Sustainability is one of the most urgent issues of our time. Its complexities pose a significant challenge to the traditional division of knowledge in higher education, requiring us to embrace new forms of collaborative and transdisciplinary learning.
Eighteen faculty members and instructors from across Ohio State have been selected to participate in the first Sustainability Pedagogy Learning Community, coordinated through a partnership between the Michael V. Drake Institute for Teaching and Learning and the Sustainability Institute. Cohort members will explore innovative approaches to the pedagogy of sustainability to design and integrate new learning experiences into Ohio State’s General Education program and their respective disciplinary curricula.
The learning community will meet regularly throughout the autumn and spring semesters, working together to identify common obstacles to effective teaching, analyze best practices, and develop a set of core competencies for sustainability learning.
Sustainability Pedagogy Learning Community Participants
The 2024-2025 Sustainability Pedagogy Learning Community is co-facilitated by:
- Rick Livingston, Senior Lecturer, Department of Comparative Studies
- Patrick Sours, Assistant Professor of Professional Practice, Engineering for Sustainable Development in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering
- Vicki Pitstick, Instructional Consultant, Michael V. Drake Institute for Teaching and Learning
Our Sustainability Pedagogy Learning Community participants include:
- Mark Anthony Arceño, Department of Comparative Studies, Department of French and Italian
- Kelsea Best, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering, City and Regional Planning at the Knowlton School
- Jeremy Brooks, School of Environment and Natural Resources
- Ted Clark, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Maria Conroy, City and Regional Planning at the Knowlton School
- Daniel Gingerich, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering, Department of Integrated Systems Engineering
- Marijke Hecht, School of Environment & Natural Resources
- Sanja Ilic, Department of Human Sciences
- John Lenhart, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering
- Susan Melsop, Department of Design
- Giuliano Migliori, Department of French and Italian
- Mark Moritz, Department of Anthropology
- Frank Schwartz, School of Earth Sciences
- John Seabloom-Dunne, Department of English
- Halina Steiner , Landscape Architecture at the Knowlton School
- Cherish Vance, Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering
Looking Ahead
In partnership with the Sustainability Institute, the Drake Institute also plans to establish a Teaching Endorsement in sustainability pedagogy to offer additional resources and support to instructors interested in developing or revising courses in light of sustainability issues and practices. Stay tuned in to our newsletter for programming updates.