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SUSTAINABLITY LITERACY INSTITUTE GRADUATE SUSTAINABILITY SCHOLARS PROGRAM
Student & Faculty Manual
Introduction
The Sustainability Literacy Scholars Program (SLSP) exemplifies the College’s commitment to sustainability literacy and its belief in the enhancement of student learning through education, expression, and empowerment.
Sustainability is defined as the integration of social, economic, and environmental systems in ways that allow for individual, institutional, community, regional, and planetary resilience. To be sustainability literate one has the knowledge and skills to advocate for resilient social, economic, and environmental systems.
Guided by a paradigm of resilience and building upon a holistic foundation of environmental, economic, and social sustainability literacy, the SLSP will help prepare students to be forceful advocates for, and innovative future leaders towards, a sustainable existence.
The goal of the SLSP is to equip students and their respective staff/community/faculty mentors with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to promote sustainability literacy in all forms. This will be accomplished by:
increasing sustainability literacy through coursework, volunteer experiences, and leadership events
engaging in real-world sustainability literacy focused experience cultivating leadership skills, as well as critical and creative thinking building systems thinking competencies and the understanding of how these relate to
resiliency inspiring commitment and involvement in the College of Charleston becoming a
sustainability literate community.
Upon successful completion of the SLSP, students will possess the ability to take sustainability literacy forward in their personal and professional lives, as well as future communities of habitation.
Graduate Requirements for the Sustainability Literacy Scholars Program Students must apply for the SLSP prior to completing 50% of their respective Graduate Program. In order to apply, students must meet the requirements outlined below and fill out an application form (link needed).
Complete at least one course with either a Sustainability Focused (SF) or Sustainability Related (SR) Student Learning Outcome (SLO). (The SLO may be a preexisting one already within the course, which must be approved by the SLI Student Engagement Fellow or Director according to the triple bottom line sustainability definition.)
Attend one or more campus events or campus organization-sponsored community service projects with a sustainability-related theme. These could include events/projects organized by the SLI, Career Center, graduate student clubs, 3MT® Competition, etc., as approved by the Student Engagement Fellow or SLI Director.
Demonstration of triple bottom line comprehension and its application in relation to the student’s degree program either within:
o An artifact designed by a student’s respective graduate program that can be evaluated to ascertain that the student understands sustainability in relation to their program of study that synthesizes their curricular and co-curricular experiences, or
o In the event a graduate program does not have a specifically designed artifact, the respective degree program’s terminating research experience integrated with the triple bottom line sustainability theme as a topic, or
o A second class with either a Sustainability Focused (SF) or Sustainability Related (SR) Student Learning Outcome (SLO).
o a 12-page research-based essay that demonstrates that the student understands sustainability in relation to their program of study, and synthesizes their curricular and co-curricular experiences.
Students are also encouraged upon completion of being a Scholar that they present to the SLI Director and SLI Student Engagement Fellow a self-authored cover letter that explains their sustainability literacy skills and knowledge and how these make the student a value-added asset to future employers. The Director and Outreach Fellow will provide constructive feedback on this wording. It is understood that the feedback will help to make the student a more competitive candidate for the job market or further studies.
SF/SR courses can be found at http://sustain.cofc.edu/courses-and-projects/index.php or in Appendix II.
Application Instructions
Students will be required to apply to the SLSP via the online application at www.sustain.cofc.edu
Any work submitted in order to apply to the SLS program should be kept in a digital file and saved as a word text document. Once accepted into the program, students will be asked to
upload their application essay responses to their sustainability portfolio. This process will be covered during an entry consultation with the SLSP director.
Students should complete the below entrance essay and provide answers to SLI Student Engagement Fellow Dr. Barry Stiefel at [email protected]. It is important to note that there are no “right” or “wrong” answers to the below questions. It is preferred that students do not undertake any research for answering the prompts; rather, the questions are aimed to be answered to the best of the student’s ability based on current level of knowledge.
The essay answer should be typed using 12 pt. font, Times New Roman, and should be double spaced with a completed edit and spell check. Note that there is no word limit for answering this essay.
SLSP Application .
