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Sustainability Funding Opportunities

The UL Lafayette Sustainability Faculty Fellows program aims to build a community of faculty and researchers dedicated to exploring issues of sustainability from the local to global scale, service-learning and community building, and multidisciplinary problem solving.

Sustainability issues are interconnected through social, economic, and environmental systems, and include climate change, urban planning and architectural design, materials management, food systems, economic development, ecological systems, environmental justice, public health and wellness, land use, energy, water, and human rights.

The program is designed to support faculty in developing new sustainability course offerings, and/or redeveloping existing courses to include sustainability principles. Faculty will be awarded a $1,000 stipend for the submission of a new or updated syllabus that includes principles of sustainable development.

Dr. Peggy Barlett, the leader of Emory University’s Piedmont Project, will lead the two-day December Fellows Institute. The Piedmont Project has become a national model of curriculum development, providing an interactive workshop and a community for intellectual dialogue around the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of sustainability in both local and global arenas.

 

This initiative supports the vision and goals of the University’s Sustainability Strategic Plan.

  1. Living Lab Goal: To utilize campus grounds, facilities, and operational systems for transdisciplinary project-based learning, applied research, and hands-on partnerships to prepare tomorrow’s leaders and develop innovative solutions to sustainability challenges.
  2. Operations Goal: Cultivate a healthier, more resilient campus community and mitigate our negative environmental impacts affecting current and future generations by fully institutionalizing sustainability principles and best practices into all areas of university operations and development.
  3. Academics and Research Goal: Educate, inspire, and foster students’ development into change agents who are informed and capable of implementing thoughtful, effective solutions to the environmental, social, and economic challenges we face at the local, national, and global scales.
  4. Engagement Goal: Lead discussions and initiatives that will increase awareness, foster positive lifestyle changes, and inspire active involvement from the entire University community.

Program Topics:

  • Definitions of sustainability and the UN Sustainable Development Goals 
  • The University’s “Campus as a Living Lab” initiative
  • Systems thinking and interdisciplinary teaching
  • Exploring sustainability through the lens of equity, diversity, and social justice
  • Course design frameworks and strategies
  • Integration of service learning and experiential learning into sustainability education

Program Structure:

  • Individual readings
  • 2-day Fellows Institute led by Dr. Peggy Barlett of Emory University
  • 2-3 Fellows luncheons
  • Courageous Conversations session
  • Half day community fieldtrip
  • Individual time to develop or redesign a course to integrate concepts of sustainability and present their results to their peers at the end of year
  • Submit finalized syllabus and receive stipend

Important Dates

  • September 16th - October 18th - (Application Period)
  • November 15th - (Fellows Luncheon)
  • December 17th, & 18th  - (Fellows Institute, UL Lafayette Campus)
  • Dates TBA - (Fellows Luncheons)
  • Dates TBA - (Courageous Conversations Session)

The program is supported by:

Office of the President

Office of Sustainability

Coordinating Committee:

  • Robert McKinney, Ed.D, Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs, Architect, Professor
  • David Yarbrough, Ph.D., Dean of Community Service, Internal Review Board Chair, Professor of Child and Family Studies,
  • Michael McClure, Interim Dean, College of the Arts, President’s Council on Sustainability Curricular Development Co-Chair, Professor, School of Architecture and Design
  • Gretchen Vanicor, President’s Council on Sustainability Chair
  • Terrence L. Chambers, Ph.D., P.E., Director, Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Energy Center, Donald & Janice Mosing BORSF Endowed Chair in Mechanical Engineering
  • Liz Skilton, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of History, J.J. Burdin M.D. and Helen B. Burdin/BORSF Endowed Professor in Louisiana Studies, Research Fellow at the
  • Gretchen LaCombe Vanicor, Director of Sustainability and Campus as a Living Lab

 

If you have questions regarding the application process, contact Gretchen Vanicor @ gretchen.vanicor@louisiana.edu.