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Projects Updates for Education iCAP Team Recommendations Summary

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  1. Careers in Sustainability Panel Discussion 4/9/21

    The Career Center hosted a Careers in Sustainability panel which included the following panelists: Roxina Kanchwala (Eco.Logic), John Sinclair (Wisconsin DNR), Andrew Rehn (Prairie Rivers Network), and Savannah Donovan (Urbana Parks District). 57 people were in attendance! Several resources were shared to the group: 

    https://climateinterpreter.org/about/projects/nnocci

    https://skepticalscience.com/ 

    https://www.cleanenergyleaders.org/

    https://grist.org/energy/greentrolling-a-maniacal-plan-to-bring-down-big-oil/

    https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/

    The recording is found here: https://uofi.app.box.com/s/m73kwaloh46tr9pphhwgqm4treblvku0 

  2. Sustainability Career Panel 4/9/21

    Interested in careers in sustainability? Join us to hear a panel discussion from industry professionals and learn how the field is changing and how to pursue sustainable careers.

    Panelists will include representatives from:

    Eco Logic
    Prairie Rivers Network
    Urbana Park District
    Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

    Please register at:
    https://go.illinois.edu/SustainabilityCareersPanel

  3. Resilience iCAP Team Meeting Minutes from 3-02-21

    The Resilience iCAP Team met on March 2nd, 2021 with Vision Zero representative Stacey DeLorenzo to discuss how can the team can help accomplish zero fatalities from transportation in our communities. Updates were given on the Environmental Justice and Urban Biodiversity Plans, as well our ongoing collaboration with the Education Team to develop a sustainable communities paid internship program. The team also brainstormed ideas for how to move forward with identifying major local sustainability issues.

    Meeting minutes, agenda, and chat log are attached!

     

  4. Education SWATeam Meeting Minutes 2/8/2021

    Meeting minutes from the February 8th Education SWATeam meeting. 

    At this meeting, the team met with members of the Illinois Student Government to discuss their proposal to the Educational Policy Committee on developing a General Education Requirement in Sustainability. This has been an ongoing goal that builds off of iCAP 2020 Education objectives. 

  5. Invitation to Join Discussion re: Edu002 Internship Coordinator

    Hello Education and Resilience teams,

    It was great to see many of you at the “Sustainability team open house”. We will plan another event next month so we can continue to connect and get to know each other! I am reaching out to revisit a recommendation submitted last spring by the Education team: Edu002 Internship Coordinator. When the iWG deliberated the next steps of this recommendation, it was discussed that there could be value in collaboratively discussing this idea to hear the perspectives from both the Education and Resilience teams.  

    I am writing to ask if you are interested in joining this discussion, please complete this Doodle Poll by 2/2. A summary of the recommendation is below and the full recommendation template is linked on the iCAP Portal:

    The Education team recommends developing a sustainable communities paid internship program in partnership with local businesses, non-profits, local government agencies, community-based agencies and cultural institutions in Central Illinois. 

    The internship program will be designed to build organizational capacity in the Champaign-Urbana / Central Illinois with regard to sustainability and resilience efforts to advance sustainable development and/or climate action goals. This program aims to allow students the flexibility to devise an internship experience that aligns with their specific interests within sustainability. Collaborations between the University and Champaign-Urbana community can be taken advantage of as projects where internships can be generated.

    The student interns will be involved in sustainability and community resilience efforts with directed emphasis toward sustainable development goals. Interns will gain real-world, project-based, and pre-professional experience in a workplace setting anywhere from 3 months (summer intern) to 1 year. 

    The intern program will also be tasked to provide leadership training as a foundation for real-world, project-based, and pre-professional experiences. Existing campus resources such as leadership development training modules available through Student Union programming should be utilized.

    I hope many of you are interested and willing to join the discussion! Thank you and please let me know if you have any questions.

    Meredith

  6. Edu001 Environmental Leadership Program - Successful

    Dr. Evan DeLucia, Director of iSEE, responded to Meredith Moore with the following email: 

    ---

    Good morning, Meredith

    I’ve had a chance to review the iWG recommendations and discuss them with iSEE leadership. Both recommendations, the Environmental Leadership Program and Student Sustainability Ambassadors are creative, will provide students with new opportunities to engage in sustainability learning, and will have a positive impact on our iCAP goals.