__________________________ __________________________ ___________________ Student Name Email Student ID # __________________________ __________________________ ___________________ Student’s Degree Program Student Concentration Expected Graduation
(if applicable) Date
Application Essay. You can systematically address these as stand-alone questions, or weave them into an overall narrative, although a coherent opening paragraph and closing paragraph should be provided regardless of how you choose to answer the question prompts.
1) Why are you interested in becoming a sustainability literacy scholar?
2) How will being a scholar impact your career at the College, and your post-graduation plans?
3) Briefly describe what the term “sustainability” means to you.
4) Briefly describe what the term “resiliency” means to you.
5) Briefly describe what “systems thinking” means to you.
6) What is the “triple bottom line?”
7) Do you think interdisciplinary knowledge is important? Why or why not?
Sustainability Literacy Scholars Portfolio
The purpose of this document is to help accepted students understand, track, and assess their portfolio of work as a student in the sustainability literacy scholar program (SLSP) at the College of Charleston. It is considered a living document and its content should be updated as needed and appropriate.
Student’s digital portfolio is created via google docs through student’s CofC email. Students are to then work with their mentor through shared access to finalize portfolios before official submission. They are to organize it with the aid of the Student Engagement Fellow and their mentor.
Students must read through this document carefully, and each student is responsible for keeping an electronic copy of it on permanent record. It is the studentsstudent’s responsibility to understand requirements for and to track completion of the SLSP items needed to be completed in order to be considered a Sustainability Literacy Scholar. Further details can be found at sustain.cofc.edu.Any questions about this document can be addressed at any time to the Sustainability Literacy Institute (SLI) director, Dr. Todd LeVasseur ([email protected]) and also to the SLI Student Engagement Fellow, Dr. Barry Stiefel ([email protected])
Documentation of Requirements :
COURSE REQUIREMENT.. Record SF/SR course(s) below. Scholars must complete at least one Sustainability Focused or Sustainability Related course prior to graduation.
Course Number Course Name Fall / Spring Year Number of
Credits
FA / SP
FA / SP
FA / SP
SUSTAINABILITY FOCUSED CAMPUS EVENTS OR CAMPUS ORGANIZATION-SPONSORED COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECTS. Record attendance of one or more sustainability literacy-focused events.
Event Name Event Date Event Location
Rewards
Upon completion of the Sustainability Literacy GradauteGraduate Scholars Program students will receive honorable recognitions at graduation. Connected to the award will be the creation of a website to allow scholars to appear in web searches regarding the Scholars Program as well as a Certificate of Completion and pin for graduates of the program.
The goal of the SLSP is to prepare students with the knowledge and skills to be leaders in addressing 21st-century problems, cognizant of the triple bottom line, as well as advocates for sustainability in both their personal and professional lives.
Sustainability is an emerging concept in all aspects of business and professional work. Employers recognize the value of sustainability literacy because companies have been recognizing that addressing complex, systemic problems is necessary for maintaining competitiveness. PricewaterhouseCoopers’ latest Global CEO survey found that 76% of CEOs agree that in the 21st-century, success can only be achieved by seeking more than just profits, that is, companies need to create social and/ or environmental benefits as well (PwC 2016). According to a recent KPMG study, nearly three out of four of the largest 100 companies in 45
countries (4,500 companies) and more than nine in ten of the 250 largest companies across the globe report their sustainability performance (KPMG 2015). Among the Fortune 500 companies, 89% report sustainability performance (GreenBiz.com 2016).
More generally the U.N. International Labor Organization concluded that a greener economy, in which countries “can achieve economic benefits (in particular employment gains) and environmental improvements at the same time” (ILO 2013), could lead to a net gain of up to 60 million jobs worldwide.
So whereas in previous advancements, such as switching from paper to electronic documents (which required knowledge of basic office programs) or moving customer engagement to social media (which required basic knowledge of social media), both of which were skills students excelled at upon graduation, sustainability literacy is not something most graduates have when they enter the job market. Students completing the Sustainability Literacy Graduate Scholars Program will be equipped with skills that will appeal in the emerging world of sustainability.
