project sin fronteras...project sin fronteras / report 5 globally, our current environmental...

REPORTPROJECT SIN FRONTERAS

EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

2 PROJECT SIN FRONTERAS / REPORT

PROJECT SIN FRONTERAS REPORT

CONTACT INFORMATION

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

1201 West University Dr. Edinburg, TX 78539

The Office for Sustainability ITTB 1.404R

(956) 665-3030 Office

(956) 665-2322 Fax

Office Hours: 8 am - 12 pm, 1-5 pm

www.facebook.com/UTRGVSustainability/

https://youtu.be/h244r7u5G4c

PROJECT SIN FRONTERAS / REPORT 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS

WELCOME 4INTRODUCTION 5

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6

PIEDMONT PROJECT 7

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

ABOUT PROJECT SIN FRONTERAS 8

SUSTAINABILITY ACADEMIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE

METHOD 10

METHODOLOGY & PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

INSTRUCTIONAL COACHING

PARTICIPANTS 16

IMPACT 18

PEDAGOGICAL INNOVATION 19 PSF ALUMNI HIGHLIGHTS

CONCLUSION 26

GLOSSARY 27

CONTRIBUTORS 27


While the stated goal of education is to provide knowledge both general and specialized, it serves the greater purpose of preparing well-rounded citizens of the world, individuals with not just the knowledge and skills to develop theoretical solutions, but the desire and drive to enact tangible, positive change. To that end, sustainability is rapidly being integrated into education, as it is recognized that an understanding of sustainability allows for a multifaceted approach to problem solving necessary for the success of communities.

The word has been used erroneously as a synonym for “green,” but sustainability has very specific goals that go beyond recycling and tree planting. Sustainable systems can go on indefinitely, as we would hope for our societies, environments, and economies; unfortunately, as we have seen historically, this is not the case. Our current practices deplete non-renewable resources with no apparent plan for the future. Students are set to inherit a batch of problems years in the making, and must be aware of the economic, environmental, and social forces that drive human impact so future generations can make more nuanced decisions. By conducting ourselves in a manner that is positive for the community and world as a whole, we attain the goal of sustainability. By providing the community with information and resources to enable sustainable practices, we attain the goal of education.

The University of Texas will continue to uphold its responsibility in this endeavor by promoting the expansion of academic, scholarly, and outreach initiatives that educate students regarding the forces integral to the future success of the Rio Grande region. UTRGV makes efforts to infuse sustainability into its curriculum, into its community engagement efforts, and into its day-to-day operations. In doing so, the University must think and communicate across and beyond traditional disciplines, organizations, and cultural boundaries. The Office for Sustainability (OFS) is leading in many of these efforts by working with faculty to gain awareness of conservation, embrace a culture of sustainability, and connect sustainable operations with the broader academic mission across departments and programs through positive teaching/learning experiences. With this goal in mind, the OFS is excited to collaborate with all of UTRGV’s campuses through its Project Sin Fronteras (PSF) Faculty Development Program.

In serving the students by giving them the skills they need to bring sustainable economic development to our region, we prepare them to make global impact. Our faculty and students represent many countries that have similar demographics, climates, issues and concerns to the Rio Grande Valley. The solutions, innovations, and business models they develop can easily be implemented on a global level. Through PSF, faculty from diverse fields and backgrounds come together, contributing to the cultivation of a trans-disciplinary culture on our campus and preparing 21st century citizens and leaders of tomorrow.

The Office for Sustainability invites all faculty to investigate the products of Project Sin Fronteras and participate in this program at the next available opportunity. Through careful inclusion in every course, UTRGV can make an impact that will make a positive change for our region for years to come.

Thank you,

WELCOME

Marianella Q. Franklin Cheif Sustainability Officer

Marianella Q. Franklin


Globally, our current environmental situation is one that is in need of intervention--the environmental crisis is a complex system of interconnected problems concerning air and water quality, soil depletion, species and habitat loss, food production and energy supply, all stemming from human activity pushing the earth past its carrying capacity. Efforts to manifest positive change must address these systemic problems and recognize the social conditions that necessitate our use of the environment so steps can be taken to reduce our imprint. Thus, leadership needs to be geared towards sustainability: a broad concept ideal for understanding the entire scope of human impact, which covers the environmental, social, and economic realms of human/nature interaction.

However, the need for collective action does not remove the obligation of personal responsibility. On the contrary, collective action is only achieved through the accumulation of many small personal actions, often misperceived as too insignificant to make a difference--but as individual grains of sand make up a desert, each person, program, and profession can do their part to reduce our environmental impact. The field of education has a special role to play in the development of a citizenry which is concerned for and contributes to this goal. The Project Sin Fronteras (PSF) program, modeled after Emory University’s Piedmont Project, is a faculty development program designed to serve as a transformational platform that infuses sustainability concepts and practices into university curriculum. Through these two-day, intensive faculty workshops (offered every semester beginning Fall 2014), sustainable topics and service learning will become standard in higher education in the Rio Grande Valley as the two campuses transition into the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV).

UTRGV recognizes the capacity and desire of its students, faculty, staff, and surrounding community to embrace a culture of sustainability and makes efforts to connect sustainable campus operations with this broader academic mission across departments and programs. Embedding sustainability in higher education ensures the research of theoretical problems by current experts in various disciplines, and provides an opportunity for their students. Applying this research to the exploration of practical avenues for solutions will lead to a sustainable future.

Students benefit by engaging in a structured process of critical reflection on the ethical, intellectual, and civic aspects of their experiences while being mentored by faculty. Recent studies have begun to link sustainability curriculum to playing a significant role in student engagement, co-curricular and service learning, and attracting disadvantaged students to STEM fields. Ultimately, the goal of sustainability is reason enough to push for its inclusion into every field: to ensure our future resources are sufficient for the continuity of societies.

UTRGV’s Guiding Principles call for an institution of higher education that transforms the region in which it resides. This aligns perfectly with the mission of sustainability as a concept: attaining and sustaining happy, healthy societies. Through a strong university/community partnership, involving hands-on service learning and community service, UTRGV will become a truly engaged university and enact positive change to the area.

