Education and Student Experience
Ensure that students obtain an understanding of integral ecology: of the interconnected scientific, political, legal, economic, social, cultural, and spiritual dimensions to our understanding of the environment and the profound threats we face.
Across its schools, departments, and programs, USF already has extensive offerings in ecology, ecological sustainability, climate and environmental justice, environmental ethics, environmental economics, and environmental law and policy. Laudato si’s concept of “integral ecology,” a concept that reflects the interconnectedness of environmental, social, and economic systems, calls on us to build upon and synergize our existing areas of expertise. We seek to ensure that all students receive an integrated understanding of the urgent challenges we face and strive to prepare them to “change the world from here.”
This priority and its associated outcomes embody USF’s commitment to the following Laudato Si’ goals:
The social, economical, political, cultural, and natural ecologies that we face as global citizens are complex, and faculty can collectively address these issues through an interdisciplinary approach.
Select Short term actions:
- Include learning outcomes related to climate change, environmental justice, air and water pollution in the undergraduate core curriculum. (Provost’s Office)
- Redesign the undergraduate core curriculum to include a required sustainability-related course
- Include learning outcomes related to climate change, environmental justice, air and water pollution, where relevant, in graduate programs. (Provost’s Office and relevant graduate school leadership)
- Create a integral ecology resources bank to provide curriculum resources (readings, podcasts, videos, lesson plans) for instructors to use in their teaching (CTE)
- Provide faculty stipends, awards, funding, and trainings on how to teach ecology, sustainability, and environmental justice across the disciplines and provide support to faculty to develop new interdisciplinary courses and research programs (CTE, Provost’s Office, Office of Sponsored Programs)
- Assess, improve, and support existing living laboratory opportunities and physical spaces such as the USF Community Garden and Star Route Farm, to foster interdisciplinary hands-on research and learning opportunities and allow students to engage in environmental problem-solving.
Long term actions:
- Establish a Center on Integral Ecology (see Outcome #4) that would coordinate scholarly, pedagogical, and technological efforts involving sustainability on campus
USF students already plan and execute a wide variety of environmental- and social-justice activities such as clothing swaps, farm stands, and food justice outreach. They can lead the way in developing student-centered activities and actions that foster environmental and social justice and leadership.
Select Short term actions
- Support and uplift on-campus environmentally-focused initiatives which continue to educate and involve students such as Gleeson’s Seed Library, USF Garden, and USF’s bee-keeping project
- Encourage and promote student-led activities such as clothing swaps, farm stands, neighborhood cleanups, community garden activities, and student-led publications etc. (Office of Student Life, Office of Sustainability)
- Foster communication among student leaders and clubs to develop collaborative events and activities. (Office of Student Life, Office of Sustainability)
- Fund student-led, environmentally focused clubs so they may organize and attend nature-based retreats, conferences, and overnight excursions.
- Include information about sustainability-related initiatives and practices in orientation and in the USF 101 course for all incoming students so that students know where and how to engage with them (USF 101 co-directors, Office of Student Life).
- Encourage and widely promote participation in co-curricular activities that address sustainability issues at USF and beyond such as the annual Sustainability Design Challenge or USF Earth Day festivities (Office of Sustainability).
- Work with the Career Center to assist students in connecting their environmental and social justice activism with career opportunities through volunteering and internships.
- Establish a Living Learning Community around integral ecology (Provost’s Office).
- Support and create new community-engaged learning opportunities, partnering with local organizations, for students to work with communities impacted by climate change and environmental injustice (McCarthy Center).
- Promote existing nature-based immersion courses which emphasize skills such as hiking, camping, nature meditation, and birdwatching. With further support, these programs could be scaled up with versions offered to faculty, staff, and other USF community members. (Office of Sustainability, Human Resources, Office of Student Life)
- Promote and support the further growth of existing global immersion experiences that allow students to understand and address the multiplicity of factors shaping environmental conditions elsewhere in the world (Provost’s Office, University Ministry)
(See Goal 4.) [link]
A center or hub for integral ecology will facilitate interdisciplinary connections among students, staff and faculty, foster peer education, and generate student awareness and engagement in USF’s many initiatives.
Select Long-term action:
- Coordinate and uplift curriculum initiatives, events, programs, and partnerships through a center / hub (see Priority #4).
- Information and networking hub for students seeking sustainability and environmental justice internship and career opportunities.
- Information hub for student awareness about USF opportunities like Star Route Farm and the USF Community Garden.
- Staffed by student sustainability specialists and other undergraduate and graduate students from different departments and schools.
Lane Center
2130 Fulton St.
Kalmanovitz Hall, 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94117-1045