In this collaboratively written piece, the authors suggest how Temple administration should promote teaching that raises awareness of climate change and sustainability. All signatories are listed alphabetically at the end.
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In its strategic plan, Temple envisions itself as “an ambitious academic community leading innovation in education while always focusing on the road ahead.” Aiming to “position Temple as a leader in higher education” the plan sets laudable goals for 2030 that include preparing “students for the future of work, building connected and healthy communities, and forging ground-breaking discoveries for the future of the world.”
The 2030 deadline is also looming for other goals that must arguably inform how we educate our owls for the future. First, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has told us in no uncertain terms that to avoid dangerous irreversible climate change, the global economy must undergo a “rapid and far-reaching transition” of “unprecedented” scale that yields “deep emissions reductions” of 45% by 2030. Second, to achieve that rapid and far-reaching transition in a way that promotes justice, prosperity and peace, the United Nations has laid out 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) the global community must strive to meet by 2030.
These planetary deadlines reveal much about “the future of work” and the “future of the world.” If Temple is genuinely “focus[ed] on the road ahead” and committed to preparing our students for the future, the University must integrate content on sustainability and climate change into coursework throughout all Temple curricula. (We reference both sustainability and climate change because, while often improperly conflated, these two related issues are distinct in important ways.)
But don’t take our word for it. Two major reports indicate that sustainability will likely impact Temple students’ careers. A November 2022 report from Microsoft about “the future of work,” concludes that “virtually all workers will need sustainability fluency” and recommends including foundational sustainability content in primary and secondary education and designing post-secondary education to “shape, respond, and adapt” to workforce needs.
In the words of the report: “Students of all ages should have the knowledge, skills, and agency to address” the interconnected global challenges of “climate change, biodiversity, disaster risk reduction, water, the oceans, sustainable urbanization, and sustainable lifestyles.” The LinkedIn Global Green Skills Report shows that for every 100 non-green hires, between 256 and 477 green hires are made; 50% of jobs have some green aspects; 19 of 24 labor sectors are “leading” or “trending positive” for the green transition; and the share of green talent with a bachelor’s degree has grown more than those without a degree.
If Temple is serious about being a leader in higher education, it has some work to do.
When Temple originally released its current strategic plan in October 2020, the IPCC report referenced above was already two years old, and the UN’s sustainable development goals had been in place (adopted by all UN member states) for five years. Yet, for all the talk about “the future of the world,” Temple’s plan contained not a single mention of “sustainability” or “climate change.”
Thankfully, the 2022 plan revision began to remedy this omission. In the new version, “foundation for tomorrow, planning for a sustainable future,” replaced “reputational excellence” as a strategic priority. But this is the sole reference to sustainability in the current plan and there remains no mention of climate change, even though this new priority, and others in the plan, seem to cry out for attention to these issues.
Additionally, the 2022 strategic plan revision replaced the priority “educational value” with “Educational Excellence: World-class academic opportunities that are real-world relevant,” which highlights, among other things, the university’s recently undertaken review of its Gen-Ed curriculum (aimed at “support[ing] our students’ career success, engagement in issues of importance…”). Here too, the plan’s failure to mention sustainability or the climate crisis—arguably the most important challenges ever to confront humanity—is a glaring omission.
Strategic Planning aside, to what extent do Temple’s current curricula address sustainability and climate? What we know about the numbers on sustainability course offerings are less than inspiring. Temple’s 2019 Climate Action Plan set out three specific goals on increasing the coverage of sustainability issues in the curriculum by 2022:
- To increase by 10 the number of undergraduate and graduate sustainability courses;
- To increase by 20 the number of courses that include some coverage of sustainability; and
- To increase by 2 the number of departments with sustainability course offerings.
Sadly, according to Temple’s Annual Sustainability Report, the University has not only failed to meet the first two of these goals, but is quickly moving in the wrong direction. In 2022-2023, while the number of programs with sustainability course offerings had increased from 68 to 80, Temple had 60 fewer sustainability-focused courses and 36 fewer courses that included some coverage of sustainability relative to 2016-2017.
