Proposals Open for Sustainability Curriculum Fellowship

Applications are being accepted for the Sustainability Curriculum Fellowship (SCF), a yearlong interdisciplinary program. SCF is designed to bring together faculty with a strong commitment to sustainability and offer a collaborative space to enhance teaching excellence in this critical area.

The program is open to full- and part-time faculty, including instructors, who plan to teach a sustainability-related course in fall 2019, spring 2020 or both. Applicants must demonstrate clear interest in and commitment to sustainability curriculum and active, student-centered learning.

Interested faculty may apply here. The application deadline is Monday, May 28; successful applicants will be notified by early June.

Established in 2013, the SCF is supported by the Chancellor’s Sustainability Advisory Committee, School of Earth and Sustainability (SES), Institute for Teaching Excellence and Faculty Development (TEFD) and UMass Amherst Libraries. Since its inception, more than 60 faculty across more than 30 departments and from every college and school at the university have participated in the fellowship program.

A maximum of 10 faculty members will be selected to join next year’s fellowship program. Fellows receive a $1,000 professional development grant, along with focused support to help them enhance an existing course or launch a new sustainability course. SCF recipients are required to attend two-hour monthly meetings from 1-3 p.m. on a Wednesday to engage with other fellows, discuss pedagogy, present course materials and learn about relevant library and campus sustainability resources. Fellows also share best practices through teaching demonstrations and participate in team-based learning activities.

Fellows will be required to revise or create a course syllabus or curriculum to include or augment student learning outcomes related to sustainability and to present a brief teaching demonstration. They also will place a lesson, unit or course resource in the SCF repository.

Faculty will be chosen based on clarity of goals, design and implementation; potential impact on sustainability curriculum and student learning; and potential to apply to future sources.    

For more information, contact Mark Hamin at mhamin@larp.umass.edu or Darci Maresca at dmaresca@umass.edu.