About the Sustainaility Sustainability Literacy Institute (SLI)
The College of Charleston’s current Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), “Sustainability Literacy as a Bridge to Addressing 21st-Century Problems”, began implementation in academic year 2017-18 and is housed in the Sustainability Literacy Institute (SLI). This QEP adds to the storied history of the College of Charleston and recognizes that addressing 21st-century problems will require the cultivation of sustainability literacy in CofC students. To do so, this QEP uses sustainability literacy as a systems framework for conceptualizing and cultivating problem-solving skills in students.
Sustainability literacy is having the knowledge and skills to advocate for resilient social, economic and environmental systems. The key to sustainability literacy is what is called the “Triple Bottom Line” (TBL) of sustainability, where 21st-century problems are understood as social (for example, institutional racism, sexism, LGBTQ + rights), economic (increasing debt, wage disparity between men and women, poverty) and environmental (climate change, sea level rise, biodiversity loss). A majority of 21st-century problems cannot be solved within a single domain of the TBL, nor are they mutually exclusive. That is, they are often a combination of social, economic and/or environmental issues, making them complex problems. Skills such as critical thinking, synthesis, analytical reasoning and problem solving are central in teaching students to address sustainability literacy problems.
The College recognizes that many of its students are currently deficient in these sustainability literacy competency areas. Thus, by pursuing this QEP, the College is focusing on providing students the opportunity to gain the skills and knowledge to become citizens who advocate for solving 21st-century problems.
Appendix I
Glossary
Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP): The College’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) is sustainability literacy as a bridge to addressing 21st-century problems. The College is a member of SACSCOC, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. This is a regional body that accredits degree-granting colleges and universities in the southern states. In order to gain accreditation from SACSCOC (a process that the College must undergo every 10 years), there are certain requirements. Among those is the need to generate an enhanced learning project that impacts all enrolled students in some way.
The enhanced learning project, or QEP, is customarily presented by way of a 100-page document that will be evaluated by representatives from SACSOC during an on-site visit. (The College’s previous QEP was the First Year Experience.) The next QEP topic, sustainability literacy as a bridge to addressing 21st-century problems, is scheduled to officially begin in fall 2017.
Sustainability: The integration of social, economic and environmental systems in ways that allow for individual, institutional, community, regional and planetary resilience.
Sustainability Literacy: having the knowledge and skills to advocate for resilient social, economic and environmental systems.
Triple Bottom Line (TBL): A framework for conceiving of sustainability by analyzing the systemic links between the three core domains of human life: social, environmental and economic. (The TBL dimensions are also commonly called the three Ps: people, planet and profit/prosperity.)
Every activity that humans undertake, whether that’s generating electrical power, growing food, or taking a trip, has costs associated with it. We are most accustomed to understanding the financial costs, but there social and environmental costs involved in everything we do as well.
For example, if a country or state decides to build a dam, there will be financial costs, but there will also be costs to anyone who is displaced by the dam and its future reservoir (a social cost) as well as costs to the ecosystems affected by that reservoir (an environmental cost).
When we acknowledge the non-financial impacts (often called “external costs”) and place equal emphasis on their importance, then we demonstrate awareness of the Triple Bottom Line, and consequently sustainability literacy.
It’s helpful to know that over two thirds of global Fortune 500 companies publish sustainability reports. In recent years, those reports have evolved from mere environmental impact statements to include social and economic performance metrics for these companies.
Resilience: The capability to anticipate risk, limit impact and bounce back rapidly through survival, adaptability, evolution and growth in the face of turbulent change.
Systems Thinking: A set of analytic skills used to improve the capability of identifying and understanding systems, predicting their behaviors and devising modifications to them in order to produce desired effects. In the context of this QEP, systems thinking will focus on the system interactions of the economy, society and the environment, at individual to global scales.
Sustainability Focused Courses (SF): courses that the primary and explicit focus is on sustainability as an integrated concept with the Triple Bottom Line. OR Course that the primary and explicit focus is on the application of sustainability within a field (iei.e.: sustainable agriculture, architecture for sustainability, or sustainable business). OR Courses where the primary focus is directly connected to understanding or solving one or more major sustainability challenges (related to the theme of the year).
