SSCC sets itself apart from other conferences by creating a program that features in-depth presentations and workshops. Sessions are 50 and 80-minutes in length allowing for dialogue and shared learning.
The 80-minute interactive sessions will allow facilitators and attendees to dig deeper into a particular topic area using active and participatory learning strategies. 50-minute presentation sessions allow more time for questions and contributions by attendees.
Conference Tracks
We welcome presentation proposals linked to the 2015 conference tracks:
1. Community-Campus Partnerships
Higher education institutions and their communities often deal with similar sustainability challenges and opportunities, but how can they work more closely together? In light of limited funding and municipal government constraints, can co-operative projects and programs have a synergistic effect? Community-wide planning is especially important when developing strategies for adaptation and reducing vulnerability. How well is your college or university preparing students – through curricular and extracurricular activities – for the sustainability challenges they will face during their lifetimes? Workshops and presentations in this track should discuss how to broaden the impact of campus learning and establish connections to local governments, primary and secondary schools, businesses, and community groups. Proposals should include challenges and successes from innovative community-campus partnerships.
Resources:
Transformational Partnerships: A New Agenda for Higher Education
2. Change Management: Towards Transformation
So, you’ve established a sustainability program on your campus. But how do you then integrate sustainability into your organizational culture, identity, governance, and decision making, thereby transforming the institution? We are looking for submissions that tackle consensus-building with stakeholders and finding collaborative ways of mitigating and managing sustainability and risk. Submissions in this track should include an examination of your process rather than your content. How did you engage senior leadership? What path did you take in strategic, sustainability, or climate action planning or goal setting? How did you overcome change resistors and/or obstacles? How did you apply a systems thinking approach in the design and implementation of your plans, projects or partnerships? What challenges did you face? Bumps in the road are often our greatest teachers. Submissions to this track can also include development or operation of behavior change, social norming or community-based social marketing programs.
Resources:
Effective Change Management in Higher Education
3. Social Sustainability
The social realm of sustainability is often our most vexing because it can encompass a wide range of topics that are challenging to define and measure. Yet it may be our most important because it is the basis of a democratic society. How is your institution or community building positive and inclusive campus climates in which everyone can achieve their full potential? Proposals submitted to this track should include challenges and successes in social justice programming, purchasing practices and strategies for promoting individual, community, and ecological health and wellness. Share your model on finding the intersections between sustainability, diversity awareness, and cultural competence.
Resources:
Confused about Social Sustainability?,
“Social Sustainability”: Clarity is in the Context
4. The Built Environment
How do you improve campus and community well-being through the built environment? It’s not just about the buildings; it includes roads and trails, parks and landscaping, transportation and food services. Planning for the built environment impacts the natural environment and can influence water quality, stormwater runoff, soil compaction, noise, air quality, and more. How is your project inclusive of environmental restoration, learning landscapes, alternative transportation, dining, or utilities? Presentations and workshops within this track will examine innovative projects from the master planning stage through operations and maintenance. Proposals should include innovative projects or processes that can be applied on other campuses.
Resources:
The Value of Green Infrastructure
5. The Campus as a Learning Laboratory
As the workplace and industry continue to change to meet the demands and challenges of the 21st century, we need to prepare our students to take on the world’s complex problems. The campus environment offers ripe opportunities for researching and learning about full-spectrum sustainability, which will equip students with the knowledge, skills, and expertise needed for this new paradigm. How is your institution handling curriculum and research integration for sustainability? What innovative pedagogy lies at the nexus of academics and operations? How is sustainability preparing students for success beyond campus? What pedagogical models do you have to share which can be utilized by others in the community? Submissions should include the process for implementation, parties involved, challenges, and lessons learned along with successes.
Resources:
A Guide for Community Colleges,
Hands-On LEED
To Submit:
Step 1:
Download and review the
Proposal Submission and Review Process
Step 2:
Submit Your Proposal by October 10, 2014, 11:59 PM PDT
© University of Maryland
http://www.sustainability.umd.edu/content/community/SSCC_CFP.php