INTRODUCTION

Embedding sustainabil ity in higher education ensures the research of theoretical problems by current experts in various disciplines, and provides an opportunity for their students.

Applying this research to the exploration of practical avenues for solutions wil l lead to a sustainable future.


UTRGV is dedicated to being an intellectual beacon and transformative force for the Valley. Instilling in students, faculty, staff, and community a consciousness that balances their social, environmental, and economic aspirations is integral to the University’s mission. This purposeful observation of forces, and the incorporation of sustainability concepts into university culture, with the creation, dissemination, and application of new areas of academic scholarship, prepares civic and professional leaders who will discover and apply solutions to the environmental and economic challenges of the 21st century. Efforts to manifest positive change must look to the root of the problem through various lenses of expertise, recognizing that a complex system of social and economic conditions drive human activity.

Thus, leadership needs to be geared towards sustainabil ity, a broad concept ideal for understanding the entire scope of human impact, which covers al l realms of human/nature interaction.

Recently, interest in infusing sustainable topics into the classroom has spread far beyond faculty in the fields of environmental science. Since the program was initiated, educators from nearly all of UTPA and UTB’s colleges have participated in Project Sin Fronteras (PSF), an intensive two-day faculty development program with a focus on curriculum integration in reference to sustainability. PSF guides instructors through the organization and use of knowledge as a tool to serve the basic premise of educating for sustainability--the development of an educated citizenry who contribute to a healthy, secure, prosperous, and democratic society.

Since its inception, the program has established a common goal for UTRGV curriculum and brought together faculty from all fields, allowing for an exchange of ideas that fosters an enriching collaborative atmosphere on campus. Many faculty, who have gone through the PSF program, have introduced hands-on learning experiences to their classes. Connecting students to problems in their communities gives students a holistic, systemic understanding of sustainability and a sense of civil service while improving something tangible in the world.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

15UTB

PARTICIPANTS

251TOTAL

CREDIT HOURS

55TOTAL PSF

PARTICIPANTS

5,105TOTAL STUDENT

IMPACT

28DEPARTMENTS

40UTPA

PARTICIPANTS

83TOTAL

SUSTAINABILITY FOCUSED OR

RELATED COURSES

14COUNTRIES

REPRESENTED

9,726TOTAL

INSTRUCTIONAL HOURS


1

234

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6

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

PIEDMONT PROJECT

Project Sin Fronteras is modeled after Emory University’s Piedmont Project, which works to bring the breadth of approaches and expertise into dialogue with sustainability challenges. The Piedmont Project is a competitively-awarded summer experience that aims to provide a deeper understanding of issues in Atlanta and in the university to a cohort of twenty participants a year. The intensive two-day workshop hopes to establish a foundation of confidence and clarity that supports those who are interested in taking steps toward action and inspire students to do likewise.

According to the project’s website, “A 2006 study of the first five years of the Piedmont Project found that most new or renovated courses were still being taught, and 40 percent of faculty reported changing not one course, but two, three, or four. In teaching methods, faculty reported not only adding new readings, but adding new labs, homework, or research projects (44%), developing a new unit or module (64%), or reorienting the course with a new paradigm (34%). The vast majority reported that their teaching methods changed to add more experiential learning, new outdoors exercises, or new ways of engaging students.”

The Piedmont Project is built on six guiding principles derived from research in campus environmental education, the work of John Dewey, and the 1977 UNESCO Tbilisi Intergovernmental Conference, among others. Built on the model of the Piedmont Project, Project Sin Fronteras follows the same principles:

Build recognition of the urgent environmental challenges and connected economic and social dimensions, including the opportunities and positive consequences that may flow from addressing these challenges;

Bring together a broad range of interdisciplinary expertise;

Develop a spirit of interdisciplinary cooperation based on an openness to working across traditional disciplines and welcome dialogue around a problem orientation;

Help faculty explore the shift in pedagogy from a paradigm of teacher as expert to teacher as facilitator of learning, becoming co-learners with students and with each other;

Offer opportunities to combine professional research skills with ethical reflection, personal responsibility, and action, raising questions about daily life habits as well as long-term institutional policies;

Ground the learning experience of the faculty (and through them, their students) in awareness of place, of the specific bioregion of which the university is part, to build concrete arenas of understanding and meaningful experiences that support motivation.


Sustainability problems affect more than a single area of political, professional, economic, or academic expertise, so naturally an inclusive framing is necessary if solutions are to be found for these global problems. Project Sin Fronteras created considerable impact across the University of Texas-Pan American, the University of Texas at Brownsville, and within their communities over the last three semesters through bi-annual workshops, which provide participants with information and skills to revise or produce a new course syllabus planning for the inclusion of sustainability. Interest in infusing sustainable topics into the classroom is widespread. Educators from nearly all of UTPA and UTB’s colleges have participated in PSF, which allows for an exchange of ideas and fosters an enriching, collaborative atmosphere on campus for faculty and staff.

PSF alumn Dr. Angel Saavedra Cisneros, a political science professor from the College of Social and Behavioral Science, found the most valuable part of the conference was the understanding he gained of the multifaceted nature of sustainability. He found that introducing sustainable ideas into pedagogical instruction gives us the opportunity to attack real-world, societal problems of our rapidly disappearing environment from many different directions. “Little by little we can make a change in the way people are thinking and acting,” he said, “and in the considerations people take when they make decisions to consume, carry out a project, or even where they invest.”

Participants of the workshops are guided through a step-by-step process to redesign syllabi in ways that

emphasize sustainability through the use of student engagement, inquiry, and action. Participants gain an understanding of the core principles of sustainability and how it applies to multiple disciplines, not just the fields directly related to environmental science, through hands-on activities and discussions that aim to encourage well-being and interdependence.

PSF does not ask educators to look outside of their field for instructional material or change their intended area of study, but rather works with them to investigate avenues for creative inclusion of the environmental, social, and economic consequences of human/nature interaction into their curriculum. The goal is for educators to be on the same page when it comes to sustainability, allowing expertise to come together from different disciplines to better help their students solve problems. Many faculty alumni introduce hands-on learning experiences to their classes. Connecting students to real problems in their communities gives a holistic, systemic understanding of sustainability as it relates to the social, environmental, and economic development.

