To facilitate a dialogue about infusing new content on sustainability into its academic curriculum, SUNY Fredonia held a two-day workshop on “Education for Sustainability” for faculty and staff, led by nationally acclaimed expert Jaimie Cloud, founder of the Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education. The free workshop, held Jan. 19-20, was designed to enhance the campus’ review of its general education program, known as the College Core Curriculum (CCC).
The most frequently cited definition of “sustainability” comes from the 1987 Brundtland Report, commissioned by the United Nations, which defines it as meeting “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Cloud, who works extensively with educators, administrators, and school boards across the nation to develop and teach core courses through the lens of sustainability, seeks to prepare young people for the future and inspire them to influence the long-term health of their world.
A former global studies school teacher, Ms. Cloud founded the New York City-based Cloud Institute, which designs instructional units and courses for K-12 and higher education. She has authored several peer-reviewed journal chapters and articles, including, “Some Systems Thinking Concepts for Environmental Educators during the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development,” which appeared in Applied Environmental Educations and Communication: an International Journal.
“SUNY Fredonia has made an institutional commitment to sustainability,” said Chemistry Professor Sherri “Sam” Mason, who also serves as the campus’ FACE Center Sustainability Coordinator, and on its Sustainability Committee.
“We have embedded that commitment within our administrative operations, and this workshop was an opportunity to envision how we can incorporate it more purposely and more universally into our primary mission of education,” Dr. Mason added.
SUNY Fredonia is a member of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), and is a signatory of the President’s Climate Commitment. The College of Education is working with Ithaca College, the New Roots School in Ithaca, and Second Nature to create a sustainability-infused, pre-service teacher’s education curriculum.