Sustainability Related Courses (SR): courses which include sustainability but is primarily focused on a topic other than sustainability. It should incorporate a unit or module on sustainability or one or more sustainability- focused activity. It also could integrate sustainability issues throughout the course.
Appendix II
List of Approved Sustainability Related Courses
Faculty Dept FocusCourse Section Title Semester Taught
Affonso, Lancie HONS economic HONS 205
Entrepreneurship
Theory and Practice Fall 2018
Bidwell, Deb
BIOL
environmental FYSE 108
Biomimicry: Nature as
Mentor Fall 218
Bidwell, Deb BIOL environmental BIOL 112 TBD Spring 2019
Bidwell, Deb
BIOL
environmental
ENVT
352/BIOL
453/ENTR 360
Special Topics:
Biomimicry Thinking Spring 2019
Bourdier,
Juliette FREN
social,
economic FREN 380
Marketing, Strategies
and Communication Fall 2018
Carrico, Alexis
MGMT,
MKTG
economic,
social MGMT 301
Management and
Organizational
Behavior
Fall 2018, Spring
2019
Chaffin,
LaTasha POLI
social,
economic POL 211
Introduction to Public
Policy Fall 2018
De Welde, Kris WGST social WGS 401 Senior Capstone Spring 2019
Gilmore, Joanna
social,
economic ANTH 109
Introduction to
Museum Studies
ONLINE; spring
2019
Greene,
Anthony AAST social AAST 300
Special Topics: Racism
in America Fall 2018
Hagood,
Margaret TEDU social EDEE 378
Instructional Strategies
for Teaching Reading Fall 2018
Kaufmann,
Kathy
FREN,
FRCS, ITST social FREN 202 TBD
Fall, Spring,
Maymester,
Summer I
Klein, Susan ARTS social ARTS 331 Painting IV Fall 2018
Kollath-Cattano,
Christy HEAL social HEAL 230 Global Health
Fall 2018, Spring
2019
Jaume, Steve GEOL environmental GEOL 103
Environmental
Geology
Fall, Spring,
Summer
Lacroix, Celeste COMM
social,
economic COMM 336
Addressing Problems
in Context:
Representation,
Identity and Culture Fall 2018
Lacroix, Celeste COMM social COMM 480 Capstone in
Communication:
Experiencing and
Investigating
Communication and
Fall 2018
Culture (Study
Abroad--Florence,
Italy)
Malek, Amy INTL social INTL 100
Introduction to
International Studies
Fall 2018, Spring
2019
Sapp, Robert
FREN,
FRCS, ITST social FREN 453
Francophone Literature
and/or Cultures of the
Americas Spring 2019
Scott, Blake INTL
social,
environmental INTL 350
Global Environmental
Challenges: Past,
Present, Future Fall 2018
Stiefel, Barry URST
social,
environmental URST 310 Urban Planning Fall 2018
Stiefel, Barry URST
social,
environmental URST 310 Sustainable Urbanism Summer II 2018
Stiefel, Barry URST
social,
environmental URST 320
Town and Country
Planning Spring 2019
Teixiera, Rafael MKTG economic SCIM 424
Supply Chain and
Operations Strategy Spring 2019
Tonks, Neal CHEM environmental CHEM 101 General Chemistry Fall 2018
Welch, Allison BIOL environmental BIOL 211
Biodiversity, Ecology,
and Conservation
Biology Fall 2018
Spade, Thomas ACLS economic ACCT 204 Managerial Accounting
Fall 2018, Spring
2019
Mir, Saif SCIM economic DSCI 373
Supply Chain Planning
and Analysis
Fall 2018, Spring
2019
Colomina-
Garrigos, Lola LACS social LACS 101
Introduction to Latin
American and
Caribbean Studies Spring 2019
List of Approved Sustainability Focused Courses
Faculty Dept Focus Course Section Title Semester Taught
Brian, Kristi WGST social AAST Race, Gender, and the Fall 2018
300/ENVT
352/WGST 320 Environment
Callicott, Burton LIBR social LIBR 105
