Two California CCs Shift Toward Open Education Resources
With a goal of increasing access, Compton Community College recently announced a goal of using 85 to 100 percent open educational resources (OER), rather than textbooks, by 2035, while College of the Canyons is aiming for a third of its courses to eliminate textbooks over the next two years.
Georgetown U Starts MS in Environment & Sustainability Mgmt
A collaboration among the Georgetown Environment Initiative, the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, and the McDonough School of Business, the 11-month, STEM-designated program is geared toward those seeking to help organizations reduce their impact on the environment by harnessing the power of business. The program will begin August 2022.
Royal Roads U Launches Climate Leadership Masters Degree
Approved June 2021, the new Master of Arts in Climate Action Leadership is a two-year, 36-credit degree program geared toward people who want to create the social, political, environmental and economic changes needed for a low-carbon, resilient future. The program places an emphasis on the intersection of climate science, social science, justice and change leadership.
U Southern California Expands Sustainability Across Curriculum
After a recent university survey revealed that USC students are overwhelmingly interested in sustainability, the university announced a major expansion to its undergraduate curriculum. The new Sustainability Across the Curriculum program aims to educate the university’s 20,000 undergraduate students in how sustainability intersects with their major field of study.
Howard U Receives $1M for Women & Gender Leadership Center
A $1 million gift aims to elevate women of color into leadership roles across all sectors through the launch of the Center for Women, Gender and Global Leadership. The center's academic focus will include producing theoretically grounded research and creating a data center on issues of women and gender in the United States and the global Black diaspora.
21 HEIs to Receive $1M Each for Academic Success of Students of Color
In an effort to help students of color successfully complete the education and training necessary to be successful in today’s workforce, Bank of America announced in mid-November a plan to give $1 million each to 21 higher education institutions including community colleges, historically Black colleges and universities, and Hispanic-serving institutions. Each partner institution will develop or enhance existing programs to meet specific skill gaps in their communities, while Bank of America will work alongside major employers to ensure these programs target specific hiring needs and create a clearly defined career pathway to future employment.
U California Santa Barbara Announces Racial Justice Fellowship
In light of recent protests against police violence directed at Black communities and the persistence of systemic racism, the university's Graduate Division and multiple deans have launched an initiative designed to enhance the recruitment of graduate students committed to teaching, research and mentorship around racial justice. The Racial Justice Fellowships will provide recipients $8,000 in summer funding for three years on top of a five-year package of full funding.
Villanova U Receives Gift for Interdisciplinary Initiative on Poverty & Inequality
Spurred by a $1 million gift from Villanova alum, a new interdisciplinary initiative will support programmatic efforts to generate ideas and policy solutions to address the systemic issues of inequality. The initiative will also include an annual symposium focused on identifying the most promising approaches to eradicating poverty and eliminating disparities associated with race, disability and difference.
U Wisconsin Green Bay to Offer Sustainability Certificate
The new non-credit, online only Sustainability Certificate Program launching in January 2021 aims to educate business professionals to implement sustainable decisions into their everyday roles to make a positive impact on both their organization as well as the world around them.
Loyola U Maryland Offers Sustainability Management Degree
The Loyola University Maryland Sellinger School of Business and Management recently introduced a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in sustainability management. In addition to liberal arts and business foundations courses, sustainability management students will take four business management courses and four courses addressing topics including poverty, human rights, justice and equality, the climate crisis, biodiversity, and scarcity of natural resources.
Frostburg State U Launches Life Cycle Facilities Management Major
A new a bachelor degree in lifecycle facilities management will educate students about the application of environmental, societal and long-term sustainability goals in the construction and management of buildings, manufacturing processes and products. The interdisciplinary program builds on knowledge in project management, finance, engineering and sustainability.
U California San Francisco Educates on Racism in Health Care
In response to growing awareness of racism in medicine and health research, UCSF schools have created new courses and expanded existing curriculum that address issues of structural racism in science and health care. They take an explicitly anti-racist approach, advocating for interventions against racism instead of merely being not racist.
Villanova U Receives $5M Gift for DEI Curriculum Initiatives
A $5 million gift from the Lorenzini Family Foundation will support the new Intergroup Dialogue Center. The center will focus on curricular transformation and faculty training with a diversity, equity and inclusion lens. The Intergroup Dialogue Center will also amplify the existing Intergroup Relations program, which teaches students to create meaningful dialogue and relationships among people from different social, economic, racial and ethnic groups.