The workshop includes presentations by speakers drawn from the faculty and the community on issues of sustainability, environment, and curriculum. Participants who complete the workshop and commit to teaching their revised syllabi within one academic year of certification receive a $500 stipend. The workshops are made possible through the generous support of the Office of the Executive Vice President (EVP) for Finance and Administration and the Office of the Provost-Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs.

ABOUT PROJECT SIN FRONTERAS

Project Sin Fronteras Workshops held at the UTRGV campus:

• September 19-20, 2014

• February 27-28, 2014

• April 10-11, 2015


SUSTAINABILITY ACADEMIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE

UTRGV has taken steps towards establishing a leadership role in incorporating concepts of sustainability into university culture with the creation, dissemination, and application of new areas of academic scholarship in the emerging field of sustainability.

The University Sustainability Council (USC), a permanent standing committee established to develop a framework for the university’s Sustainability Campus Action Plan, serves as a voice for their particular campus constituency with regard to critical sustainability issues. The members of the Council must represent all aspects of sustainability on campus, including economic and social equity as well as environmental issues to ensure that the needs of the entire campus community are met.

Formed under the USC, a Sustainability Academic Advisory Committee (SAAC) outlines the issues to be addressed by Project Sin Fronteras and their relation to UTRGV’s strategic plan. The SAAC reports to the Office of the EVP for Finance and Administration and the Office of the Provost-EVP for Academic Affairs, who submit recommendations to the President. Following the suggestions of the SAAC, UTRGV will pursue a multi-campus planning process initiated by UTPA and uphold the university’s commitment to sustainability in curriculum.

Dr. Amy Hay Associate Professor of History and PhilosophyCollege of Arts and Humanities, UTPA

Mr. Joe M. Garza, Jr. MBA, Director of Business EngagementCollege of Business, UTPA

Dr. Jude Benavidez Associate Professor of Hydrology and Water Resources, College of Science, Mathematics, and Technology, UTB

Dr. Virgil Pierce Associate Professor, Associate Dean College of Science and Mathematics, UTPA

Dr. Jennie Johnson Associate Professor of ManagementSchool of Business, UTB

Dr. Angel Saavedra Cisneros SAAC Chair, Assistant Professor of Political Science College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, UTPA

Ms. Marianella Q. Franklin Director for Sustainability Programs, UTPA

Ms. Denisse Salcedo Academic Assessment InternOffice for Sustainability, UTPA

Academic Advisory Committee


Project Sin Fronteras (PSF) has developed a strong record of helping participants change not merely what they teach but how they teach. Consequently, alumni of the workshops have reported significant changes in pedagogy. Student participation is essential to sustainability in higher education, and the current generation of students is engaged and eager to make a difference through planning, teamwork, and sacrifice. Providing students with opportunities to contribute directly to causes, raise awareness, and engage in conversation about sustainability is key to instilling those values in students and demands a commitment on the educators’ parts to active and problem-solving pedagogies. New assignments immerse students in investigative and reflective activities with the surrounding natural world and human-constructed environment, often pointing toward innovation and change. The kinds of fundamental changes in course content and method typical of PSF alumni reflect that this commitment is widespread at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

PSF workshops follow the pedagogical approach developed by its first speaker, Susan Santone. Santone’s approach to curriculum integration, “Inquiry as Narrative: A Process for Instructional Design,” guides instructors through the organization and use of knowledge as a tool to serve the basic premise of educating for sustainability: the development of an educated citizenry who contribute to a healthy, secure, prosperous, and democratic society. Santone is qualified to certify PSF attendees who go through a process to lead future PSF sessions themselves. A faculty leader, Amy M. Hay, received this certification from Santone, and provided the training to the next two PSF sessions.

Santone points out that curriculum integration is limited by the specialization that is often rewarded within disciplines. Meeting the demands of sustainability may require breaking from the confines of an individual discipline; changes in course delivery, credits, program requirements, and the way educators are prepared should be organized based on the demands of the issue. This reframing is necessary to yield solutions that transcend disciplinary boundaries and address the complex nature of global problems.

To that end, Santone differentiates between two pedagogical approaches: inter/multidisciplinary, and trans-disciplinary approaches. Trans-disciplinary, or “across” disciplinary approaches are more involved with issues of social and personal significance. They more often enact real-world change than multidisciplinary teaching methods, and better meet the ultimate goal of sustainability--healthy and democratic societies. Santone calls for these to become the goals of education as well, not standards or requirements. “Such framing would shift the discussion from integrating sustainability into the curriculum to integrating the curriculum to support the goals of sustainability.” Inter/multidisciplinary approaches cross and combine two or more disciplines in analysis of sustainable situations, but might paint a fractured picture of sustainability in that it is not applied; the demands of each discipline drive instruction in ways that don’t necessarily apply to finding solutions.

Ms. Susan Santone is the founder and Executive Director of Creative Change Educational Solutions. A former classroom teacher, she specializes in instructional design and training for sustainability, ecological economics, and cultural issues. She is also an adjunct instructor in Teacher Education at Eastern Michigan University, where she taught “Schools in a Diverse and Democratic Society” and “Teaching Ecological Economics.” She earned teacher certificates in social studies,

music, and TESOL; and has a Master’s Degree in Intercultural and International Management from the SIT Graduate Institute in Brattleboro, Vermont.

METHOD


Dr. Amy Hay, is an associate professor of history at UTPA. Hay’s research interests focus on medicine and the environment, women and gender, and activism and public policy. She has published articles examining gender, citizenship and religious activism in relation to the Love Canal chemical disaster, a “discovery” of over 22,000 tons of toxic chemicals buried under the homes and schools of Niagara Falls, New York. The University of Rochester Press has sent her book manuscript, Recipe for Disaster: Chemical Wastes, Community Activists, and Public Health at Love Canal, out for external review.

Meeting the demands of sustainabil ity may require breaking from the confines of an individual discipline; changes in course delivery, credits, program requirements, and the way educators are prepared should be organized based on the demands of the issue. This reframing is necessary to yield solutions that transcend disciplinary boundaries and address the complex nature of global problems.


