Academic Sustainability Committee meeting, 10/12/2016

Attendees: (Don’t know everyone’s full name)

Agenda:

Old Business

  1. Discussion on Center- Best Practices

New Business

  1. Industry Partnerships
  2. Current student projects available
  3. Posting of minutes
  4. Video introduction of committee- paragraph CV from each members
  5. Current website protocols

Minutes:

  1. Introduction and meeting new members
  2. Scheduling meetings –Linda will send out a Doodle poll
  3. Old business- discussing center proposal
  4. Augmenting discussion on the center proposal with new skillsets
  5. Brief overview of the center proposal
  6. Riley and Marie give overview => chief writing partners and chief liasons
  7. Why center- previously had done efforts to inventory courses and do a faculty development workshop. Ad hoc.
  8. Proposal for center was to formalize sustainability work with space and resources to coordinate sustainability teaching and research; place for career exploration
  9. Proposal is strong on the “why”, less on the actual governance and execution plan, with respect to funding, costing etc.
  10. Took proposal to several people, finally with Richard Carp, former VP for Undergraduate Affairs on campus, who pointed out that there aren’t many functioning/successful centers on campus
  11. Key takeaway- need to build groundswell
  12. Distinct from office of sustainability
  13. SEBA centers- different- people come to SEBA saying they want to give $$, and then the faculty build the center to please gift givers. Ascertain the longevity of the idea.
  14. Sustainability center will provide students with opportunities- internships and jobs
  15. Could have more reach – but this also needs more resources
  16. Key Q- should we do this? Do we have the cart in front of the horse?
  17. How is campus as a living lab tied into the proposal?
  18. Marie- when students are on campus we want their sustainability education to be reflected in the campus environment and functioning. Eg. Lighting, garden etc.
  19. Dominic- living lab is specific. Usually it means you are part of the experiment.
  20. Michael- living lab for campus is moving towards a more sustainable future on campus
  21. Joanne- if campus had mindfulness labs- that would fit into her work. Experimentation into your experience of mindfulness
  22. Marie-linking Catholicism to these issues of sustainability
  23. Living lab piece also has to do with student projects on campus
  24. What kind of sustainability do we talk about? Only environmental? Or broad picture?
  25. Broad
  26. But educating on what it is
  27. Could a center be beneficial for students?
  28. Connie- yes. Internship or being partnered with undergrad would be good. Students will get a lot out of that. Also for working professionals and MBAs.
  29. Having a repository for projects for students: having those identified and set up.
  30. Kim- viability of center. Need to define it clearly so we can incorporate it into our curriculum. Business interested in economic sustainability and impact in the environment. Education around what firms are doing. Each discipline should contribute to this broad vision of sustainability. Are their processes on campus for doing something to make campus more sustainability?
  31. Green map of campus- green things going on here at SMC. Center that can showcase. But we have no place to show this. Need brand development around our sustainability.
  32. Michael-if our charge is to talk about academic issues, then we are going to run into facilities sub-committee. Facilities is a wall. We are either only going to focus on academics? Or can we meet with them and be in dialogue.
  33. Making connections with facilities and capital projects. Making bridge with practice and theory.
  34. Broad definition of academic- engaging facilities community and hearing from them. Raising awareness on campus so facilities can see that this is important. Highlight what we do on campus and what we should be doing.
  35. Facilities are operational minded. Educating them about why this is important.
  36. Proposal should include integration of practices and academics
  37. SEBA- new power plant. Space constraint. 80% rooms are empty. Break-up thinking of space. Utilizing what you have for a higher efficiency-around space and sustaianability
  38. Andreas- defending facilities. Why can’t we open windows in Garaventa- is a sustainability measure. Having own offices encourages faculty to stay on campus more.
  39. Michael- Chico has strong sustainability program developed from ground-up. One Professor made it their job to engage students in assessments, and taking those assessments to decision-makers. Every year his classes take on a different topic.
  40. David and Jim- how does this resonate- like idea of the center. Could involve students.
  41. Center will be able to support grant-making to faculty and students.
  42. We are not just talking about green planet sustainability, but also more broad. Linda has been working with facilities well. There has been a mindset change.
  43. Financial sustainability and creating jobs
  44. How could this center be creating jobs?
  45. Tackling issues of ethics and sustainability- is not well integrated into courses. Silo model. When integrated sustainability/ethics or both, should be pervasive presence in the classes.
  46. Integrating safety and quality improvement- getting education followed by governance.
  47. This connects to living lab. How the campus is run...
  48. How is the sustainability committee linked to “Future” sustainability center?

Ideas about what would work and what won’t work- write a paragraph or two and email them to Linda.

What resonates? Pitfalls? What expertise could you bring to writing?

By 2 weeks.

New business

  1. Industry partnerships- any ideas? We could deliver x,y and z, are you interested in working with us?
  2. Riley is trying to put together student projects. => Grad student projects
  3. Website with photo and 3-4 sentences.
  4. Website protocol