The document details an agenda for a sustainability-focused event hosted by various universities, highlighting initiatives like the Piedmont Project and the Ponderosa Project which integrate environmental sustainability into higher education curricula. The event features discussions, activities, and presentations from faculty on sustainable educational practices and the significance of interdisciplinary approaches to environmental issues. Key goals include empowering faculty, 'greening' the curriculum, and preparing students to lead sustainable initiatives in their future careers.

2. Welcome and Introductions Review of the day’s Agenda, purpose, and activities 9- 9:15am Tea/coffee light refreshments 9:15-9:30 am Introductions and Overview: background on the Piedmont Project (Emory U.) and the Ponderosa Project (Northern Arizona University) -Cathy 9:30-10:00 am A few words about Sustainability in Higher Education -Cathy 10:00-10:45am Sustainable Initiatives at SMU: Our shared environment: George Irving (Siemens)and Shelley Price-Finn (Facilities Management) with a word about Reducing SMU’s environmental footprint (10 min) Campus Sustainability: a tour of the Green Roof with graduate student Scott MacIver (working with Jeremy Lundholm) (15 min) Campus trees and lichen species with Dr. David Richardson, former Dean of Science (15 min) 10:45-11:00 am Break 11:00-11:45am Using the Campus as a Classroom: Small Group Activity Facilitated activity -Cathy 11:45am – 12pm Regroup: Recap of morning and prep to shift focus to curriculum in the afternoon session -Carol and Cathy 12-12:45 pm Lunch: Location TBA 12:45 – 1:30 pm Short presentations by various Faculty on sustainability across the curriculum at SMU Dr. Rob Singer, Department of Chemistry: “Green Chemistry” Dr. Jason Grek Martin, Department of Geography: “Revising the undergraduate Geography curriculum to be more “sustainable”” Dr. Mark Raymond, Department of Economics: “Teaching Environmental Economics” 1:30- 2:00 pm “ How does sustainability fit into your philosophy of teaching?” Facilitated discussion - Carol 2:00-2:15 pm Break 2:15-2:45 pm Pedagogical Strategies and Learning Outcomes, including 7 ways for courses to engage in sustainability -Carol 2:45-3:15 pm Small group discussions: strategies and assignments (time to work in individually and in groups on courses / curriculum / ideas to incorporate sustainability) Facilitated by Carol 3-3:30pm Whole group reflection, synthesis, and next steps (reporting back from small groups, bringing together the whole day, and reiterating commitment moving forward) -Carol and Cathy

3. Background: The “Ponderosa Project” Northern Arizona University is a state-supported, comprehensive university with nearly 20,000 students. Located in Flagstaff, a community with 58,000 residents, the 730-acre campus sits at an elevation of 7,000 feet in the largest contiguous ponderosa pine forest in the United States, just south of the San Francisco Peaks and the Grand Canyon. Since 1995, more than 100 faculty at Northern Arizona University (NAU) have taken part in a faculty development program called the Ponderosa Project. Coming from areas as far ranging as music, geology, nursing, English, philosophy, engineering, business, political science, education and art history, these faculty have integrated issues of environmental sustainability into 120 courses across the curriculum. The Ponderosa Project has served as a model for other faculty development projects across the United States.

5. The Ponderosa Project http://www2.nau.edu/~ponder-p/ The Ponderosa Project at Northern Arizona University (NAU) is an interdisciplinary faculty group effort to incorporate environmental sustainability issues into university courses with the ultimate goal of providing future citizens the education and skills necessary to achieve sustainable communities and societies. Environmental sustainability is defined as the wise and just use of natural resources to maintain Earth's natural cycles while meeting human basic needs and protecting resources for future generations. The Ponderosa Group : Consists of NAU faculty members from various disciplines who share a common vision of education for environmental sustainability. Participants in the Ponderosa Group have attended an intensive three-day training workshop in which they learned about environmental issues and how to incorporate such issues into course materials. After their training, participants revised syllabi for selected courses to include environment-oriented content. The Ponderosa Group meets regularly throughout the academic year in support of this "greening" of the curriculum project.

6. Philosophy The Ponderosa Group recognizes that environmental issues such as overpopulation, resource depletion and pollution transcend traditional discipline boundaries with physical, political, organizational, social and cultural implications that impact all humans and other species. The Ponderosa Project operates on the premise that since environmental issues are relevant to many disciplines, the best way to educate students is to include environmental perspectives in the content material presented in a variety of subjects. This overall "greening of the curriculum" has the potential for educating wide numbers of students with recurring themes of environmental sustainability as related to all disciplines.

7. Goals GOAL 1 : Educate and empower faculty in an interdisciplinary effort GOAL 2 : "Green the Curriculum" so that the theme of environmental sustainability is introduced and reinforced throughout students' educational experiences GOAL 3 : Educate students in all courses of study about the implications of environmental sustainability in their chosen careers GOAL 4 : Empower students with the tools they can take into future leadership roles (knowledge, problem-solving techniques, desire to make a difference) GOAL 5 : Introduce environmental sustainability issues to our own campus and apply our knowledge toward campus stewardship GOAL 6 : Work within our communities at various levels (city, county, state, region, nation, and international) whenever possible to encourage and achieve environmental sustainability GOAL 7 : Provide resource materials to achieve the above goals

8. Second Nature http://www.secondnature.org/ Second Nature's mission is to accelerate movement toward a sustainable future by serving and supporting senior college and university leaders in making healthy, just, and sustainable living the foundation of all learning and practice in higher education. AASHE is an association of colleges and universities that are working to create a sustainable future. Our mission is to empower higher education to lead the sustainability transformation. We do this by providing resources, professional development, and a network of support to enable institutions of higher education to model and advance sustainability in everything they do, from governance and operations to education and research. AASHE: Association for the Achievement of Sustainability in Higher Education http://www.aashe.org/

9. The Piedmont Project http://www.scienceandsociety.emory.edu/piedmont/ Emory University is a private, medium-sized research university of 6000 graduate and professional students and 5000 undergraduates in the liberal arts. The 630-acre campus is fifteen minutes from downtown Atlanta (whose sprawling metropolitan area numbers around 4 million), in a mixed neighbourhood of historic homes, suburban shopping malls, and some dense urban corridors.

10. Each summer since 2001, the Piedmont Project at Emory University has drawn together roughly twenty faculty from diverse fields across the university to learn about environmental issues and sustainability. Development of new courses or course materials begins with a two-day introductory workshop in May, immediately after graduation, in which two to four faculty facilitators lead discussions about sustainability, environmental issues, the local Atlanta/Emory ecosystem, and political, economic, social, philosophical, and ethical dimensions of these issues. Three or four resource experts provide information on ecology, public health, environmental justice, and an overview of campus environmental efforts. Midday woods walks provide some recreation and an opportunity for experiential learning. The lectures, discussions, outdoor time, and workshop materials all highlight connections among environmental dimensions of Atlanta, the campus, and broader national and international issues of sustainability. There are two follow-up meetings (a fieldtrip in August and a dinner the following March), in which participants report on their progress and share their learning experiences. Pedagogical innovation, as well as expanded content, has been a hallmark of the Piedmont Project.

11. SMU? What should we do: what should our “Project” be?

16. Sustainability So many meanings to so many people… http://www.sustainablemeasures.com/

18. There may be as many definitions of sustainability and sustainable development as there are groups trying to define it. All the definitions have to do with: Living within the limits Understanding the interconnections among economy, society, and environment Equitable distribution of resources and opportunities

19. Education for Sustainability Content, Context and Process of Learning and Research

20. Fostering a healthy, just and environmentally sustainable society will require a large shift in thinking, values and action—a change in mindset. Today's college and university students will go on to become tomorrow's business leaders, research scientists, teachers, politicians, artists and citizens. The degree to which these students are prepared to deal with impending environmental crises, as well as to make decisions for a more sustainable future depends on the awareness, knowledge, skills and values they acquire during their college and post graduate years.

