Sustainability: Faculty Professional Development

Faculty Professional Development Programs on sustainability themes are listed below chronologically, from most recent to the more distant past:

  • Jan 2024 Faculty Learning Retreat: Trillium Project (Advancing Sustainability Across the Curriculum)
    • Goal- Develop tools by which to integrate sustainability into your course (format draws heavily from the Ponderosa Project at Northern Arizona University and adapted at Emory in the Piedmont Project regarding integrating sustainability across the curriculum)
    • Number of participants still to be determined (as of Dec 2023)
    • What did the institution materially or financially invest in this program?: catered meals, rental of Humboldt Coastal Nature Center (220 Stamps Ln, Arcata, CA 95521) space; all programming offered at no cost to attendees; WTU time buyout for faculty facilitator who serves as Sustainability Fellow
    • Led by campus facilitators Dr. Jennifer Ortega, Morgan Barker, Katie Koscielak
  • Fall 2023 Book Circle
    • Book- Settler Cannabis: From Gold Rush to Green Rush in Indigenous Northern California by Kaitlin Reed
    • Goal: Explore the notion of "resource rushing" in Northern CA through the lens of Indigenous sovereignty, science, and history
    • 19 faculty/staff participants from 13 departments
    • What did the institution materially or financially invest in this program?: books purchased for participants; WTU time buyout for faculty facilitator who serves as Traditional Ecological Knowledge Fellow; wages allocated for an assistant to support the program
    • Led by faculty Dr. Kaitlin Reed
  • Spring 2023 Book Circle
    • Book- Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Learning from Indigenous Practices for Environmental Sustainability Edited by Melissa K. Nelson and Dan Shilling
    • Goal: Explore essays and chapters that "define, interrogate, and problematize the many definitions of Traditional Ecological Knowledge and sustainability" 
    • 21 faculty/staff participants from 18 departments
    • What did the institution materially or financially invest in this program?: books purchased for participants; WTU time buyout for faculty facilitator who serves as Traditional Ecological Knowledge Fellow; wages allocated for an assistant to support the program
    • Led by faculty Dr. Kaitlin Reed
  • Jan 2023 Workshop: Sustainability Across the Curriculum
    • Goal- Become familiar with the philosophy of change in higher education developed through the Ponderosa Project at Northern Arizona University and adapted at Emory in the Piedmont Project regarding integrating sustainability across the curriculum.
    • 8 participants joined the workshop from 5 CSU campuses spanning disciplines of History, Chemistry, Business, Religious Studies, Environmental Studies, and Geography, among others. 
    • What did the institution materially or financially invest in this program?: paid facilitator expert, catered lunch, rented Humboldt Coastal Nature Center (220 Stamps Ln, Arcata, CA 95521) space; all programming offered at no cost to attendees;  WTU time buyout for faculty facilitator who serves as Sustainability Fellow
    • Led by guest facilitator Dr. Geoffrey Chase; coordination supported by Dr. Jennifer Ortega
  • Fall 2022 Book Circle
    • Book- Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science by Jessica Hernandez
    • Goal: Build language and literacy around Latinx Indigeneity of Central and South America within environmental discourse
    • 24 faculty/staff participants from 16 departments
    • What did the institution materially or financially invest in this program?: books purchased for participants; WTU time buyout for faculty facilitator via creation of ongoing Traditional Ecological Knowledge Fellow
    • Led by faculty Dr. Kaitlin Reed
  • Spring 2022 Faculty Learning Community on Climate Change & Resiliency 
    • CSU Systemwide collaboration (6 participating campuses, including Cal Poly Humboldt)
    • Goals: With a focus on climate change & resilience, modify course curriculum, network with colleagues doing similar work, and design pedagogy that invokes solutions 
    • 6 Cal Poly Humboldt faculty participants; 61 participants total across CSU
    • What did the institution materially or financially invest in this program?: Stipends for participants who provided required evidence of modifications to their course
    • Led by Chico State Faculty Mark Stemen
  • Spring 2022 Book Circle
    • Book- Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, & the Teaching of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
    • Goal: Increase awareness of reciprocal relationships with human and non-human relatives via Indigenous ways of knowing
    • 18 faculty/staff participants from 11 departments
    • What did the institution materially or financially invest in this program?: books purchased for participants; stipends provided to guest speakers from Tribal nations
    • Led by faculty Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy & Dr. Kaitlin Reed, and Sustainability Staff Katie Koscielak
  • Fall 2021 Speaker Series
    • Series Name: Decolonizing Sustainablity: Amplifying Indigenous Perspectives & Transforming Sustainability Discourse
    • Goal: Increase literacy and understanding of Indigenous and decolonial sustainability perspectives
    • 331 summative audience members attended on Zoom in real-time
    • What did the institution materially or financially invest in this program?: stipends for guest panelists
    • # of events: 4 (access recordings here)
    • Led by faculty Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy & Dr. Kaitlin Reed, and Sustainability Staff Katie Koscielak
  • Fall 2021 Book Circle
    • Book- We Are the Land: A History of Native California by Damon B. Akins and William J. Bauer Jr.
    • Goal: Foreground Indigenous history of place when teaching about land and resources in California
    • 19 faculty/staff participants from 12 departments
    • What did the institution materially or financially invest in this program?: books purchased for participants
    • Led by faculty Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy & Dr. Kaitlin Reed, and Sustainability Staff Katie Koscielak
  • Spring 2021 Book Circle
    • Book- As Long As Grass Grows: The Fight for Indigenous Environmental Justice from Colonization to Standing Rock by Dina Gilio-Whitaker
    • Goal: Explore Indigenous Environmental Justice as a lens for environmental educators
    • 19 faculty participants from 14 departments
    • What did the institution materially or financially invest in this program?: books, mugs, Pomo acorn bites purchased for participants
    • Led by faculty Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy & Dr. Kaitlin Reed, and Sustainability Staff Katie Koscielak