Learners are driven by questions that emerge through in-depth investigations in a four-stage process of engagement, deep inquiry, decision-making, and positive action. Opening lessons introduce key issues and discussions about cultural contexts. Stages two and three unearth interconnected concepts, lead learners to develop skills to make deeper inquiries into policies and their impacts, and examine solutions. The final stage is about action: setting the stage for positive changes or new beginnings.

One component of the workshop that was very well received by faculty was Santone’s Instructional Design Checklist, a simple tool for the evaluation of a course. This spreadsheet outlines goals with detailed questions such as whether the course promotes open-ended inquiry or authentic connections to learner’s communities. This helps faculty determine to what extent their classes meet these goals, and work on implementing those features that are lacking into their classes.

The second day of the PSF workshop focuses on trans-disciplinary collaboration, a practical application of sustainability’s tenant of interconnection. Faculty have the chance to contribute their expertise to help each other develop ideas and understanding that can be taken back to the classroom, shared with students to prepare them for the collaborative problem solving typical of professionals. Experts in diverse fields must often bring together their knowledge to execute projects.

The workshops offer participants the chance to hear a series of short presentations by PSF alumni who describe the changes they made in their courses and the resulting experiences. This exchange builds a sense of community among participants which extends to the entire campus after PSF concludes. The presenters demostrate how sustainability can be applied to all fields of study and show off their creativity by explaining new content or techniques they applied to their classes. The range of innovations from diverse fields not only stimulates new ideas for participants, but also validates that the workshop is about creativity in teaching methods, not just course content. The presentations also reinforce trust in the group, because not all innovations are successes. Faculty at all stages of their careers are invited to present, reinforcing the co-learner model.

“At the end of the two days, I came out with some very specific ideas that I want to incorporate in my classes that will benefit the students, that will make them more aware what the concepts of sustainability are all about, and I think it’s very valuable,” said Dr. Victor Alvarado from UTPA’s College of Education. He found it invaluable that teacher education will continue to be a major component of PSF. “They are the ones who are educating, preparing the future generations of students, who will make a difference in our environment, our region, our country, and the whole world.”

METHODOLOGY & PROFESSIONAL LEARNING


“This is an initiative that I’m glad is happening right now. I think as faculty and chair of the department, we come out with knowledge to build a more strategic program; that way as we move forward into the new university, we will be more strengthened. It was what I expected in terms of getting a more comprehensive view

of what sustainability’s all about.”

- Dr. Kai S. Koong, College of Business Administration, CIS, UTPA


Ms. Michelle Zurawski, is an Associate Professor of Biology at Moraine Valley Community College where she teaches general biology, invertebrate zoology,

and marine biology on campus, online and in the

field. The recipient of the college’s 2009 Professor of the

Year award, she is the past President of the Illinois Association of Community College Biologists (IACCB), a Mastering Biology Faculty Advisor, and the Co-chair of the campus Green Team and the Sustainability Coordinator of Teaching & Learning at MVCC. Zurawski has created Greening Your Curriculum, a sustainability professional development program for faculty across the disciplines that is exploration-based and is equivalent to a 3 credit hour graduate course.

Dr. James Feldman, is an associate professor of Environmental Studies and History at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. He has been involved in the UW Oshkosh Campus Sustainability Initiative since 2005. He was a co-writer of the university’s campus sustainability plan, a founding member of its sustainability council, and the co-chair of that council. He has given lectures and led workshops on sustainability in the curriculum at conferences and campuses around the country. His research interests include wilderness and the national parks and the history and sustainability of American radioactive waste disposal policies.


Project Sin Fronteras has hosted sustainability-knowledgeable speakers from around the country, including curriculum development specialists and sustainability program organizers. They are individuals who have already participated in similar programs at peer institutions and who lend their expertise to faculty on the second day of the workshop. UTPA and UTB faculty were also invited to give presentations.


Mr. Kevin Wilhelm is a prominent consultant and speaker in the field of business sustainability and climate change. He is a professor at Bainbridge Graduate Institute as well as the CEO of Sustainable Business Consulting, a Seattle-based consulting firm focused on demonstrating the bottom-line business benefits of sustainability and then leading companies through successful implementation. Kevin brings nearly two decades of experience working with businesses ranging from Fortune 500 multinationals to medium-sized businesses. He is also an acclaimed author and has developed a series of online courses around sustainability for both the corporate and academic markets.

Dr. Teresa Spezio, is a professional engineer

with training in sustainability program implementation and development and over 25 years of experience

in environmental compliance and auditing

activities. She has worked as a consultant specializing in

minimization of environmental exposure through discharges into air, water and land and the development of plans and programs to minimize spills and accidents. She has worked with industrial clients in developing and implementing ISO 14001 EMS programs and in assisting with achieving certification as required. She has performed environmental compliance and management systems audits in over twenty states and three Canadian provinces.



College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Dr. Steven FoySociology & Anthropology