Resources for
Research--SUST
Equipping Non-Profits Spring 2019
Crabtree, Mari AAST social AAST 300
The Life and Writings
of James Baldwin Fall 2018
Doire, Louise RELS social FYE
You Are What You
Wear: Just Fashion Fall 2018
Finnan,
Christine
SOCY,
ANTH social ANTH 319 ST
Cultural Sustainability
and Social Justice in
Schools Fall 2018
Garrett, Victoria
HISP,
SPAN social FYSE 125
Greening Cinematic
Narratives: Latin
America at the
Forefront of
Environmental and
Social Justice Fall 2018
Gilmore, Joanna ANTH social ANTH 319 ST
Exhibition Planning &
Design Fall 2018
Hall, Cynthia
and Hunter-
Doniger, Tracey TBD social TBD
Exploring
Environmental Issues
through Culture and
Art Spring 2019
Hall, Cynthia
and Hunter-
Doniger, Tracey TBD environmental TBD
Exploring
Environmental Issues
through Culture and
Art (study abroad to
Costa Rica)
Spring 2019--
Spring Break
Study Abroad
Jaume, Steve GEOL environmental GEOL 213 Natural Hazards Fall 2018
LeVasseur,
Todd RELS social HONS 381
Approaches to
Religion: Sacred Sites
and Sustainability Fall 2018
Nowlin, Matt POLI social POLI 307 Environmental Policy Spring 2019
Perrault, Elise MGMT, economic MGMT 350 Business, Leadership, Spring 2019
MKTG & Society
Pritchard, Seth BIOL environmental ENVT 200
Introduction to
Environmental and
Sustainability Studies
Fall 2018, Spring
2019
Saunders,
Jennifer ENSS
environmental,
social,
economic ENVT 200
Introduction to
Environmental and
Sustainability Studies
Fall 2018, Spring
2019
Stiefel, Barry HPCP
social,
economic HPCP 222
Heritage Preservation
& Environmental
Conservation
Extended
Summer
Sotka, Carolyn
MGMT,
MKTG
social,
economic
POLI
319/ENVT 352
Environmental
Sustainability and
Policy: An
International
Comparison of Best
Practices,
Opportunities, and
Challenges Fall 2018
Turner, Laura
THTR,
DANC social THRE 712
Community and
Theatrical Classroom Spring 2019
Verlinden,
Marianne
HISP,
SPAN
social,
economic SPAN 390
ST: Sustainability and
Health in the Spanish-
speaking World Spring 2019
Watson, Annette POLI
environmental,
social POLI 397
Environmental
Geography Spring 2019
Welch, Allison BIOL
social,
economic,
environmental ENVT 200
Introduction to
Environmental and
Sustainability Studies Spring 2019
Wright, Jen HONS social
HONS 163:
Honors
Pyschology TBD Fall 2018
Wright, Jen PSYC
PSYC
315/ENVT 352
Psychology of Social
Change Summer II 2018
Hansen, David MGMT economic,
environmental
ENTR 407,
Ecopreneurship
business solutions to
environmental
Fall 2018
problems
Hansen, David MGMT
economic,
social
ENTR 406,
Social
Entreprenuershi
p
business solutions to
social problems Spring 2019
Mack, Rhonda MGMK
economic,
social
MKTG 329,
Consumer
Behavior
buyer behavoir and
sustainable business
practices Fall 2018
Sabater, Silvia
Rodriguez SPAN social
SOAN 313,
Spanish
Composition TBD Spring 2019
List of Approved SR/SF Learning Community Courses
Faculty Department Focus Course Section Title Semester Taught
Brian, Kristi ANTH social WGST 320
ST: Feminist
Jiujitsu Spring 2019
McGuigan, Pat HEAL social PEAC 120 TBD TDB
McManus,
Miranda BIOL environmental BIOL 102
Concepts and
Applications in
Biology II Spring 2019
Brown, Ashley HEAL
environmental,
social
HEHP--PEAC
126 (?)
Introduction to
Coastal
Kayaking Spring 2019
Yvete Dede ARTS ARTS 119.07 Drawing 1 Fall 2018
Joey Van
Arnhem LIBR ARTS 220.07 Scultpure 1 Fall 2018