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“Beyond Critical Thinking to Becoming an Effective Change Agent: Trends Toward Sustainability Education and Action“Debra Rowe, President of the U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development
Colleges and universities are updating their planning, professional development, curricula, community partnerships, and campus policies and practices to include sustainability, which is often defined as the triple bottom line: simultaneously creating healthier ecosystems, communities, and economies. All academic disciplines and higher education operational areas have distinct and important contributions to make in weaving a sustainable future. Dr. Rowe will share her journey and passion as a change agent as well as provide information about resources and strategies available for you and your institution.
Debra Rowe is the President of the U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development, a Facilitator for the Disciplinary Associations Network for Sustainability, Co-Coordinator of the Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium, Senior Advisor for the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, Senior Fellow of the Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future and professor of Sustainable Energies and Behavioral Sciences at Oakland Community College.
“Learning as a Community Endeavor”Dennis C. Jacobs, Vice President and Associate Provost, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame
The development and application of new knowledge is inherently a communal act, as scholars vigorously debate ideas and interpretations. So too, learning reaches new heights when students are provided with opportunities to interact with and challenge one another. Jacobs will share how he has exploited collaborative learning and the use of clicker technology to simultaneously engage 200 students in making scientific predictions and defending their ideas. In particular Jacobs has studied how collaborative learning pedagogies have led to greater student success and engagement among students at risk. In a completely different environment, Jacobs directs student teams to go out into the local community to perform risk assessments in homes where disadvantaged youth have become lead poisoned. Community-based learning experiences such as this not only heighten civic engagement, but they also deepen students’ commitments to the pursuit and integration of knowledge.
In his role as Vice President and Associate Provost, Dennis Jacobs oversees undergraduate studies at the University of Notre Dame. This includes introducing strategies to promote and expand experiential learning opportunities for students and developing initiatives that foster, recognize and reward effective teaching. Throughout his twenty years on the faculty, Jacobs has directed a laboratory research program aimed at understanding how energetic molecules attack the surfaces of materials. A set of Jacobs’ experiments is currently flying on the International Space Station and will help identify candidate materials for the construction of future communications satellites. Outside the laboratory, Jacobs is a leader in the scholarship of teaching and learning. He was a Carnegie Scholar in 1999-2000 and, in 2002, CASE and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching conferred on him the U.S. Professor of the Year Award for Doctoral and Research Universities.
The North American Council for Staff, Program and Organizational Development is an affiliate council of the American Association of Community.
