Faculty Workshop

 

Call for Applications – Faculty Workshop on Integrating Sustainability into the Curriculum 

 An invitation to Summer 2026 Workshop: 

“Green Curriculum, Green Campus, Green City” 

The ECU Sustainability Program invites you to enhance your teaching and engagement with environmental and interconnected economic and social issues by participating in the “Faculty Workshop on Integrating Sustainability into the Curriculum”, May 11-12.  Modeled after the Piedmont Project at Emory University, this workshop has been an intellectually stimulating and collegial experience for faculty across many disciplines.

Skeptics, environmentalists, and those in between have found their various perspectives welcomed and enriched by the dialogue and the project activities.

Are you thinking about developing a new course or new modules in an existing course?  See past examples at: www.piedmont.emory.edu/syllabi/index.html. 

The workshop will explore how we can meaningfully integrate sustainability—broadly defined—into our classrooms.  Though we start by taking a close look at ECU, Greenville, and the eastern NC region, we invite participants to engage in local/global comparisons.  We will have resource experts giving presentations and facilitating discussion of a green curriculum and its integration and role in the broader community.

Participants will receive an honorarium of $400 upon completion of a new or revised syllabus, will join in a field-trip and discussions that will offer opportunities to extend research and teaching horizons across disciplines and create new networks with fellow colleagues. 

Application:  If you are interested, please complete the online application form including a short, one-paragraph description of how you plan to change an old course or develop a new one.  

Deadline to Apply:  Sunday, February 15, 2026

Sustainability Workshop participants agree to: 

(1) Read some materials prior to the workshop. 

(2) Participate in the one-and-a-half-day workshops, May 11-12. 

(3) Over the summer, prepare a syllabus for the affected course or courses and submit it by Friday, July 31, 2026 with an explanatory paragraph, for posting to the ECU Sustainability Program website. 

(4) Report back to the group for a field-trip to Otter Creek Natural Area on Wednesday, August 12, 2026 and a Spring follow-up event. 

  

Workshop Agenda: 

 

Monday, May 11 – Day 1:  9am to 4:30pm 

9:00am – 9:30am:  Welcome with Coffee/Tea and Breakfast Bars/Muffins

9:30am – 10:30am:  “What is Sustainability” by Dr. Jeff McKinnon, Biology Professor

10:30am – 10:45am:  Bio / Email Break

10:45am – 11:30am:  Group Discussion on Preassigned Readings

11:30am – 12:30pm:  Former Participant Presenting on Implementation Experience during Lunch

12:30pm – 12:45pm:  Walk to the Town Creek Culvert

12:45pm – 1:45pm:  Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) Tour with Dr. Mike O’Driscoll, Coastal Studies Professor

1:45pm – 2:00pm:  Walk back to LSBB and Bio/Email Break

2:00pm – 3:00pm:  “Making Environmental Change Happen” by Kim Fox, ECU Sustainability Outreach Specialist

3:00pm – 4:00pm:  Small Group Discussions on Implementation Strategies (workshop facilitators floating around)

4:00pm – 4:30pm:  Reflections on Day 1 and Discuss Day 1 Homework (can hang around until 5pm)

Day 1 Homework: Review pedagogy examples in AASHE’s “Teaching Sustainability Competencies Across the Disciplines” guide for instructors.  There are lesson plans, assignments, and assessments of student learning for several different academic disciplines (e.g. Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, Engineering, Business and Economics, Health and Social Work, Law and Policy).  Use these examples to begin planning how you will integrate sustainability into your curriculum and start to outline a couple of ideas for your class next semester.

 

Tuesday, May 12 – Day 2:  12pm to 5pm 

12:00pm – 12:15pm:  Walk to ECU Tree Trail (outside Jenkin’s Art Building)

12:15pm – 1:15pm:  Campus Tree Trail Guided Walk with John Gill, Campus Landscape Architect

1:15pm – 1:30pm:  Walk back to Life Sciences and Biotechnology Building (LSBB)

1:30pm – 2:00pm:  Welcome Back and Group Discussion on Day 1 Homework Assignment

2:00pm – 2:45pm:  “Campus Sustainability at ECU” by Kim Fox, ECU Sustainability Outreach Specialist

2:45pm – 3:00pm:  Bio / Email Break

3:00pm – 4:00pm:  “Integrating Sustainability into the Curriculum” by Dr. Susan Lally, Nursing Professor

4:00pm – 4:30pm:  Thank you message from Griffin Avin, ECU Chief Sustainability Officer, “Homesick – A Plea for Our Planet” Poem Reading, and Quiet Personal Reflection Exercise (can hang around until 5pm)

 

Pre-Workshop Assigned Readings:
  1. Creighton – Introduction from “Greening the Ivory Tower” (1998)
  2. Creighton – Making Environmental Change Happen (1998)
  3. Barlett – Reconnecting with Place (2005)
  4. Agyeman – Toward a Just Sustainability (2008)
  5. Cotton-Winter – Sustainability Pedagogies (2010)
  6. Ben-Eli – Sustainability Definition and Five Core Principles (2015)
  7. Orr – Selected Essays from “Hope is an Imperative” (1988-2011)

 

Other Resources:
Workshop Presentations:

 

Past Participants’ Revised Syllabi:
2025 Workshop:
2024 Workshop: