Attachment B

Faculty Senate Agenda

February 19, 2009

 

Academic Affairs Task Force:

Promoting Curricular Focus on Sustainability Issues

 

Background

 

The University Sustainability Committee recently recommended to the President the formation of a Task Force on Promoting Curricular Focus on Sustainability Issues. Since the matter at hand, curriculum, falls within the purview of the faculty and the Office of Academic Affairs, the President referred the recommendation to the Provost who, in turn, conferred with the Faculty Senate Executive Committee.

 

Sustainability – movement toward a just, humane, and healthy society in a world of limited resources and increasing population -- rapidly is gaining attention in college curricula:  in general education, science and engineering, business, global, and policy contexts.  The Task Force on Promoting Curricular Focus on Sustainability Issues will advise the Provost and the Faculty Senate on ways potentially to focus substantive and pedagogical attention to the same matter and related contexts in Sacramento State’s curriculum. Potential discussion topics might include strategies to develop clusters of courses with sustainability themes, involve students in research projects with sustainability foci, and infuse sustainability topics and examples within extant curricula.

 

Task Force Charge

 

The Task Force is charged with exploring ways to promote a focus on environmental sustainability issues within the curriculum. In pursuit of its charge, the Task Force will seek to engage all interested segments of the campus community in its study and deliberations. The Task Force will report to the Provost and will make recommendations to the Provost and the Faculty Senate (through the Faculty Senate Chair and appropriate Senate committee structure).

 

The Task Force is not envisioned as a permanent standing body, but rather a body charged with a specific task over a one-year time period. If, at the end of the year, the Task Force is deemed still to be necessary by the Provost after consultation with the Faculty Senate, it can continue to function within the parameters of its specific charge.

 

 

Task Force Membership

 

The Task Force consists of 13 members:

 

The four faculty members serving on the University Sustainability Committee (in 2008-09, Claudia Bridges, Carolyn Gibbs, Karen Hansen, and Virginia Matzek).

 

Three faculty members to be recruited from the faculty at large and recommended to the Provost by the Faculty Senate.

 

Two students recommended to the Provost by Associated Students, Inc.

 

Two management or staff members with a demonstrated interest in environmental sustainability recommended by the faculty membership of the University Sustainability Committee and approved by the Provost.

 

Two community members, one of whom is a member of the faculty of a local community college, recommended by the faculty membership of the University Sustainability Committee and approved by the Provost.

 

 

The Chair of the Task Force will be determined by Task Force members at its initial meeting.