21. National Environmental Education and Training Foundation ( NEETF ) In the 2000 National Report Card, an indicator of nationwide environmental literacy developed by the NEETF, 68 percent of the general American public were shown to be environmentally illiterate. Considering the great challenges ahead, and the vision necessary to overcome them, this low level of understanding is truly of epidemic proportions.

22. In 1944, noted conservationist Aldo Leopold wrote: “Acts of conservation without the requisite desires and skill are futile. To create these desires and skills, and the community motive, is the task of education.” Almost sixty years later, in January 2003, the National Science Foundation released a report of its Advisory Committee for Environmental Research and Education. The Committee found that “in the coming decades, the public will more frequently be called upon to understand complex environmental issues, assess risk, evaluate proposed environmental plans and understand how individual decisions affect the environment at local and global scales.” The Committee called for the creation of a scientifically informed citizenry and pointed out that this will require a “concerted and systematic approach to environmental education grounded in a broad and deep research base that offers a compelling invitation to lifelong learning.”

23. What needs to be done? True environmental literacy takes time. It can't be placed in an "educational microwave." In order to accelerate the transition to a sustainable future, we must reach the minds of our future leaders. College and university teachers need to integrate environmental and sustainability concepts and themes into their teaching and research in order to confront this challenge. Entire curricula need to be revised so that environmental and sustainability concepts are carried through a student's entire time at the institution. If the challenge is met, upon graduation students will be ready to embark on a journey of active citizenry. The decisions they make in their work and in their personal lives will be informed by the concepts, values and methods of analysis passed to them during their educational career.

24. In David Orr’s “Four Challenges of Sustainability”… Challenge 3: “…to inform the discretion of the public through greatly improved education. The kind of education needed for the transition to sustainability, however, has little to do with improving SAT or GRE scores or advancing skills necessary to an expansionist phase of human culture…[where] emphasis was on getting new information….but as resource availability declines, emphasis will be on efficiency in teaching information that we already have.”

25. What are the barriers to change? (Bartlett and Chase, 2004) Disciplinary Boundaries : difficulties of interdisciplinary programmes within Academic Institutions, which is particularly problematic as we think about addressing issues of sustainability because this topic is by its very definition interdisciplinary in nature. “Sustainability issues make for messy, complex research problems, requiring new professional skills and new criteria of evaluation.” Silos and Scale : academic culture tends to be organized into silos-insulated, vertical units with little cross-flow of information…we are called to extraordinary dedication to guide and support such profound change. Financial Pressures and Public Responsibility : in the history of the idea of liberal education…since the late 19 th century has become increasingly focused on research, on developing new knowledge and technology, and this is where the rewards are highest. Indeed, courses and activities to apply academic knowledge to societal problems are often seen as less prestigious or even inappropriate, depending on the field. Place, Context and Commitment : the place in which each of our institutions stands – the immediate environment – plays a key role in our narratives. Sustainability, many would argue, requires a detailed knowledge of local areas and local actors, and environmental literacy requires knowledge of the campus in the context of its local ecosystem.

26. Some Lessons Learned that can Guide Us: (from those Institutions that have led the way) Personal relationships are critical (the deep satisfactions of knowing people “from across campus” Trust , which emerges from strong relationships, drives the change we seek Success is not always related to the numbers of people involved : At many institutions, one or two here and a handful there is all it takes to get started. Different paths are fine : work from our strengths Leadership emerges from many different sources : but many are volunteers, building coalitions out of a personal sense of mission and commitment. Support from above is critical What about resources? Money is not enough and not always necessary. Spontaneity and persistence really are necessary

27. Restoring the Intrinsic Rewards of the Academy Sustainability efforts have the reward of bringing personal actions in line with ethics and values that seek to do less harm to the natural environment. A few last words… Ohio State