Sustainability resources for faculty members
Find out what resources are available for faculty members to help them offer meaningful sustainability learning opportunities for students at any level and in any program.
The importance of teaching sustainability
Sustainability learning is a vital part of a student’s formal and informal education at Concordia. That’s why, as part of the Sustainability in Curriculum Plan, we commit to work with faculty members to foster an understanding and practice of sustainability across the curriculum.
The Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) are actively working with partners to develop training modules, programs, and other resources that support faculty in offering meaningful sustainability learning opportunities for students — at any level and in any program!
Sustainable curriculum events
Discover the available resources
Sustainability in curriculum co-design project
This project seeks to create co-design teams comprised of an instructor and two students who receive support to develop and integrate sustainable learning outcomes and related learning resources and activities into a course curriculum.
Sustainable curriculum developer
Faculty members or departments can meet with Florence Gruter, Sustainability Curriculum Developer in the CTL, to integrate sustainability-related content into course curricula in-line with your disciplinary focus, using the most appropriate pedagogical tools and approach.
Sustainability living lab funding program
Teams led by faculty and/or staff, in collaboration with students, can apply for funding to develop and implement projects that demonstrate progress towards the goals and targets of the Sustainability Action Plan. Projects should also provide experiential learning opportunities for students.
Student sustainability ambassadors
If you teach an internship course, consider partnering with the Student Sustainability Ambassadors Program. Students in the program spend 5 hours per week on sustainability activities including team sessions, volunteering, outreach and education. Contact Meredith Marty-Dugas for more information.
Read about the Sustainable Curriculum Report
The Sustainable Curriculum Report is completed every two to four years to fulfill our reporting criteria for the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) and to better understand how many sustainability courses and programs students have access to in faculties and degree levels across Concordia.
The 2021 report, which covers the academic years 2018-19 through 2019-20, was compiled using a keyword search and review methodology outlined by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).
What the results show
The results indicate that 11.7 per cent of courses taught at Concordia include sustainability content; 24 out of 52 departments include at least one sustainability course; and 19 per cent of our students graduate from programs that equip them with sustainability learning outcomes.
We recognize that the methodologies used in the 2021 report are highly likely to underestimate sustainability courses and learning outcomes, and are developing new methodologies involving supported self-identification of sustainability courses by Concordia faculty.
New course suggestions welcomed
In the meantime, we invite faculty to view our sustainable course list and to get in contact if they have suggestions for additional courses to be added.
Questions?
Please contact Florence Gruter for questions about sustainable curriculum programming.