Serve-Learn-Sustain 

While Georgia Tech faculty have incorporated sustainability concepts into their courses for many years, sustainability across the curriculum expanded significantly with the creation of the Center for Serve-Learn-Sustain in 2015.  

Focusing on community-engaged sustainability education that centered the “equity” component of sustainability’s three “Es” (equity, economy, environment), Serve-Learn-Sustain was Georgia Tech’s 2015-2020 Quality Enhancement Plan and earned a commendation from the Institute’s accreditation body for its exceptional execution. Serve-Learn Sustain provided faculty development and teaching tools that supported sustainability and community-engaged learning across all disciplines.  

Following completion of its role as the Quality Enhancement Plan, the work of Serve-Learn-Sustain expanded through the creation of the Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education.

Faculty Engage with the UN SDGs 

Growing faculty engagement with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) sparked collaboration between the Center for Teaching and Learning and Serve-Learn-Sustain on faculty development opportunities related to the SDGs. In early 2020, the “Think Globally, Teach Locally” workshop highlighted the work of five faculty members across diverse disciplines.  

The following year, the Center and Serve-Learn-Sustain extended this collaboration through the RCE Greater Atlanta, a regional sustainability network acknowledged by the United Nations University in 2017 as a Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development. In early 2021, both units led a cross-institutional planning team that included faculty and educational developers from Georgia State and Kennesaw State Universities to present a virtual workshop called “Going Global” that included nearly 50 faculty members from 14 colleges and universities internationally.  Subsequent cross-institutional partnerships included a Fall 2021 Faculty Learning Community  on Teaching with the SDGs and a Spring 2022 Sustainability/SDG Fellows Program.  

The Institute Strategic Plan and Sustainability Next 

Education for sustainability leaders at Georgia Tech engaged in the 2020-21 Institute Strategic Planning process to further institutionalize teaching for sustainability that equips students to collaborate with other to solve real-world “wicked problems” and advance the Global Goals. Several strategic plan objectives were adopted that align with Education for Sustainable Development (SDG target 4.7). An implementation team called Sustainability Next began meeting in 2021 and published a detailed plan of action in 2022. The Education for Sustainable Development portion of the Sustainability Next Plan included a new position within the Center for Teaching and Learning to support faculty development in sustainability education across all disciplines and funding for seed grants to support faculty interested in redesigning courses to meaningfully integrate sustainability concepts and competencies.  

Current Education for Sustainability Initiatives 

The Sustainability Education and Curriculum Committee was created in 2022 to expand departmental engagement in Tech’s sustainability across the curriculum initiatives and to oversee the Undergraduate Sustainability Education Innovation grant program.  

To date, 60 grants across six colleges and 25 schools at Georgia Tech have advanced transformative teaching and learning to prepare students to “improve the human condition” by tackling complex societal challenges. Courses redesigned through the grant program include many core and large enrollment courses including introductory computing, science, and engineering courses. As a result, every undergraduate student at Georgia Tech now engages with real-world sustainability applications in at least one course and many have opportunities to explore sustainability challenges from multiple disciplinary perspectives during their time at Georgia Tech. 

Faculty are supported in this work through workshops, resources, and an ongoing community of practice that fosters cross-disciplinary collaboration and learning.  

Interested in getting involved with education for sustainability at Georgia Tech? Reach out to Rebecca Watts Hull, assistant director of Faculty Development for Sustainability Education Initiatives.