by Brianna Crandall — January 2, 2017 — The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) recently announced 13 “Centers for Sustainability Across the Curriculum,” which will partner with AASHE to offer workshops and other professional development opportunities on sustainability in the curriculum beginning in 2017. The Centers were selected through a competitive application process held earlier this year.
The Centers will be hosted at the following organizations:
- Center for Sustainability at Ramapo College of New Jersey
- Central College
- Colorado College
- David E. Shi Center for Sustainability at Furman University
- Center for Sustainability Education at Dickinson College
- Fleming College
- University of Kansas and Johnson County Community College
- Moraine Valley Community College
- Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
- The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
- The Washington Center for Sustainability Education at Seattle University and Western Washington University
- University of South Carolina – Columbia
- University of California
The goal of the Centers for Sustainability Across the Curriculum program, which is in its first year, is to accelerate the infusion of sustainability content into curriculum by increasing the availability and accessibility of faculty development opportunities related to sustainability. The professional development offerings from these Centers will be available to faculty from other institutions in the region. Centers will be scheduling workshops throughout 2017. These workshops will be advertised on AASHE’s Web site.
Over the last decade, AASHE’s Sustainability Across the Curriculum Train the Trainer Workshops have trained over 500 faculty leaders at institutions around the country to catalyze curriculum change on their campuses. Based on the pioneering success of the Ponderosa Project at Northern Arizona University and the Piedmont Project at Emory University, this model has now been implemented successfully at dozens of institutions around the country.
The Centers for Sustainability program is intended to leverage this network of skilled trainers to dramatically increase the availability and diversity of sustainability-oriented training for faculty. Based on the experiences of this pilot year, AASHE may seek to recruit additional Centers in the fall of 2017.
