Sustainability Education Funding

Who Can Apply?

Faculty: All faculty are eligible, including untenured, tenured, emeriti and visiting faculty. Applications are encouraged from faculty in all academic divisions: arts and humanities, social sciences and physical sciences. Preference generally will be given to untenured faculty.

There are a few important exceptions:

1. Faculty with past due reports will not be considered.
2. Visiting faculty must complete their projects by the end of their contract.
3. Part-time faculty are eligible for funding in proportion to their annual teaching duties.
4. Individuals on non-sabbatical leaves of absence are not eligible.
5. Professional development projects are not funded for emeriti faculty or faculty who are in the phased retirement program.

Staff: All full-time administrative officers are eligible to apply for funds in the areas of their scholarly and teaching pursuits, but the Sustainability Education Fund does not support projects that pertain to their administrative responsibilities. 

Students: Dickinson students are not eligible to apply directly for funding opportunities through the Sustainability Education Fund, but may participate in projects proposed and submitted by faculty, teaching staff, other staff.

Non-Dickinson Faculty: Faculty from other colleges or universities are eligible to apply to participate in some Dickinson workshops, but only Dickinson faculty are eligible to apply for Sustainability Education Funds (SEF Grants) stipends and awards. 

What Criteria Are Used to Determine Funding?

• Expected contribution to curricular and co-curricular for learning about sustainability problems and their solutions
• Expected enhancement of the capabilities of faculty and students for research, scholarship and creative work that contribute to greater understanding of sustainability
• The use of assessment-based learning outcomes to improve teaching
• Potential to benefit the campus and community by advancing sustainable practices, behaviors and policies
• Intellectual merit
• Cross-disciplinary inquiry
• Development and use of innovative and active learning pedagogy
• Support for untenured faculty
• Support for faculty who have not received other grants recently from R&D or the Sustainability Education Fund.
• Explicit intent to use outcomes of the project to seek additional external funding
• Applicant's previous history of grant applications, including accomplishment of promised outcomes, prudent use of awarded funds and timely submission of final reports

What Are The Priorities for Sustainability Education Funding (SEF)?

• Holistic curricular, research and creative projects that encompass multiple dimensions of sustainability (e.g. social, economic and/or environmental)
• Gateway courses that have no or minimal prerequisites and introduce students to sustainability concepts, problems and inquiry in the context of departmental majors and programs
• Sustainability courses that take interdisciplinary and systems-based approaches
• Sustainability courses in departments and programs that have few or no such courses
• Courses and research that explore sustainability in a global context and in relation to problems of security, peace, justice and/or development
• Courses and research that connect sustainability with civic learning and civic engagement in Carlisle and other communities
• Courses and research that connect sustainability with diversity, equity and inclusion
• Assist with institutional assessment of teaching and learning
• Capstone experiences
• Use campus operations, campus energy projects, residential life, the college farm, ALLARM, Reineman Wildlife Sanctuary, other co-curricular resources and the local community as ‘living laboratories'