Dr. Owen TembyPolitical Science

Dr. Angel SaavedraPolitical Science

College of Arts and Humanities

Dr. Cynthia PaccacerquaPhilosophy

Dr. Stephen LeachPhilosophy

Dr. Mark NoeEnglish

Ms. Marianita EscamillaEnglish

Dr. Maritza De La TrinidadHistory

Dr. Aje-ori Agbese Communication

Dr. Megan BirkPhilosophy

Ms. Marcela HebbardEnglish

Ms. Stefanie HerweckEnglish

College of Business Administration

Dr. Sharon SchembriMarketing

Dr. Babajide OsatuyiComputer Informational Systems & Quantitative Methods

Dr. Kai S. KoongComputer Informational Systems & Quantitative Methods

Mr. Marco GarzaManagement

Dr. Mohammadali ZolfagharianMarketing

Ms. Maria PattersonManagement

Dr. Jun SunComputer Informational Systems & Quantitative Methods

College of Education

Dr. Victor AlvaradoEducational Psychology

College of Engineering & Computer Science

Dr. Yoonsu ChoiElectrical Engineering

Dr. Horacio VasquezMechanical Engineering

Dr. Jungseok HoMechanical Engineering

Mr. Gustavo DietrichComputer Science

Dr. Mohamed Abdel-RaheemMechanical Engineering

Dr. Young-Gil ParkMechanical Engineering

Dr. Jorge VidalMechanical Engineering

College of Health Sciences & Human Services

Mr. Antonio AguirreRehabilitation

Dr. Alma Flores-VelaNursing

Dr. Lydia AguileraPharmacy Program

Dr. Daniela BazanPharmacy Program

Dr. Catherine FaverSocial Worker

Dr. Noe RamirezSocial Worker

College of Science & Mathematics

Mr. Andres Padilla-OviedoMathematics

Dr. Frank DirriglBiology

Dr. Tulay AtesinChemistry

Dr. Virgil PierceMatematics

Dr. George YanevMatematics

Dr. Aaron T. WilsonMathematics

Dr. Liang ZengPhysics & Geology

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College of Engineering & Computer Science

Dr. Yoonsu ChoiElectrical Engineering

Dr. Horacio VasquezMechanical Engineering

Dr. Jungseok HoMechanical Engineering

Mr. Gustavo DietrichComputer Science

Dr. Mohamed Abdel-RaheemMechanical Engineering

Dr. Young-Gil ParkMechanical Engineering

Dr. Jorge VidalMechanical Engineering

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College of Liberal Arts

Dr. Pamela HerringEnglish

Dr. Louis FalkCommunication

Dr.Susan Hurley-GlowaMusic

College of Nursing

Ms. Luz Maria SilvaMSN, RN

PARTICIPANTS

School of Business

Dr. Emma L. MillerManagement & Marketing

Dr. Jennie JohnsonManagement & Marketing

Dr. Clara Downey-AdamsManagement & Marketing

College of Education

Dr. Georginanna Duarte Department of Teaching, Learning and Innovation

Dr. Zhidong ZhangCenter for Teaching & Learning

Dr. Mary CurtisPhychology & Leadership Studies

College of Science , Mathematics & Techonology

Dr. Immanuel EdinbaroughMathematics and Technology, School of Engineering and Computational Sciences

Dr. James MaissenMathematics and Technology, Department of Mathematics

Dr. Jude BenavidesChemistry & Environmental Sciences

Dr. Wei LinChemistry

Dr. Mohamed Jasim UddinChemistry & Environmental Sciences

Universidad de Monterey (UDEM), Nuevo Leon, Mexico

Mr. Cesar Alfredo Nanni del Valle

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PARTICIPATION BY COLLEGE


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IMPACT

Sustainability can be difficult to quantitatively measure. Environmental practices, performance and social impact cannot be reduced to a dollar figure, and it is impossible to tell how far students will go with the ideas investigated in PSF-reviewed courses. A systemic focus on processes such as diversity, learning, and adaptation are a better representation impact on culture and curriculum than defining financial targets.

An undergraduate research student, Denisse Salcedo, was hired by the OFS in December 2014 as an academic assessor to determine how many sustainability (focused or related) courses exist at UTRGV to help determine to what extent sustainability values have been internalized into every aspect of its curriculum. By using the qualitative software Nvivo to review syllabi for sustainability key terms, Salcedo was able to determine the extent to which sustainability was implemented into UTPA curriculum post-PSF. Her analysis of data contributed greatly to the univeristy’s report to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). Salcedo’s work additionally contributed to this report of PSF’s

effect on the pedagogical approaches of UTPA and UTB faculty, and the broader and institutional impacts and implications of the project.

Over the last three semesters, more than 83 new or reshaped courses have resulted directly from PSF, and these courses reach thousands of undergraduate students a year. We tallied student enrollment in the classes of PSF alumni and determined that 5,105 students were impacted. Courses include general education and advanced courses within majors, small seminars, and larger introductory courses. PSF professors uploaded their revised syllabi to be cataloged and made available through ASSIST (Advanced Services for Student Information Supported by Technology) via the UTRGV Office of the Registrar. In addition to these sources, in-person interviews conducted with participants and observations of campus change over the last three semesters formed the basis of this report.

251TOTAL

CREDIT HOURS55TOTAL PSF

PARTICIPANTS

5,105TOTAL STUDENT

IMPACT

28DEPARTMENTS

40UTPA

PARTICIPANTS

83TOTAL

SUSTAINABILITY FOCUSED OR

RELATED COURSES

14COUNTRIES

REPRESENTED

9,726TOTAL

INSTRUCTIONAL HOURS


PEDAGOGICAL INNOVATION

Some faculty have said Project Sin Fronteras connects them to deeper questions about university actions as well as their own personal responsibility within their communities. Post-PSF courses varied in degree of integration of sustainability, from assigning a sustainability-related research paper, to development of hands-on service-based learning projects that directly affected the region. The impact of service learning on the students’ lives is incalculable. Working with a faculty mentor, who guides reflection of ethical, intellectual, and civil aspects of their experiences, benefits students’ understanding, engagement, and sense of civil duty.

Maria Patterson’s upper level course, Business and Society, is a prime example of service learning. This course studies the impact (both negative and positive)

of business in society and aims to help the student learn appropriate business responses to complex matters related to socio-economic, political, and legal issues. As part of the curriculum for this class, students are expected to complete 20 hours of volunteer work at a non-for-profit organization(s) in our community.Students regularly log over 2,000 hours of combined volunteer service per semester, reaching a wide range of communities in the Rio Grande Valley.

PSF has also affected the research direction of some participants, who have published articles, given a professional presentation, or started independent or collaborative projects as a spin-off from the changes in their courses.

“I want to thank the Office of Sustainability of UTPA for inviting us to participate, and I must confess that the workshop was very appealing, and I appreciated how every instructor was made to feel included and everyone participated. They made us believe we can incorporate sustainability themes into our classes, no matter the area of study. With this information, we can choose from the large bed of environmental problems we have, and apply these concepts to their classes, to try to find solutions.”