While Temple touts the “gold” rating it received from the STARS Program (The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System administered by the American Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)), curricular course offerings and learning outcomes were not the areas where Temple shined.
The STARS Report showed that just under 9% of Temple students graduated from “programs that require an understanding of the concept of sustainability.” Additionally, only 11% of courses offered were “sustainability-focused” or “sustainability inclusive,” and only 44% of departments offered one or more courses in sustainability. For “sustainability literacy assessment,” Temple received zero points because the university has not attempted to assess sustainability literacy among its students.
Temple students see the deficiencies in Temple’s sustainability offerings and are thirsty for more. In a 2022 survey administered by the Temple Office of Sustainability, 63 percent of students (along with faculty and staff) agreed that “Temple has a Responsibility as a Leader in Sustainability and Environmental Justice.” Forty-two percent of students either disagreed or strongly disagreed that their “coursework is relevant to climate change solutions.” Sixty-four percent of students wanted “more classes that integrate sustainability within major;” and 60% said that “integrating sustainability problem solving topics into core courses [would] increase academic interest and motivation.”
To effectively prepare our students for “the future of work and the future of the world,” sustainability needs to permeate all Temple curricula. Over the last two years we have presented three overall recommendations to Provost Mandel and Vice Provost Souvenir, as well as to the Science, Technology, and Society @ Temple Network, and the Faculty Senate (including its Educational Programs and Policies Committee):
- Incorporate climate change and sustainability content into the undergraduate GenEd curriculum;
- Upskill our faculty to integrate climate and sustainability content into courses using existing models such as the Piedmont Project;
- Create and bolster existing certificate and degree-granting programs that focus on climate change and sustainability.
These proposals are not radical or unprecedented. Many of our peer institutions have undertaken similar initiatives. The University of Maryland, for example, has included all three of these recommendations in their climate action plan.
- Incorporate Climate Change and Sustainability into the GenEd Curriculum
Why general education? GenEd affords an opportunity to teach every incoming undergraduate student the basics about climate change and sustainability—issues that will profoundly shape their lives and careers, as well as those of the generations to follow.
Climate change and sustainability are also crucial to creating a GenEd curriculum that reflects Temple’s mission and values—community-mindedness, global engagement, and the promotion of “service and engagement throughout Philadelphia, the Commonwealth, the nation, and the world.” Evidence from other schools suggests that a GenEd course on climate and sustainability can have real impact, inspiring and creating a sense of responsibility and stewardship among students who took the course, even five years later.
Temple already has a number of talented faculty throughout the university teaching and conducting important and impactful research on topics related to climate change and sustainability. Some faculty have already begun incorporating these topics into GenEd courses. At least one English 802 instructor, for example, has infused climate change content into the standard syllabus and structure for that course. Intellectual Heritage faculty are also considering texts related to climate change and sustainability.
Incorporating these issues throughout Temple curricula will require many more hands-on deck with a university-wide effort aimed at increasing basic sustainability literacy on the faculty. As Microsoft put it, upskilling “provide[s] sustainability skills to today’s workforce.”
- Upskill Faculty to Integrate Climate and Sustainability Content into Courses
Fortunately, many colleges and universities have already been engaged in such efforts. There are several good models to draw on. The Piedmont Project model, for example, developed and widely implemented at small, private higher education institutions across the country has a strong track record. AASHE regularly offers workshops on this model, and large, public universities like Auburn and Villanova and the Universities of Maryland, Utah, and Georgia have also adopted it.
This model leverages the existing knowledge and expertise of faculty about their own fields and begins from the premise that faculty know best how to integrate place-based sustainability content into existing courses. These efforts range from changing the language or topic in an existing assignment so that it incorporates content about climate change or sustainability, to more ambitious changes like creating new assignments or modules that teach and engage students on these issues.
Faculty upskilling has the potential to build upon the basics of sustainability in GedEd, as well as in upper level and graduate courses to make degree-specific connections that will directly benefit students in their careers. Temple already offers courses that accomplish this, but upskilling faculty would add many more.
