The Teaching & Learning Fellowships are open to full-time UBC faculty members from all academic disciplines with a strong interest in teaching, curriculum development and innovative pedagogies. Fellows should appreciate the opportunity to guide the advancement of sustainability education at UBC, both within individual disciplines and across the university as a whole.

The USI Teaching & Learning Office (TLO) coordinates the fellowship program and works closely with the fellows throughout the duration of the 12 month program.  Fellowships are awarded for one year. 

Meet the fellows

2012-2013 cohort

2011-2012 cohort

2010-2011 cohort

USI Background

The USI is a strategic management group that coordinates and integrates UBC’s numerous sustainability initiatives across all branches of the university. As part of the USI, the TLO’s mandate is to educate the next generation of sustainability leaders by transforming and coordinating undergraduate and graduate sustainability education across UBC’s Vancouver campus. The TLO advances sustainability curriculum via its Fellowship and Spotlight programs and works with various units and groups across campus to leverage and build capacity to enhance sustainability learning opportunities for all UBC students.

2012 USI Teaching & Learning Fellowship Program

The Fellowship Program brings together outstanding UBC faculty members who are leaders in sustainability education, to share their ideas and make concrete contributions to sustainability learning opportunities on campus. The 2012-2013 fellows will work to advance sustainability education at UBC using UBC’s Sustainability Academic Strategy (SAS) as a road map and building on the accomplishments of the previous fellows.

Key Focal Areas for the 2012 program:

1) Support the integration of student sustainability attributes into university curricula and work with UBC departments and faculties to build or revise sustainability learning pathways. The 2010-2011 fellows authored a document entitled “Transforming Sustainability Education at UBC: Desired Student Attributes and Pathways for Implementation”. This document presents a framework for advancing undergraduate sustainability education at UBC based on 4 key student sustainability attributes and provides examples of how faculties and departments can apply these attributes when building or revising sustainability learning pathways (e.g., a minor, concentration or specialization). The USI Teaching & Learning Office and the 2012-2013 fellows will continue to collaborate with academic units campus-wide to integrate the attributes into curricula and develop sustainability learning pathways.  The 2012-2013 fellows will also explore and advise the office on next steps for building the capacity of faculty to incorporate sustainability into their course and programs.

2) Support the USI Teaching & Learning Office to develop sustainability curriculum. The sustainability pathways model proposes two “bookend” interdisciplinary courses as key components of any pathway: an introductory sustainability course and a capstone sustainability leadership course.  Fellows will work with the office to apply and communicate lessons-learned from the “Sustainability 101” pilot offered in January 2012, and the fellows will also explore options for developing a sustainability capstone course.

3) Act as a liaison between the USI Teaching & Learning Office and your home faculty. Fellows are responsible for fostering awareness of USI Teaching & Learning Office activities and initiatives in their home faculties, and to update the USI on faculty perspectives and priorities related to sustainability education.

Fellows may also pursue an individual or group project of their own choosing that aligns with USI priorities to enhance sustainability education at UBC, though this is not a requirement of the program.

The USI Teaching & Learning Office will foster cohort collaboration via planned activities and events and will provide the fellows with administrative support. Appointment to the USI will also provide the fellows with the opportunity to collaborate with the Sustainability Research Fellows and the Campus Sustainability Office, and contribute to the overall vision and plan for sustainability at UBC.

If you have questions or comments, please contact the USI Teaching & Learning Office.

The USI also sponsors Research Fellowships related to sustainability.