Project Clearinghouse

Sustainability Studies and IDEASS Program Support

Sustainability Problem and Proposed Solution: 

The College Eight Sustainability Studies minor and the Impact Designs: Engineering and Sustainability through Student Service (IDEASS) program offers students from all fields and majors education about sustainability and opportunities to engage in projects and research focused on sustainability (see http://eight.ucsc.edu). These two programs help to teach and train students for participation in the Green Economy and further work on sustainability and the environment.

Jump to: Contact | Project Description | Funding Sources | Metrics for Success | Results
Project Categories: 
Buildings & Facilities
Energy & Climate
Food
Awareness, Education & Engagement
Water
Project Status: 
In Progress
Project End Date: 
06/10/2015
(estimated)
Campus Organization: 
College Eight Sustainability Minor
Provost's Sustainability Internship Program
Sustainable Living Undergraduate Research Project
Affiliated Department, Unit or College: 
College 8
Project Location: 
On campus



Stakeholder Contacts: 
Contact NameEmail AddressDepartment
Ronnie Lipshutz
rlipsch@ucsc.edu
Politics
Tamara Ball
tall@ucsc.edu
IDEAS
Kelsee Hurshman
khurshma@ucsc.edu
EEB
Funding Sources: 
Provost Sustainability Internship

Project Description: 

The purpose of this project is to raise awareness of the Sustainability minor and IDEASS, target recruitment of students for specific IDEASS projects, to engage students in shaping the form and content of the program, achieved strong campus/community attendance the events associated with the minor, and raise sufficient funding for the 2016-2017 school year.

We provide students with a periodic calendar of sustainability-related academics and opportunities. This calendar is in the form of an email list sent to environmental studies and College Eight students, staff & instructors as well as others across campus. The calendar appears on-line at http://eight.ucsc.edu/news-events/news/College%20Eight%20Environment%20a...

The project goal is to increase awareness of the minor and recruit students for the minor and IDEASS projects by designing and distributing fliers around campus. We will maintain a website through the College Eight website to document events and projects. We will update related IDEASS projects on Project Clearing House.

We will engage students to shape and form the content of the Sustainable Systems Program by implementing focus groups. The focus groups will target different student populations. One group will draw on students in EE80S, Sustainable Engineering & Design, who might not be enrolled in the minor. A second focus group will draw on students active in sustainability on campus, and will take place as a workshop at the InterOrg Retreat prior to Winter 2016. Students in this second group will be familiar and interested in improving the program to suit their wants and needs. A third focus group will consist of students currently taking the CLEI 150 Sustainability Practicum courses. These students will have the most experience with the content of the courses and will be able to help us understand what students like about the program, what they want to see, and how we can improve it for the future.

We will also develop viable funding sources and raise $50,000 for 2016-17, from campus and extramural sources, grant writing and private donors.

Metrics for Success: 

Successful implementation of my goals will provide the Sustainability Studies minor and IDEASS with strong student enrollment and funding for the 2016-2017 academic year. If successful I will have identified strengths, areas of improvement, and student desires of the programs. We will use these results to improve the Sustainable Systems Program.

Result Categories: 
Education/Outreach
Results: 

With successful completion, the sustainability minor and IDEASS will become better recognized among the student body, and with strong projects specified for 2016-17. We will have identified areas of improvement of both programs. We will have viable funding for 2016-2017 year.

Resources
Related Websites: 
IDEASS
Sustainability Studies minor