In collaboration with the Center for the Advancement of Teaching (CAT) and Office of Sustainability, departments, schools and colleges could adapt this effort to Temple’s mission. Temple’s annual Provost Teaching Academy could also incorporate this kind of training. Additionally, the Green Pedagogy Teaching Circle could be revitalized and expanded.
3. Create and Bolster Existing Certificate and Degree-Granting Programs
Finally, Temple should bolster existing degree- and certificate-granting programs while also creating new ones that focus on climate change and sustainability. This will help attract students who are interested in tackling issues of sustainability head on and afford opportunities for Temple to address the strategic priority of “Thought Leadership,” and the related initiatives of “research innovation,” “interdisciplinary collaboration,” and “faculty cluster hiring.” Faculty already have, with help from the Provost’s office, created new, transdisciplinary degrees, like the professional science master’s and graduate certificate degrees in sustainability. Temple’s rich, numerous graduate and undergraduate programs, and centers and institutes, are ripe with other possibilities.
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These recommendations introduce three levels of sustainability content that will better prepare our students for the future of work and the world: general and basic information on climate and sustainability; content specifically related to existing majors; and degrees focused on climate and/or sustainability. This is the sort of systemic strategy a sustainable world demands.
Temple faculty are interested, excited, and motivated to integrate climate change and sustainability content into classrooms. We are working together from the bottom up, but we need the Office of the Provost to lead, support, and implement these recommendations across Temple’s curricula. Provost Mandel can advertise, incentivize, and maximize the potential impact of a student body fluent in sustainability and the challenges posed by a changing climate. He must act, as must we all, because the world won’t change itself.
Lynne Andersson, Professor of Management, Fox School of Business
Gilat Juli Bachar, Assistant Professor, Beasley School of Law
Rebecca Beadling, Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Science, College of Science and Technology
Karen Bond, Associate Professor and Chair of Dance, Boyer College of Music and Dance
Mariana Bonfim, Assistant Professor of Practice in Biology and Managing Director, College of Science and Technology and Temple Ambler Field Station
Gary Blau, Professor of Management, Fox School of Business
Carol B. Brandt, Associate Professor of Science Education, College of Education and Human Development
Cory Budischak, Associate Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering, College of Engineering
Scott Burris, James E. Beasley Professor of Law, Director of Center for Public Health Law Research, Beasley School of Law
Dan Caldwell, Adjunct Research Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering
Eugene Chislenko, Associate Professor of Philosophy, College of Liberal Arts
Parkson Chong, Professor of Medical Genetics and Molecular Biochemistry, Lewis Katz School of Medicine
Marissa Cloutier, Associate Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences, College of Public Health
Fred Conner, Adjunct Associate Professor, Dept. of Architecture and Env. Design, Tyler School of Art and Architecture
Erik Cordes, Professor and Vice Chair of Biology, College of Science and Technology
Philip Dames, Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering
Margaret M. deGuzman, Professor of Law, Co-Director, Institute for International Law and Public Policy, Beasley School of Law
Susan E. DeJarnatt, Professor of Law, Beasley School of Law
Sherril Dodds, Professor of Dance, Graduate Programs Coordinator, Boyer College of Music and Dance
Nate Ela, Assistant Professor of Law, Beasley School of Law
Jules Epstein, Edward D. Ohlbaum Endowed Term Professor, Director of Advocacy Programs, Beasley School of Law
Barbara Ferman, Professor of Political Science, College of Liberal Arts
Omeed Firouzi, Practice Professor of Law and Director of the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic, Beasley School of Law
Petra Goedde, Professor and Chair of History, College of Liberal Arts
Inkyu Han, Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Public Health
Bruce Hardy, Associate Professor of Communication and Social Influence, Klein College of Media and Communication
Jillian Harris, Associate Professor of Dance, Boyer College of Music and Dance
Meredith Hegg, Associate Professor of Mathematics, College of Science and Technology
