Peg Boulay , Kathryn Lynch, and Alan Dickman OUS Sustainability Conference February 28, 2011

1. Promoting Civic Engagement in Sustainability and Conservation: Environmental Leadership Program and Other Opportunities Peg Boulay, Kathryn Lynch, and Alan Dickman OUS Sustainability Conference February 28, 2011

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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”

6. 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.”

7. Successes and Lessons Learned • Tie to class content, reflection • Preparation and logistics • Time

8. Internships • Students • Fulfills “Practical Learning Experience” major requirement • Requires initiative • ~120 hours • Reflection assignments • Community Partners • Needs to be collaborative • Optional proposal form

9. 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

10. Environmental Leadership Program(ELP)

11. Mission & Audiences

12. 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

13. 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

14. Project Implementation - Timeline Fall • 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

15. Environmental Leadership Program- 2011

16. Preparation and Quality Control

17. Reflection and Evaluation

18. 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

19. Challenges Funding Coordination of complex partnerships Setting clear expectations Establishing clear communication channels Ensuring buy-in for the educational aspect Scheduling! Logistics!

20. “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.

21. Questions? Ideas? • For more info: • Katie Lynch Peg Boulay Alan Dickman • 541-346-5070 541-346-5945 541-346-2549 • klynch @uoregon.edu boulay @uoregon.edu adickman @uoregon.edu