–Cesar Alfredo Nanni del Valle Universidad de Monterey (UDEM), Nuevo Leon, Mexico

“It was excellent, well organized; we were treated so well, there were excellent speakers, and it was a fun experience as well. It was a wonderful opportunity to bring faculty from UTB and UTPA together. I’ve been doing some reading on sustainability but now I have an in-depth idea of what it is, and certainly I have an idea of how I can incorporate it into some of my classes.”

- Dr. Jennie Johnson School of Business, UTB


PSF ALUMNI HIGHLIGHTS

Dr. Jungseok Ho College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, UTPA

One PSF participant’s research is an action-oriented approach to sustainability, using the campus as a living laboratory and helping our students build professional skills and community commitment research. Dr. Jungseok Ho’s research on bioswales (landscape elements designed to remove silt and pollution from surface runoff water) has helped secure a $26,022 grant for stormwater management projects which directly improve the campus. His research into native plants contributed to UTPA’s Municipal Separate Stormwater System (MS4) plan, which identifies targeted potential sources of stormwater pollution from the campus and establishes best practices to reduce the amount of pollutants potentially contained in stormwater runoff. Dr. Ho later presented at a Baltimore, Maryland conference called Smart Sustainable Campuses, on defining curriculum in reference to sustainability through interdisciplinary partnerships.

Mr. Jorge Vidal College of Engineering and Computer Science, UTPA

Advanced civil engineering students in Jorge Vidal’s AutoCad and Surveying classes assisted the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) by drafting and entering most of their regional facilities into Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) systems. The HHSC offered students a chance to intern with them: building their work portfolios and resumes and increasing the chances for better professional opportunities, while aiding the HHSC to further develop their facilities’ database. Students had opportunities to experience the latest technology being used in their field, and had fun with it by laying in formation to spell UTPA for an aerial video taken by an Remote Control Quad copter (drone).



Dr. Georgianna Duarte College of Education, UTPA

After attending PSF in 2014, Dr. Georgianna Duarte revised her Spring 2015 syllabus for her class, “The Environment and Early Childhood Education,” to include sustainability-based service-learning projects. This took the form of community play days, which Duarte introduced to address sustainability concepts such as the health and nutrition of young children, recycling, and social justice through the use of public venues to host free events. UTB students pursuing early childhood degrees led the play day event, designing over 40 activities for children that foster collaboration, cooperation and peace while re-using cardboard in creative ways. Around 80 children participated in building trains, tunnels, castles and more, and painting messages of peace on their creations. Students oversaw that all cardboard was stripped of tape residue after the event and recycled. You can read more about the event here: http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/premiumarticle_31af181a-e4a4-11e4-8873-476974f495cf.html

Dr. Aaron T. Wilson “Experimental Algebra & Geometry Lab” College of Science and Mathematics, UTPA

In addition to his teaching duties, Dr. Aaron T. Wilson is Director of Outreach for the Experimental Algebra and Geometry Laboratory (EAGL), which has made a mission out of engaging the Valley community with workshops and presentations sharing a different perspective on math, teaching that math is fascinating, engaging, beautiful and human--not just a bunch of numbers. The EAGL met with over 1,200 students (elementary through college) during Spring 2014, sharing fun and interesting mathematics with hands-on activities. Another recent project of the EAGL is the Hyperbolic Crochet Garden, which was on display at the International Museum of Arts and Sciences (IMAS) from February 27 – April 23, 2014.



Dr. Mohammadali Zolfagharian College of Business Administration, UTPA

Collaborating with the College of Business Administration and UTPA’s Office for Sustainability, Dr. Mohammadali Zolfagharian helped organized UTPA’s first Trans-Atlantic Sustainability Seminar (TASS). UTPA has developed a relationship with Leuphana University (based in Lüneberg, Germany), organizing study abroad opportunities for students, with a focus on energy, transportation, waste and water management and public policy. Among other activities in Texas, the German exchange students along with UTPA students attended a daylong TASS Forum to learn and discuss the differences and similarities in our transportation systems. The TASS Forum included presentations by students and faculty members from both universities, as well as officials from Edinburg, McAllen, Pharr, and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Dr. Horacio Vasquez College of Engineering, UTPA

Some classes are sustainable by nature, such as Dr. Horacio Vasquez’s MECE 4360 class, Solar Energy. Vasquez reviewed his syllabus for this advanced professional preparation course at PSF to introduce students to alternative energy systems and their applications, with particular emphasis in solar energy systems. Students gained valuable research skills, such as developing, troubleshooting and installing new instruments successfully. This is part of the research Vasquez is conducting on solar panels and education with Jaime Ramos, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at UTPA. Ramos teaches a similar graduate class called Renewable Energy. Twenty-eight students enrolled, gaining valuable research skills working with the solar radiation tracking system UTPA received through a grant given by the U.S. Dept. of Energy. After students installed and tested the system, they were able to use it to record and collect information concerning solar radiation through a photovoltaic system. “These results will serve our research and our students taking ELEE 4373- Renewable Energy,” Ramos said. “Most importantly, students can learn and practice different aspects of solar engineering with this system.”




Dr. Louis K. Falk College of Liberal Arts, UTB

As PSF stressed, all fields can infuse sustainable practices, such as community service. Dr. Louis K. Falk’s Applied Communication classes, which focus on the adoption of effective communication skills, operate under a sustainability framework that is applied to help explore ethical and moral pathways. Students are expected to participate in and learn from at least three hours of a civic engagement activity. On an annual basis over the last four years, his students research the needs of local animal shelters and work with them to better serve the animals’ requirements. From Fall 2013-Spring 2014, three sections of his classes (for a total of 81 students over 350 hours) assisted the Friends of Animal Rescue with the first phase of remodeling their recently purchased building at 4908 Padre Blvd. Skills developed included interpersonal communication and problem solving.

Dr. Sharon Schembri College of Business Administration, UTPA

Marketing is a powerful tool for driving the traditional economic-growth paradigm towards sustainable business systems, and bringing real-world relevance into the classroom provides highly beneficial experiential learning; Dr. Sharon Schembri teaches a class designed to educate undergraduate business students about the mutually-beneficial relationship between sustainability and contemporary marketing. Schembri also co-wrote an article about the course with Lecturer Joe M. Garza, MBA of the College of Business Administration, called “Embedding Sustainability in Marketing Curriculum: An Applied U.S.-Mexico Border Region Case Study,” which was published in a sustainability publication, “The Journal of Record” in December 2014.


