On 3/16/2024, the Edu009 Updating College of Business Course Descriptions was transmitted to Dean Jeff Brown at Gies College of email with the following email. The iWG assessment is attached.

Dear Dean Brown,

The Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) Working Group (iWG) recently approved recommendation Edu009 from the Education iCAP Team to update College of Business course descriptions to reflect the sustainability content. This recommendation aligns with Objective 6.2 of the iCAP 2020: Establish a comprehensive online repository for courses and academic programs with sustainability content. Additional details can be found in the attached assessment.

The Formal iCAP Procedures include a section on campus unit responsibilities upon receipt of a recommendation, and we respectfully request your response to this recommendation by March 29th. If you have any questions regarding this recommendation, please let me know. 

Sincerely,

Jennifer Fraterrigo

See the Edu009 Updating College of Business Course Descriptions recommendation here.

Following is the response from the department:

Dr. Fraterrigo and Ms. White,

Thank you for sharing the recommendation from the Education iCAP Team regarding the incorporation of sustainability learning in study abroad programs campus-wide.  We will share the recommendation with the IACSC and plan for a fuller discussion with that group at our May meeting. As soon as the May meeting is scheduled, we’ll confirm a timeline for a formal response.

We’re happy to discuss further if pushing the response later in May presents an issue.Thank you,

Kristi and Luis

Another follow-up response was sent by Kristi Kuntz on 2/29/2024:

Jennifer,

After some back and forth on our end, I think we have discovered that our follow-up message did not make back to iCAP.  Following our meeting last May, we intended to share the following:

Regarding Edu008 Sustainability in Study Abroad, the IACSC has asked the Environmental Sustainability Working Group to expand its membership and identify appropriate representation from each of the colleges. The working group charge will be revised to emphasize the formal recommendation and focus on developing a set of best practices and offering policy recommendations to address the climate-related impacts associated with study abroad. Regular reports to iCAP will be encouraged.

Update since May 2024: the working groups are set to deliver year-end reports to the full IACSC in May.

I apologize for the delay. Please let us know if additional information is needed.

Thanks,

Kristi

See the iWG assessment of the Education008 Accounting for Sustainability in Study Abroad recommendation.

For future updates, please refer to the Sustainability in Study Abroad project

Education iCAP Team had its virtual April meeting on Monday, April 3rd, at 4 PM. Anna Mehl gave updates on Sustainability Economic Analysis project and talked about possible next steps. Afterward, the team discussed sustainability workshop recommendation idea, brainstorming aspects of a potential sustainability workshop/training for incoming students. Meeting minutes are attached. 

The Education iCAP Team had its virtual March meeting on Monday, February 27th, at 4 PM. The team discussed potential capstone classes for the Sustainability Economic Analysis Recommendation of Resilience iCAP Team and new recommendation ideas. Meeting minutes are attached. 

Education iCAP Team had its first virtual meeting of the semester on Friday, January 20th, at 3 PM. The team has a new student member: Sydney Wei. Eric Green gave updates on his meeting with the BUS 101 course instructor Aimee Barbeau about implementing sustainability in Business classes. Afterward, after briefly explaining the iWG approved Sustainability in Study Abroad Recommendation to Sydney, the team discussed its goals and recommendation ideas for Spring 2023. 

For this semester, the new chair of the team will be Eric Green and the vice chair will be Sydney Wei. 

Meeting minutes are attached.

The Education iCAP Team submitted the Edu008 Sustainability in Study Abroad recommendation to the iWG on 12/6/22. The recommendation (attached) states:

The Illinois Abroad Council Steering Committee (IACSC) with the Environmental Sustainability and Study Abroad Working Group will charge the Directors of each college’s study abroad program with assigning a member to this study abroad sustainability working group. Further, each Director should be charged to meet with the  Environmental Sustainability and Study Abroad Working Group once per semester, at minimum. Through involvement in this working group, these representatives will gain the background needed to develop a collaborative effort to address climate-related impacts associated with study abroad. This would elicit a set of best practices and policy for all college-based international programs office in the areas of program orientation, re-entry programming, program policies regarding travel, community engagement, short term faculty led programming, environmental awareness and education. Continued support from iSEE and ongoing consultation with iSEE will be appreciated. As the program evolves, public updates on the iCAP portal will be of benefit to all stakeholders.

Education iCAP Team had its online October meeting on Monday, October 10th, from 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM. The team worked on the Campus Sustainability Celebration slides, discussed a potential action idea on listing courses that focus on other aspects of sustainability than environment, and talked about inviting people from various departments to discuss Sustainability in Study Abroad Recommendation. Meeting minutes are attached. 

The Education iCAP team had a virtual meeting from 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM on Friday, September 23rd, to talk about two returned recommendations.

EDU_006 Sustainability in Study Abroad Recommendation: The Education team decided to move on with this recommendation by broadening it on implementing sustainability across all study abroad curriculum. The team will discuss this further at its upcoming October meeting on 10/03 and draft a new recommendation that will build off the original one. 

EDU_005 Sustainable Scholars Program Recommendation: The Education team decided to postpone this recommendation and not consider it for now due to not having enough necessary information defined. The team also thinks that it is too early for this recommendation due to the lack of general sustainability education on campus. The team will get final thoughts about this recommendation from all team members at the October meeting. 

Meeting minutes are attached. 

The Education iCAP team had a hybrid meeting from 5:00 P.M. - 6:00 PM on Monday, August 29th. The team reviewed the Education iCAP objectives, shared project updates, and brainstormed new action ideas for this semester. Meeting minutes are attached.