Sustainability Education Grants
The Sustainability Education Grant program, introduced in 2020, is driven by student activism to bring awareness to the growing climate threat facing humanity.
The program also supports Brandeis’ responsibility under the Climate Commitment (pdf), which states that signatories will take actions to make carbon neutrality and resilience a part of the curriculum and other educational experiences for all students. Funds for the grant are provided by the Brandeis Sustainability Fund.
The grant is designed for faculty members to incorporate education and materials that focus on issues of climate change and sustainability within their specific course topic, with the intent of expanding the range of courses at Brandeis that incorporate these issues in some way. Instructors must design a minimum of three class meetings or one unit of instruction, depending on the course structure, focused on these issues and relevant to the current course topics.
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
apply for a sustainability education grant
Grant Funding Amount
$500 per grant.
Eligibility Criteria
- Tenured faculty.
- Tenure-track faculty.
- Contract faculty on multiyear contracts.
- Part-time faculty.
Course Requirements
- Design at least three course meetings and one assignment.
- Survey at the beginning and end of class to measure student learning (Grant Committee is available to help design survey).
Grant Requirements
- Meet with the Grant Committee to review your proposal.
- Reflection poster to display your work.
If you would like to discuss your application, the Grant Committee will be available to meet with you either in person or via Zoom.
Resources
Several resources are available for instructors to assist in incorporating these issues into their curricula. These include but are not limited to:
- Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education
- Beyond Doom and Gloom: Climate Solutions. To support faculty in teaching students about how they can contribute to a clean energy future, we have developed a short video, PowerPoint slides and optional short assignments that you can use in your courses. We’ve also created a webpage that describes opportunities for students to participate in creating climate solutions.
- Campus Sustainability Hub (access is available by contacting Mary Fischer.)
- Faculty Resources
- Sustainability Curriculum Consortium
- Sustainability Education and Economic Development
- U.S. Green Building Council's Free Curriculum Toolkits. (It’s not just about buildings! Create a free user account to access the materials.)