John J Helferty, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering
Sarah Short Hutyra, Assistant Director, Institutional Relations, Temple University, Education Abroad and Overseas Campuses
Renee Jackson, Associate Professor, Art Education and Community Arts Practices, Tyler School of Art and Architecture
Nora Jones, Associate Professor of Urban Bioethics, Katz School of Medicine
Tricia Jones, Professor of Communication and Social Influence, Klein College of Media and Communication
Jessica Jane Julius, Associate Professor, Program Head of Glass, Tyler School of Art and Architecture
Artemy M. Kalinovsky, Professor of History and Political Science, College of Liberal Arts
Sarah Katz, Clinical Professor of Law, Temple Legal Aid Office, Beasley School of Law
Adil I. Khan, Professor of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Lewis Katz School of Medicine
Mohammad F. Kiani, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Bioengineering, and Radiation Oncology, College of Engineering
Josh Klugman, Associate Professor of Sociology and Psychology, College of liberal Arts
Andrew Kranis, Faculty of Architecture, Temple University Rome
Rob J. Kulathinal, Associate Professor of Biology, College of Science and Technology
Rob Kuper, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, Tyler School of Art and Architecture
Stephen Lepore, Professor and Chair of Social & Behavioral Sciences, College of Public Health
Joyce Zankel Lindorff, Professor of Keyboard Studies, Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University
Rachel Lopez, James E. Beasley Professor of Law, Beasley School of Law
Ellie Margolis, Jack Feinberg ’57 Professor of Litigation, Beasley School of Law
Finbarr McCarthy, Associate Professor, Beasley School of Law
Juris Milestone, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, College of Liberal Arts
Robin Mitchell-Boyask, Professor of Classics, College of Liberal Arts
Atsuhiro Muto, Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Science, College of Science and Technology
Emily Neumeier, Assistant Professor of Art History, Tyler School of Art and Architecture
Steve Newman, Associate Professor of English, College of Liberal Arts
Erica Nikolaisen, Assistant Director, Program Management and Student Support, Temple University, Education Abroad and Overseas Campuses
Iyad Obeid, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering
Erin Pauwels, Associate Professor of Art History, Tyler School of Art and Architecture
Joseph Picone, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering
Nancy Pleshko, Laura H. Carnell Professor of Bioengineering, College of Engineering
Rafael A. Porrata-Doria, Professor of Law, Beasley School of Law
Dara E. Purvis, Professor of Law, Beasley School of Law
Jaya Ramji-Nogales, I. Herman Stern Research Professor, Associate Dean for Research, Beasley School of Law
Spencer Rand, Clinical Professor of Law, Beasley School of Law
Lorenzo Rinelli, JD PhD, Political Science and History, Temple University Rome
Eileen Ryan, Professor of History, College of Liberal Arts
Robert J Ryan, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering
Kathleen V Salisbury, Adjunct Instructor of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Tyler School of Art and Architecture
Bryan Satalino, Associate Professor of Instruction, Design & Illustration, Tyler School of Art and Architecture
Leah Schumacher, Assistant Professor, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, College of Public Health
Amy Sinden, I. Herman Stern Professor, Beasley School of Law
Jeffrey Solow, Professor of Cello and Chamber Music, Boyer College of Music and Dance
Tulay G. Soylu, Assistant Professor of Health Services Administration and Policy,
College of Public Health
Daniel B. Szyld, Professor of Mathematics, College of Science and Technology
Meghnaa Tallapragada, Assistant Professor of Advertising and Public Relations, Klein College of Media and Communication
Erol Gökhan Tolay, Assistant Professor of Law, Director of the Writing Center for International Programs, Beasley School of Law
Gina Tripicchio, Associate Professor, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, College of Public Health
Adam Vidiksis, Associate Professor of Music Studies, Music Technology Program, Boyer College of Music and Dance
Suzanne Willever, Associate Director, Academics and Outreach, Temple University, Education Abroad and Overseas Campuses
Byron Wolfe, Professor and Chair, Art Department, Tyler School of Art and Architecture
Maurice Wright, Laura H. Carnell Professor of Music Studies, Boyer College of Music and Dance
Michael J. Zdilla, Professor of Chemistry, College of Science and Technology