Aspen Institute Announces Ideas Worth Teaching Award Winners
An initiative of the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program, the Ideas Worth Teaching Awards highlight teaching that prepares students with the content, skills and mindset to respond to the complexity and rapidly changing issues embedded in economic and social systems. In 2020, 13 faculty received the award across nine categories.
California Lutheran U Launches Ethnic & Race Studies Major
The new program is designed to help students gain a deeper understanding of communities of color in the United States and build cultural competence in working with diverse groups. Additionally, the new associate provost for educational effectiveness is beginning a review of all curriculum to address equity, diversity and inclusion, including looking for ways to incorporate more on issues of race and racism.
Rutgers U Receives $15M Grant for Global Racial Justice
Rutgers president announced recently the receipt of a five-year, $15 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support the establishment of the Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice. The institute will support and amplify the scholarship of researchers who are based in the humanities or lean on humanistic methods and whose work has consequences in areas such as policy reform, K-12 education, social justice work and the carceral state. The institute will span the entire university and will include centers at Rutgers’ campuses in Newark, New Brunswick and Camden.
Hood College Launches Sustainability Degree Program
The college recently announced the launch of a new Bachelor of Arts in sustainability studies. The Maryland E-Nnovation Initiative Fund Authority has granted $1 million to fund an endowed chair in the program. The program will emphasize three interrelated areas that form a framework for studying the complexities of sustainable societies: water, energy and food.
U Strathclyde Opens Center for Sustainable Development
(U.K.) The new Center for Sustainable Development aims to prioritize education and awareness of sustainable development, apply and build expertise and research capacity in sustainability, grow international partnerships, and contribute to and benefit from knowledge sharing and thought leadership.
Lincoln U Receives $400K for Sustainability Curriculum
A team of university researchers from computer science, psychology and human services, and biology has received a three-year, $400,000 National Science Foundation grant allocated for an interdisciplinary sustainability studies project. The project, Lincoln University Food Intersectional Education Linked to Diversify Sustainability (LU-FIELDS), seeks to foster science thinking from a historically Black educational perspective. Outcomes include a new sustainability minor, a certificate course in sustainable food systems, student research projects in sustainable garden and food practices, and Black food sovereignty community leadership and mentoring.
Loyola U Chicago Announces School of Environmental Sustainability
The university's board of trustees recently announced the elevation of the Institute of Environmental Sustainability to the School of Environmental Sustainability, creating Loyola’s 11th school. In an effort to amplify cross-school interdisciplinary collaborations and research, there will be four new interdisciplinary areas of study introduced: the departments of energy and sustainability science, sustainable and equitable societies, sustainable economics and governance, and environmental toxicology and health equity.
NC A&T Receives $1.6M to Promote Inclusiveness in Agriculture
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has awarded a $1.6-million grant to help implement the Center of Excellence to Motivate and Educate for Achievement based at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. The center aims to encourage and support young people from underrepresented minority groups to pursue studies and careers in food, agriculture and natural resources.
Tulane U Launches Renewable Energy Degree Program
The university's business school launched a new program in renewable and sustainable energy, a specialization within the master of management in energy program. The new degree program will focus on the knowledge and skills needed to bring renewable energy projects from concept to completion.
Dumfries Galloway College Launches Sustainable Energy Hub
(U.K.) Called the Green Energy Hub, the new initiative aims to provide practical solutions to the challenges of heating, power and water supply faced by the college as well as creating a valuable teaching tool for students. Technologies of the hub will include a wind turbine, heat pumps, solar arrays, battery storage and electric vehicle charging points.
U Oregon Launches Black Studies Minor
The university's College of Arts and Sciences is offering the Black studies minor beginning in fall of 2020. It will serve at the academic home of its Umoja Residential Community, which takes its name from the Swahili word for unity.
William & Mary Establishes Social Justice Policy Initiative
Starting this fall, the new Social Justice Policy Initiative in the sociology department is a faculty-student collaborative project to engage in policy-oriented and community-based research and advocacy. The initiative aims to bring sociological and interdisciplinary research to community-based and advocacy organizations and policy-makers at local, state, national and global levels. The initial projects are affordable housing, educational equity, eviction crisis, racial and partisan gerrymandering, food justice, and local black histories.