    The iWG should be aware that we are launching test modules as part of the leadership program this fall semester. iSEE has hired a coordinator to develop several learning modules, likely full day programs, on topics such as ‘environmental communications’ and ‘effective interviewing strategies’. We will use these modules to recruit faculty into the program, build partnerships, evaluate financial expenses, and evaluate student interest. If all goes well, these modules will serve as the components of full program. Once we have a better sense of the curriculum, we can also initiate fund raising activities.

    The ambassadors program has real promise to advance campus’ iCAP goals and to more fully engage students in sustainability activities. That said, iSEE is not prepared to launch this program at this time. Not for lack of merit, but rather for lack of bandwidth. To properly launch the leadership program mentioned above is a significant undertaking and we want to make sure we do it well. While iSEE is not prepared to launch this program at this time, we will take an initial step to explore its viability by discussing the proposed course offering with NRES.

    Please extend my thanks to the iWG and the SWATeams for their dedication to making Illinois more sustainable.

    ---

    See transmittal of Edu001 Environmental Leadership Program to iSEE here.

    See iWG assessment of Edu001 Environmental Leadership Program here.

    See SWATeam recommendation and submittal of Edu001 Environmental Leadership Program here. 

     

    For future updates, please refer to the Environmental Leadership Program (ELP) project.

  7. Edu005 Sustainable Scholars Program - Returned

    The Edu005 Sustainable Scholars Program recommendation was returned to the Education SWATeam on 6/9/2020. 

    Morgan White writes, "Thank you for submitting the attached Edu005: Sustainability Scholars Program recommendation to the iCAP Working Group! The iWG agrees that, conceptually, this is a good proposal, and we are appreciative of the time and effort of the team to develop this recommendation. A few questions arose out of the iWG meeting on April 27, and we would like them addressed in order to fully evaluate this recommendation.

    • How does the proposed Sustainability Scholars Program compare to the existing James Scholar Program?
    • What are the requirements to participate in the program? Who would qualify?
    • Who do you suggest would implement and oversee the program?

    Providing additional information to supplement this recommendation will help clarify details necessary for future discussions for implementation. Thank you for your effort!"

     

    See the submittal of the Edu005 Sustainable Scholars Program. The original recommendation is attached. 

  8. Edu001 Environmental Leadership Program - Transmitted

    Following the completion of the iWG assessment for Edu001 Environmental Leadership Program, the recommendation was transmitted to Evan DeLucia, Director of iSEE, on June 9, 2020.

    See iWG assessment Edu001 Environmental Leadership Program attached. 
    See SWATeam recommendation Edu001 Environmental Leadership Program

    Attached Files: 
  9. Edu003 Sustainability Career Fair - Transmitted

    Following the completion of iWG assessment for Edu003 Sustainability Career Fair, the recommendation was transmitted to Jennifer Neef, Director of the Career Center on June 3, 2020. 

     

    See iWG assessment of Edu003 Sustainability Career Fair attached. 

    See SWATeam recommendation Edu003 Sustainability Career Fair.

     

    Attached Files: 
  10. Edu005 Sustainable Scholars Program - Submitted

    The Education SWATeam made the following recommendation on 4/2/2020: 

    Develop a Sustainable Scholars Program (SSP), on the model of the existing popular and prestigious James Scholar program. Student recipients would enter the program as freshmen, choose a pathway of sustainability-themed courses across campus comparable to a minor, be eligible for priority registration times, and undertake extra honors-level assignments in these courses mentored by their professors-instructors. Oversight of the program to be provided by the Associate Director for Education at iSEE.

    Attached is the SWATeam recommendation Edu005 Sustainable Scholars Program with comments from the Education SWATeam.