PSF ALUMNI HIGHLIGHTSPSF ALUMNI HIGHLIGHTS

Ms. Pamela Herring College of Liberal Arts, English, UTB

Students usually enroll in an English class and don’t expect much excitement, just reading and writing--not the case in Pamela Herring’s English 1302 composition class. Her courses, which are linked to biology, take exploratory field trips for the observation of sustainability – and they aren’t going just down the street. In 2013, the focus of her classes was a collection of stories by Jack Ewing (specifically “Gift from the Sea,” by Anne Marrow Lindbergh and “Monkeys are Made of Chocolate: Exotic and Unseen Costa Rica”) which inspired students in 2014, with the help of the Office of Global Engagement, to visit Hacienda Baru, a 815-acre nature preserve along Costa Rica’s south Pacific coast. Herring explained that in the book, the main character, Jack, his wife, and a partner painstakingly created the ecotourism wonderland on a cattle ranch over several decades. Reading Ewing’s stories, Herring said Costa Rica called to her, and a

subsequent trip “confirmed Hacienda Baru would be the perfect location for a study abroad writing class.”

Dr. Mary G. Curtis Department of Education, Psychology and Leadership Studies, UTB

Students enrolled in Dr. Mary G. Curtis’s graduate course EPSY 6308, Assistive Technology and Instructional Supports, were challenged with a service learning project for Children’s Museum of Brownsville. To help meet the needs of the museum, the graduate students were charged with the task of evaluating the accessibility of the museum exhibits for children with disabilities.

First, students observe the children playing in the museum. Then, they simulate different disabilities (see picture for limited mobility and visually impaired) while interacting with the exhibits themselves. Finally, they return to the museum and interact normally within each exhibit. The students must then draw conclusions as to what ought to be changed for different disabling categories. After researching products, students present their findings and recommendations for improvements to the museum director or board. This project provided service-learning experience to graduate participants while fulfilling the needs of the children’s museum, as the last two directors of the museum have both implemented several ideas from this project.


Dr. Liang Zeng College of Science and Mathematics, Physics and Geology, UTPA

Through her participation in the ADVANCE Administrative Fellows Program, sponsored by UTPA’s National Science Foundation ADVANCE grant, Dr. Zeng assists the Department of Community Engagement in the Office of the Vice President for Business Affairs to expand UTPA physical science outreach programs for local school

districts. To this end, she writes grants that expand the capacities of the University to host physics teacher training and a physics summer campus for middle school students. Zeng recently helped facilitate about 30 physics and geology demonstrations for Rio Grande Valley students during the University’s 2013 HESTEC conference, recruiting UTPA student organizations and faculty members to identify, assemble and showcase the experiments that were displayed as part of HESTEC Week. For the four-day period (Oct. 8-11) during which the Middle School Challenge lasted, groups of about 250 students each visited Science Funland, for a total of about 1,000 guests on each day. In addition, Science Funland was made available to community members during Community Day on Oct. 12.


Dr. Jude Benavides College of Science and Mathematics, and Technology,UTB

Two water quality grants hinge on the research of PSF alumni Dr. Jude Benavides and his students: a water quality model attempts to identify the most efficient measures that can be taken to improve water quality; and a bacterial-source tracking analysis. Benavides hopes to collaborate with other universities in the UT system to start looking at the water situation in Texas as a big picture. Water samples are tested by students for e-coli, and then shipped to a partnering agency for analysis of the bacteria’s DNA, which allows for identification of its origins.

Another project of Benavidez’ involves the dredging of Brownsville area resacas. Partnering with the BPUB and the City of Brownsville, his goal is to restore them to a level where they can be enjoyed from an ecotourism standpoint instead of posing a flooding threat if heavy rains have nowhere to drain. Benavides presented his findings, “Resaca Restoration in Brownsville, Texas: Restoring Isolated Distributaries of the Rio Grande for Multiple Benefits including Recreation,” at the Texas Trails and Active Transportation Conference in Fort Worth, Texas in 2014. The presentation outlined the phases of the Restoration Program and sought to layout the tremendous potential for the establishment of a mix of urban and natural kayaking trails.


Project Sin Fronteras (PSF) addresses the challenge often faced by sustainability programs: finding a middle ground between the wide range of interests and academic goals sustainability can address, and maintaining a unified curriculum that is adaptive to the needs of today’s students. Through Project Sin Fronteras, UTPA and UTB have fostered an atmosphere of creative freedom in which faculty and staff can consider the possibilities for incorporation of sustainability topics into their fields. PSF helps develop an understanding of methods by which sustainability can be embedded into classroom discussion and activity–-including the proposal of new courses to expand UTRGV’s existing course offerings. PSF provides the transformational educational platform that equips professors to bring sustainability directly to students through hands-on assignments, long-term projects, and community learning experiences, all of which prepare students to advance sustainability goals in their future careers by underscoring the importance of ecological, economic, and community planning.

Another goal of PSF is to provide a networking opportunity for professors who wish to collaborate on multi- and trans-disciplinary projects. Collaboration across fields is highly beneficial, allowing faculty and student researchers to look at problems through different lenses of understanding to find solutions for complex problems, often directly affecting our region. As professors realize the myriad possibilities for inclusion of sustainable topics into their area of study, and the importance of introducing students of all fields to the idea of working closely with others outside of their major, they may develop ideas for collaborative projects that provide future students with learning experiences that would be otherwise unavailable.

As the number of sustainability focused or related courses has increased since PSF’s initiation, it’s clear that these workshops have had an affect on the UTRGV curriculum; however, an evaluation of these courses through a sustainability literacy survey is the first step necessary to determine the next best action to take towards the development of a formal sustainability program.

