| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 66.40 |
| Liaison | Parker Long |
| Submission Date | Aug. 27, 2021 |
Virginia Commonwealth University
AC-7: Incentives for Developing Courses
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 2.00 |
Elias
Frantz Sustainability Assistant VCU Office of Sustainability |
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):
VCU iCubed strategically invests in academic and research programs that employ transdisciplinary approaches to solve challenging and persistent problems in urban communities. These program approaches draw stakeholders from diverse backgrounds and also set the stage for partnership equity between university and community partners where all perspectives are valued.
One of iCubed's core programs is Sustainable Food Access. The Sustainable Food Access Transdisciplinary Core addresses the food desert problem through ‘smart city’ research, which embeds advances in technology and data collection into the infrastructures of urban environments. Through converging research, the core examines the conceptual relationship between governance, urban food, communities, technology, and social innovation. This core will also work collaboratively with other iCubed cores, such as The Oral Health in Childhood and Adolescence Transdisciplinary Core, since food access and related health problems disproportionately affect underserved populations.
Positive Outcomes
Youngmi Kim, Ph.D., associate professor in the VCU School of Social Work, is a core member whose research interests primarily focus on food insecurity from an economic perspective. She recently conducted three studies on VCU student food insecurity with an internal grant from the School of Social Work. The studies addressed the prevalence of student food insecurity, challenges associated with food insecurity and how students cope with those challenges.
A brief description of the incentives that academic staff who participate in the program(s) receive:
The Institute for Inclusion, Inquiry, and Innovation (iCubed) will fund research fellowship awards for projects mentored by VCU faculty that fall within the iCubed Cores: 1. Oral Health Equity 2. Sustainable Food Access 3. Intersections in the Lives of LGBTQIA+ Communities 4. Urban Education and Family 5. Disrupting Criminalization in Education 6. Health and Wellness in Aging Populations 7. Racial Equity, Arts, and Culture 8. Culture, Race, and Health. Each fellowship award includes $1500 in funding for the student and $500 for the faculty mentor.
iCubed also offers additional grant funding as well as faculty training opportunities.
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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