  11. Edu004 Sustainability Unit in ENG100 - Submitted

    The Education SWATeam made the following recommendation on 4/2/2020: 

    Establish a sustainability unit for piloting through ENG100, which provides freshmen with initial exposure to the relationship between sustainability actions and their own course of study. Unit will consist of one week of lesson plans, taught by course undergraduate teaching assistants, including a variety of learning activities and discussions. iSEE will offer training to undergraduate teaching assistants through a short workshop on sustainability, and lesson plans/learning objectives will be developed by iSEE faculty to ensure appropriateness of material. After the pilot period, freshman sustainability units could be extended to additional colleges for incorporation into their own freshman programming.

    Attached is the SWATeam recommendation Edu004 Sustainability Unit in ENG100 with comments from the Education SWATeam.

  12. Edu003 Sustainability Career Fair - Submitted

    The Education SWATeam made the following recommendation on 4/2/2020: 

    The Sustainability Career Fair working group has the following tiered recommendations, which would grow the general program over three years, with event implementation beginning in the Spring of FY21:

    • Year 1: The Career Center would coordinate with various University colleges’ career fairs in Spring of FY21 to create an integrated Sustainability identity within existing career fairs. Initially, this would primarily target Environmental Sciences and Sustainability majors and minors, but eventually would include a broader base of colleges as we build awareness. In order to quantify the need for developing a Sustainability career fair, we recommend creating assessments in the Fall of FY21. These would determine the job market demand for Sustainability professionals along with establishing desired credentials for job applicants. A second assessment would target students with a Sustainability career focus to better understand their career goals and desired career path (government policy work at the local and State, and Federal level, applied science and coordination work within government, Not-For-Profits, corporations, start-ups, or higher education).
    • Year 2: The Career Center would continue promoting and coordinating a consistent Sustainability identity within individual colleges’ career fairs while adding a modest career fair of interested companies and partners in conjunction with the Fall 2021 ISEE Congress. We recommend starting one paid internship through the Career Center, partnering with ISEE, the LAS Life + Career Design Lab and ACES Career Services to help organize and promote the event. Other student volunteers would assist with planning and day-of event management.
    • Year 3: Grow the Sustainability Career Fair program to include the Year 1 and Year 2 events, and adding a larger stand-alone, comprehensive Campus-wide Sustainability Career Fair in February 2023, involving multiple University colleges (ACES, LAS, Grainger, Gies, FAA, etc.).

    Attached is the SWATeam recommendation Edu003 Sustainability Career Fair with comments from the Education SWATeam.

  13. Edu002 Internship Coordinator - Submitted

    The Education SWATeam made the following recommendation on 4/2/2020: 

    The Education SWATeam recommends developing a sustainable communities paid internship program in partnership with local businesses, non-profits, local government agencies, community-based agencies and cultural institutions in Central Illinois. 

     

    The internship program will be designed to build organizational capacity in the Champaign-Urbana / Central Illinois with regard to sustainability and resilience efforts to advance sustainable development and/or climate action goals. This program aims to allow students the flexibility to devise an internship experience that aligns with their specific interests within sustainability. Collaborations between the University and Champaign-Urbana community can be taken advantage of as projects where internships can be generated.

     

    The student interns will be involved in sustainability and community resilience efforts with directed emphasis toward sustainable development goals. Interns will gain real-world, project-based, and pre-professional experience in a workplace setting anywhere from 3 months (summer intern) to 1 year. 

     

    The intern program will also be tasked to provide leadership training as a foundation for real-world, project-based, and pre-professional experiences. Existing campus resources such as leadership development training modules available through Student Union programming should be utilized.

    Attached is the SWATeam recommendation Edu002 Internship Coordinator with comments from the Education SWATeam.

  14. Edu001 Environmental Leadership Program - Submitted

    The Education SWATeam made the following recommendation on 4/2/2020: 

    Develop an Environmental Leadership Program (ELP), for undergraduates and Masters’ students. ELP will comprise two week-long intensives, one in Fall and a Washington DC trip during Spring Break, exposing students to environmental governance at local, state, and federal tiers. Also includes pre-professional training, and speaker seminars during the academic year.

    Attached is the SWATeam recommendation Edu001 Environmental Leadership Program with comments from the Eductation SWATeam.

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