The sustainability literacy survey is one of several initiatives by the Sustainability Academic Advisory committee to bolster the effects of PSF. It would assess the newly-revised courses of the three cohorts of PSF participants who have already implemented

PSF’s instruction in terms of successful sustainability experiences, and would be administered at the beginning of all courses to help faculty members gauge students’ understanding of sustainability when they come into the course, and again at the conclusion of the course. Through the results of this survey, the Office for Sustainability hopes to assess both qualitative and quantitative data which would showcase the effectiveness with which information was shared with students.

In efforts to make registering for sustainability courses more accessible, UTRGV will initiate coding of both PSF and existing sustainability courses into the course catalog. Registration will then make readily apparent which courses present sustainability concepts, so students can make choices in their degree planning that are more in line with their personal values. The coding serves the additional purpose of allowing for measurement and tracking of student impact with respect to retention, student success, intern/extern experiences, and job-related placements.

Once this coding has been completed and it becomes apparent that sustainability focused or related courses are offered every semester, UTRGV may begin by offering a student certificate in sustainability, which involves the successful completion of a number of sustainability related/focused courses, and is intended to be earned by students of any major alongside their typical coursework. Next steps would be the development of an undergraduate sustainability program by which students could graduate with a major or minor in sustainability studies. Optimistically, a graduate program would follow. UTRGV’s planned medical school is another avenue by which health can be placed within the context of the biosphere, training medical professionals who understand our region’s special needs.

UTRGV’s commitment to sustainability is strong, and though these programs are a work in progress, Project Sin Fronteras has already shown itself to be an integral component to embedding sustainability, not just into the curriculum at UTRGV, but into the lives of its faculty, students, staff, and residents of the surrounding area. As UTRGV moves forward with initiatives such as PSF, it will result in a beautiful and sustainable university campus that provides co-curricular and service learning to a highly engaged student body, and an invaluable example for the region to follow.

CONCLUSION


CONTRIBUTORS

Dr. Havidan Rodriguez PROVOST AND EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

Mr. Martin V. Baylor EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT FOR FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION

Dr. Cynthia Ann Brown DEPUTY PROVOST

Ms. Marianella Q. Franklin CHIEF SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER/EDITOR

Ms. Deborah Fitzwater-Dewey OFFICE FOR SUSTAINABILITY GRANT WRITER/ CO-EDITOR

Ms. Karen Villarreal OFFICE FOR SUSTAINABILITY INTERN WRITER/GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Ms. Marcela A. Pena OFFICE FOR SUSTAINABILITY INTERN GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Mr. Jacob Chapa OFFICE FOR SUSTAINABILITY INTERN PHOTOGRAPHER

GLOSSARY

ACADEMIC SERVICE LEARNING- a teaching methodology that incorporates community service as a means of helping students gain a deeper understanding of course objectives, acquire new knowledge, develop professional expertise and engage in civic activity.

CLASS OFFERING- a particular section of a course taught in a given semester. The same course might be taught several times a semester to accommodate for student enrollment.

CO-CURRICULAR SERVICE LEARNING- differs from Academic Service-learning in that it is not connected to a specific course or discipline. It allows students not enrolled in an Academic Service-learning course the opportunity to participate in service activities, with the goal of promoting student development. These programs utilize structured reflection to encourage students to learn more about themselves and their communities while engaging in meaningful service experience.

COMMUNITY SERVICE- is defined as activities designed to improve the quality of life of off-campus community residents, particularly low-income individuals. Community service includes both direct service to citizens (e.g. serving food to the needy) and indirect service (e.g. assessing community nutrition needs or managing a food bank). Community service activities may include but are not limited to academic and co-curricular service learning, Work-Study community service, and paid community service internships.

COURSE OFFERING- a listing in ASSIST of a type of course. Courses are numbered to show both the level at which they are offered and the semester hour value of the course. The first digit represents the level, and the second digit represents the credit hours.

NEW/INTEGRATED COURSE- through PSF, faculty might be inspired to develop a completely new course syllabus, or simply review syllabus of an existing class to result in the Integration of an Existing Course, which includes sustainability topics while maintaining currently existing course goals.

STANDARDS- begin with terms such as identify, describe, explain, etc. Serve as indicators of understanding becuase they provide specific behaviors that indicate undestanding.

SUSTAINABILITY-FOCUSED COURSES- are those in which the primary and explicit focus is on sustainability and/or on understanding or solving one or more major sustainability challenge. This includes foundational courses in which the primary and explicit focus is on concepts having social, economic, and environmental dimensions. Courses may also count if their course descriptions indicate a primary and explicit focus on sustainability, or deal with the application of sustainability within a field. As sustainability is an interdisciplinary topic, such courses generally incorporate insights from multiple disciplines. Courses in which the primary focus is on providing skills and/or knowledge directly connected to understanding or solving one or more major sustainability challenges also apply. Such courses do not necessarily cover “sustainability” as a concept, but should address more than one of the three dimensions of sustainability (i.e. social wellbeing, economic prosperity, and environmental health).

SUSTAINABILITY-RELATED COURSES- include sustainability is primarily focused on a topic other than sustainability, but incorporates a unit or module on sustainability or a sustainability challenge, includes one or more sustainability-focused activities, or integrates sustainability issues throughout the course. While a foundational course such as chemistry or sociology might provide knowledge that is useful to practitioners of sustainability, it would not be considered to be inclusive of sustainability unless the concept of sustainability or a sustainability challenge is specifically integrated into the course. Likewise, although specific tools or practices can be applied towards sustainability, such courses would not count unless they incorporated a unit on sustainability or a sustainability challenge, included a sustainability-focused activity, or incorporated sustainability issues throughout the course.

SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCH- is research that leads toward solutions that simultaneously support social wellbeing, economic prosperity, and ecological health. It includes academic research that explicitly addresses sustainability and/or furthers our understanding of the interconnectedness of social, economic and environmental issues; contributes directly toward solving one or more major sustainability challenge; and/or engages community members with the aim of combining knowledge and action to achieve positive social, economic and environmental.

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

1201 West University Dr., Edinburg, TX 78539

The Office for Sustainability ITTB 1.404R

(956) 665-3030 Office

(956) 665-2322 Fax

www.facebook.com/UTRGVSustainability

https://youtu.be/h244r7u5G4c

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