Incentives for Developing Courses
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
| -- | Reporter |
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):
Vanderbilt’s Center for Teaching sponsored the Cumberland Project (http://cumberland.vanderbilt.edu/) in May 2012, a two-day workshop intended to foster an interdisciplinary teaching and learning community around sustainability themes at Vanderbilt. During the 2011-2012 academic year, various departments within VU, including Department of English and Department of History, taught general courses with a sustainability theme. This was such a success that it was continued into subsequent years. The creation of the University’s sustainability minor was a direct outcome of this process.
The Cumberland Project was part of a larger effort at Vanderbilt University entitled the Sustainability Project, an effort to create a campus-wide conversation that endeavored to both deepen understandings of and commitments to sustainability. This involved various programs: the coordination of courses on sustainability, a conference on sustainability, experiential learning experiences via “road trips” focused on different dimensions of sustainability, as well as a documentary film series and other artistic projects on sustainability with the Departments of Art and Film Studies and the Program in Creative Writing.
A brief description of the incentives that academic staff who participate in the program(s) receive:
Intensive workshop opportunities to (re)design courses with significant environmental or sustainability components.
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:
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