Landmark College Wins Funds to Support Environmental Education
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COLCHESTER, Vt.--Vermont Campus Compact (VCC) has announced a partnership with Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire Campus Compacts to support curricular innovation and environmental stewardship. Maine Campus Compact has been awarded a $168,000 grant from the Davis Educational Foundation to support the Campuses for Environmental Stewardship (CES) program and will awards sub-grants through this program to other New England states. The CES program will train college faculty from baccalaureate degree-granting colleges and universities in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont to develop and deliver courses which partner with community organizations to address pressing environmental issues.
Four Vermont campuses--Landmark College, Champlain College, Norwich University, and The University of Vermont--have been selected to receive sub-grants that will enable them to deliver innovative courses embedded with environmental community projects in the 2015-2016 academic year. "We are pleased to be a part of this innovative, interdisciplinary project that will offer Vermont faculty, students, and community members the opportunity to collaborate on important environmental issues," said Vermont Campus Compact Executive Director Carrie Williams Howe. Landmark College also received a $4,000 grant in April from the Vermont Campus Compact and the Davis Educational Foundation for a Tree Campus USA project that will teach students about environmental stewardship through service learning.
Through the two-year CES initiative, over 70 faculty members working in multidisciplinary teams from 18 campuses across 4 New England states will learn how to embed environmental service-learning components into a course of any discipline. Selected campuses will deliver a minimum of four related service-learning courses. Teams will receive training in service-learning pedagogy and apply this interdisciplinary model to create community partnerships and address critical environmental stewardship challenges across four New England states.
"Today's students live in a time of unprecedented change. They will be facing complex issues like environmental sustainability in their communities, and entering a highly competitive global workforce that demands a diverse skill set. This grant will provide students enrolled in these courses the hands-on, real-world experience needed to strengthen their learning and create connections to the larger community while helping to improve environmental stewardship," said MCC's executive director, Sally Slovenski.
Funding for this project was secured by Campus Compacts in New England from the Davis Foundation, established by Stanton and Elisabeth Davis after Mr. Davis's retirement as chairman of Shaw's Supermarkets, Inc. The foundation is committed to strengthening undergraduate programs at New England-based colleges and universities.
The CES initiative will culminate with environmental community projects and will continue through cross-campus, state-wide, and regional collaboration to further define and advance the role of higher education in addressing the region's most pressing issues.
Established in 1998 and hosted at St. Michael's College, Vermont Campus Compact is a statewide coalition of college and university presidents working to build strong communities and a more just democratic society by developing students' citizenship and problem solving skills through community-based learning. VCC is an affiliate state office of Campus Compact, which includes almost 1,200 college and university presidents in 34 states.
The Davis Educational Foundation, established as a public charitable foundation in 1985, seeks to strengthen the undergraduate programs of public and private, regionally accredited, baccalaureate degree-granting colleges and universities throughout the six New England states.
Landmark College was the first institution of higher learning to pioneer college-level studies for students with dyslexia. Today, Landmark College is a global leader in integrated teaching methods for students with learning disabilities (including dyslexia), ADHD, and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The College offers two- and four-year degree options, a graduate-level certificate in universal design with technology integration, and summer programs for students who learn differently. Students, faculty, and professionals from around the world are drawn to Landmark College for its innovative educational model, designed through research and practice to help all students become confident, empowered, and independently successful learners.