Summary of Outcomes from a HECUA Mini-Workshop
Building a Higher Education Program on Sustainability in the Mississippi River Basin
(Held Sept. 21, 2001 at Macalester College Campus Center)
Participants
Sara Carpenter (HECUA)
Kristen Corselius (Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy)
Bob Douglas (Gustavus Adolfus / Geography)
John Gregg (Augsburg / History)
Steve Hoffman (St. Thomas / Political Science)
David Kelley (St. Thomas / Geography)
Barbara Liukonnen (U of M / Water Resources Center)
Peter Vaughn (Macalester / Environmental Studies)
Shelley Shreffler (Neighborhood Energy Consortium)
Gary Wagenbach (Carleton / Biology)
Nan Kari (HECUA)
Blake Ratner (HECUA and U of M, workshop facilitator)
Joe Underhill-Cady (Augsburg / Political Science).
Workshop Outcomes
Objective 1 - to familiarize ourselves with the work of other colleagues in academic and community/nonprofit organizations who have ongoing activities or interests in engaging college and university students in learning about and contributing to sustainability in the upper Mississippi River Basin
* Participants shared a personal perspective on themselves and their work, learning what major concerns or hopes each has about sustainability, and what defining experiences have motivated us each to work in this area.
* Participants made brief presentations about relevant areas of work and activities in which they are involved, resulting in a group mapping organized according roughly along the axis of local to regional focus, and divided among research, action, and teaching activities. (See the matrix attached.)
* During the evaluation period at the end of the workshop, most participants voiced appreciation for the opportunity to learn about the work of other colleagues and identify points of mutual interest.
* HECUA will compile further information about workshop participants as well as other faculty, researchers, and nonprofit organization staff with interests in sustainability in the Mississippi River Basin as a means of facilitating collaboration. This resource will include areas of interest for each individual, along with complete contact information, and will be made available on the HECUA Web site (www.hecua.org).
Objective 2 - to set a plan for a pilot course to be offered within the coming year by HECUA in collaboration with one or more member campuses
Much of the discussion time was devoted to assessing options for a pilot course, starting with a set of several proposed alternatives and generating new ones. The consensus opinion of the group was:
* A stand-alone summer course is appealing pedagogically but presents a number of weighty obstacles, including an interruption to most students’ plans for work in the summer, potential competition with ACM and Superior Studies summer programs, and other difficulties in attracting student enrollment.
* A short, intensive field session that is designed as an integral component of a Spring term course offered at one of the member campuses, and which occurs during Spring break or directly following the end of spring term: this option would depend on a member school expressing strong interest in developing such a collaboration. A lower priority.
* A short, intensive field session offered just before the beginning of Fall term, perhaps designed to link with a Fall term course on one or more campuses: this option is more appealing, especially if students’ field exposure could be followed up by reflection in the classroom. Among the short pilot options, this new idea was judged the most worth pursuing.
* Strong support for a full semester program. The group saw the most promise in designing a program that would offer a full semester’s worth of credit, and viewed this as the most likely format to attract student enrollment.
In addition, several ideas for a pilot program were proposed by the group and received strong support:
* A fall term offering could work best because of the opportunity to get in the field easily during the moderate climate early in the semester.
* Internships would be essential to create a meaningful link with community-based groups, and would also be a core learning opportunity for students. Internships late in fall semester or during the winter break would allow students to participate in organizational planning activities.
* Field experience should be exciting: "by land, water, and air."
* Consider having the student group travel to member campuses to explore different parts of the upper Mississippi basin.
* Several also pointed to the importance of making any new offerings fit specific requirements (such as field experience, internships, independent research, or community service) and meeting needs that schools are looking to strengthen in their own curricula.
Objective 3 - to develop a team of collaborators to make the pilot course a success and to explore future offerings
* In closing, many participants reiterated enthusiasm for an interdisciplinary program to involve students in addressing challenges of sustainability, and offered to contribute to developing future offerings.
* Several cited special resources of their schools, including the Macalester field station on the Mississippi, the Nerstrand Woods and Cannon River Valley near Carleton, and the rural communities in the St. Peter area near Gustavus Adolphus.
* HECUA committed to pursue the suggestions of the group and to reconvene in February 2002 for a second mini-workshop that will provide an opportunity to share more of the substantive issues of common concern relating to sustainability in the river basin and to continue collaborating on new program development.
* Most were able to join a dinner after the workshop and deepen new acquaintances.
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