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

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) – 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

Environmental Leadership Program (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 - 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

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