Promoting Civic Engagement in

Sustainability and Conservation:

Environmental Leadership Program

and Other Opportunities

Peg Boulay, Kathryn Lynch, and Alan Dickman

OUS Sustainability ConferenceFebruary 28, 2011

Interdisciplinary physical, natural, and cultural environment

Embraces complexity, root causes Awareness to action

prepare & inspire students to contribute solutions —humanistic, social, scientific, and political — that will help protect and preserve our world

Civic engagement Community-Classroom Connections Internships Environmental Leadership Program

Classroom-Community Connections

Goal: infuse civic engagement opportunities throughout the ENVS/ESCI curriculum. Intentionally sequenced moments of service, building

level of engagement through majors

Enhance and illustrate course concepts

Inspire students to get involved

Classroom-Community Connections Design

Appropriate for course level

Tied to course content, includes reflection

Examples: Social Science (200-level) – email comments on issue, bike use audit,

attend City of Eugene’s climate change plan meetings

Natural Science (200-level) – restoration plantings, invasives

Humanities (200-level) – Food for Lane County gardens, oral histories, interactive public art

Law (400-level) – submit comments on current issue through public comments process

Communication (400-level) – create communications plan and products

Resources & Opportunities Consulting and support

for faculty

“How to” handouts: Writing letters to the editor Writing OpEd pieces Giving effective public

testimony Finding your elected

representatives Writing representatives letters

“How to stay involved”

Impact “We devoted an entire lecture and an

out of class reading article on the history of the Willamette Valley, and here in front of me was an example of the current status of just a small section of this complex valley. This just deepened my understanding and concern for the area.”

“As I dug hole after hole, it reminded me of our lessons on agriculture and more specifically on soil…. All in all the day was a success and I’m glad for this assignment because it is something I know I would never have done myself.”

“I have previously not done much environmental community service work. It was very fulfilling.”

Successes and Lessons Learned

Tie to class content, reflection Preparation and logistics Time

Internships

Students Fulfills “Practical Learning

Experience” major requirement

Requires initiative ~120 hours Reflection assignments

Community Partners Needs to be collaborative Optional proposal form

Current Interns (Winter 2011) 17 students working on:

Environmental education Habitat restoration Sustainable agriculture Pesticide reduction Alternative energy Hydrology monitoring Non-profit management/outreach Transportation planning Policy/advocacy (salmon conservation) Environmental health

EnvironmentalEnvironmental Leadership ProgramLeadership Program

(ELP)(ELP)

Mission & Audiences

Program Overview

Integrated into majors Fulfills 1-2 major

requirements, including PLE Interdisciplinary

Competitive Application & interview

process Prerequisites

Focus on professional skills Leadership, communication,

collaboration, research

ELP Team Structure

4-10 undergraduates (Jrs/Srs) 120 hours of service each Role: complete project

1 Graduate Teaching Fellow (GTF) 160 hours of service Role: project manager

ELP Co-Director Role: develop, fund, and

supervise projects; train students; support GTFs and team; administration; quality control

Project Implementation - TimelineFall

finalize plans w/partners recruit teams assign grad students to teams develop projects for following year fundraise

Winter preparatory methods course

meet community partners visit field sites

Spring teams in the field, produce

products

Environmental Leadership Program- 2011

Preparation and Quality Control

Reflection and Evaluation

Partnerships and Funding

Wide continuum Highly engaged to hands-off

Diverse funding mechanisms University support (~1/2) Joint grant applications Gifts Contracts for specific work

Challenges Funding Coordination of complex partnerships

Setting clear expectations Establishing clear communication channels Ensuring buy-in for the educational aspect

Scheduling! Logistics!

“ELP provided me with a unique and valuable opportunity for me to get real-world, real-life experience doing actual field work that directly leads into what I want to do with my career after college.” -Ben Teton, Turtle Monitoring’08

“Be prepared for a heavy workload, however it is the most rewarding and inspiring thing I have done here at UO.” -Daniel Soule, X-Stream Team ’08.

Questions? Ideas?

For more info:

Katie Lynch Peg Boulay Alan Dickman 541-346-5070 541-346-5945 541-346-2549klynch @uoregon.edu boulay @uoregon.edu adickman @uoregon.edu