How To Think About New And
Transitioning Environmental Programs
Alan Elzerman
(awlzrmn@clemson.edu)
Professor, Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
Director, Sustainable Universities Initiative, Clemson University
Member, Executive Committee, Council of Environmental Deans and
Directors
Stephanie Pfirman
(stephanie.pfirman.barnard@gmail.com)
Hirschorn Professor and Chair, Environmental Science, Barnard College
President, Council of Environmental Deans and Directors (2008-2009)
WEBINAR - May 21, 2009
GOALS
1. Help those starting or making revisions to
programs. Why is it so complicated?
2. Provide introduction to helpful information
available from CEDD and its members.
3. Help identify issues and success factors for
environmental and sustainability programs.
4. Focus on critical decisions.
5. Promote learning from interaction among
participants.
Caveats
• Important to recognize there is no prescription
(Stephanie and Alan are here to lead a
discussion.)
• Each school has its own history and local factors
that must be accounted for to gain success.
• We can find useful points to share and
discussions can stimulate insights and
improvements.
Who Is Here?
(briefly, please!)
• Name, program name (if existing), school and
your type of involvement (e.g.- faculty member,
department chair, head of a committee)
• New program, major revision or…?
• Why have you joined us today? What do you
hope to accomplish?
• Answers:
– Revise and update
– Create value added
What Good is Your Program?
• Why do you think your program should exist?
• What will be accomplished that otherwise
would not happen?
• And, other questions you will get…….
• Answers:
– What good is env studies vs. env science
– Develop ID competence
– Competence in solving complex problems
Focused Discussion - 1
• What is the biggest issue for you, or what do
you see as the biggest hurdle for your program?
• Answers:
– Team teaching credit
– Involving specialists from other depts
– Challenge where to put your time, where you
fit especially when programs cross schools
Role Play
• Pretend you are the Dean you report to for this activity
(or Provost, or whoever it is).
• You, as Dean, want to promote the environmental
program and see it grow and be successful.
• What do you, as Dean, say to the person in your
position, who is responsible for the program, to
encourage and enable them and/or provide them with
what they need?
(Yes, this is wishful thinking. Possibility---think of what one thing do
you wish that person would say to you?)
Answers:
We’ll support you and will recognize what you do
Focused Discussion - 2
•
•
•
•
The importance of the student experience
Identification of educational outcomes
These are the keys!
How do you assess and improve the student experience and
educational outcomes?
• Answers:
– How to start this conversation among faculty? To get their buy
in to this? Some get it and others don’t
– Establish hierarchy of outcomes from mission down to specific
endeavors
– Having a capstone experience that’s an immersion really helps
to drive everything back – see what students could accomplish
and what they couldn’t really motivated the faculty to
strengthen elements in their lower level classes -- a group took
the time to review this and present it to the others
Critical Issue
Realistically considering faculty participation
(who, doing what, why, how, to what end,
with what compensation and rewards, and
with what evaluation procedures?)
Focused Discussion - 3
• Instructors for courses:
– How do you attract them?
– Which departments?
– How do you pay them?
– How do you reward them in other ways?
– How do you get them to interact with
students?
– How do they participate in course and
curriculum development and program
administration?
Focused Discussion - 4
• The importance of a feeling of “community” for the
faculty, students and staff— attention to affective
and cognitive factors
– Seminars
– Team teaching (perhaps as an initial investment)
– Group meetings
– Residential arrangements
– Social events (game night, spaghetti dinner, barbeque)
– Field trips
– Participation in curriculum, program decisions
– Inclusiveness
– Fair evaluations, tenure and promotion
Additional ideas:
Learning communities? Taking an intro bio course and doing a
learning community between bio and math – but time consuming
Stidemtogether as 1st years and then don’t see each other again until
they’re seniors
Focused Discussion - 5
• Alternative administrative structures
Ideas:
Department
Majors
Minors
Concentrations
Programs of study
Focused Discussion - 6
• Curricula Issues
• Oh my!
Answers:
Not straight engineering
Not straight agriculture
Disciplinary origins needed plus the breadth of other
experience for employers, graduate school
Program of study/minor/certificate plus major? =
allows development of expertise/acknowledgement
that student experienced coherent body of
knowledge, faculty across departments have to come
together to agree on what would make sense … issues
of double-counting
Focused Discussion - 7
What might CEDD do for you?
1. Documents on a website?
2. A list serve, blog or something for interpersonal
exchanges?
3. Periodic conference calls with resource people and
others who are looking for tips?
4. A program to connect with a "mentor/buddy"
from an established program?
5. People who would be willing to make campus
consulting visits?
6. All of the above? None of the above? Something
else?
Wrap-Up
• What would success look like?
Answers:
If we are successful -Increase number of students in program
Students placed well in grad schools/careers
Quality of env management and decision-making would be more science-based and
holistic
• What do you see as “take-home messages” from today?
Answers:
Good to know it’s not an easy process
Other people have similar issues and are tackling similar problems
Good to hear what is in the planning stages at other places, helps frame what they
do at their own institution
Nice to have ppt as background
Good to have links to CEDD resources
Webex worked well, and questions worked well too