Faculty
The challenges of climate change and learning to live sustainably will permeate all aspects of our lives
Are your students ready for climate change?
Do they understand how climate change will impact their major, their future employment, and their everyday lives?
Every discipline, every academic field will be impacted by climate change.
Everyone has something to contribute in making our lives and our civilization more sustainable.
COOLER-CLI is a pilot program aimed at bringing together UNCO students and faculty from a broad range of disciplines to work with the community to build resilience to climate change.
Applications due September 2, 2024!
COOLER-CLImates
The COOLER Climate Leadership Institute (COOLER CLImates) is a pilot program for both students* and faculty at UNCO in the 2024-25 academic year. It is designed to prepare students from all disciplines to work with community stakeholders on climate-related events, projects, or challenges, and to prepare UNCO faculty to employ their discipline-specific expertise in local climate-related challenges.
We are seeking 10 faculty members, graduate students, or postdocs from a broad range of disciplines to participate in the year-long cohort.
The CLImates faculty cohort will run in-parallel with a student cohort. Students in the CLImates cohort will be learning about climate change science and impacts, climate change communication and climate change resilience. Students will be matched with community stakeholders on projects that build resilience.
*Graduate students are encouraged to apply and will be grouped into the appropriate cohort based on their interests and experience.
What will you do as a COOLER-CLImates faculty participant?
The core of the CLImates faculty program is a project of a set of activities developed by individual faculty members or faculty teams. These projects should be designed to align with individual faculty goals or professional development plans. Faculty will also attend regular cohort meetings that may include discussion on aspects of teaching climate change, project check-in or work sessions, or an opportunity to meet with a community group to discuss local issues related to climate change resilience. Faculty are also invited to attend discussions and workshops with community climate practitioners, and we ask that each faculty member try to attend two of these events throughout the course of the academic year.
COOLER Community events
In addition to the core sessions, there will be opportunities for COOLER-CLImates participants to engage in events or discussions that are open to the broader COOLER community. Sample topics include:
Basics of climate change science
Understanding how climate change impacts your discipline (and what role you might play in solutions)
Climate change psychology (how to handle climate anxiety)
Climate change communication
Local climate change impacts
Solutions and adaptations
What local community groups are doing to build climate change resilience
Cohort Meetings
These are monthly recurring meetings with COOLER Team leaders that serve the purpose of helping you deepen your learning in a cohort-centered way. You may spend time discussing/sharing around specific topics, meeting with community members, or getting feedback on ideas/projects. Some COOLER sessions will bring together students, faculty, and local community groups for discussion and community building.
Completion Requirements
Attend 1.5-hour meetings or workshop sessions once a month in person (see schedule below)
Attend kick-off meeting Sept 14th, 2024 and COOLER-CLImates rendezvous celebration April 21st, 2025
Attend two community COOLER events per semester (to network with community groups)
Complete, and share publicly, a project or a series of activities that align with your own professional development plan. This could involve one or more of the following:
~ Prepare, present, and/or implement a lesson or unit that brings the relevance of climate change to your discipline to one of your classes.
~ Prepare and/or facilitate a workshop focused on integrating climate change into the curriculum for faculty in your own discipline at UNC or for interested faculty at a disciplinary conference.
~ Prepare and present a session, or series of sessions, for the student COOLER student cohort (this may be done in collaboration with other faculty members)
~ Apply for funding or course reassignment time from a college fund, the Provost’s fund, OER (Open Educational Resources), or some other source to support activities beyond the support that COOLER provides.
Provide feedback regarding your experiences with COOLER through surveys and a meeting with the COOLER external evaluator.
Expected time commitment and compensation
The expected time commitment is about 1-2 hours/week to attend meetings and complete work for the program. Faculty participants who complete the program will be compensated with a $1000 stipend ($500 will be paid out after the completion of Fall Semester activities, and another $500 at the end of Spring Semester).
Faculty Meeting Schedule
Fall Semester 2024
Mondays 3:30 - 5:00 pm
Sep 14 (Saturday 10am-2pm) – COOLER CLI all-cohort kick-off with community partners
Sep 16 - Welcome, Pre-Assessments, What kind of leader do you want to be?
Oct 21 - VIRTUAL Meeting, COOLER CLImates all-cohort meet-up
Nov 4 - Project and Professional Development
Dec 16 - VIRTUAL Meeting, including focus group with an external evaluator
Spring Semester 2025
Mondays 3:30 - 5:00 pm
Jan 27 (Thursday for 4th week because of MLK day) - Project and Professional Development
Feb 17 (President’s Day - let the COOLER Team leads know if you need considerations for child care on this day) - Project and Professional Development
Mar 24 (4th week because of Spring Break) - Project and Professional Development
Apr 21 (Monday, 4-6pm) CLImates all-cohort finale celebration
Eligibility
You must be a UNCO faculty member, graduate student, or post-doctorate scholar.
Anyone with a passion for working with the broader community and students on climate change issues.
Any faculty or grad/doctorate student from any discipline at UNCO is welcome to apply.
You may be at any stage in your career.
How to Apply
Preview of some questions we will ask you:
Name
Contact info (email)
Department, College, Academic Discipline and number of years teaching
What interests you most about this program?
Time availability: Do you think you can commit 1-2 hours/week to this program? What challenges do you anticipate in completing this program?
Do you presently teach, discuss, or mention global climate change in relation to course content in any of your courses? Briefly describe how you include climate change, or if not, why not?
What do you most hope to learn or accomplish through this program? What professional goals would you like to set for yourself through participation in this program?
About Us
COOLER (Community Collaboration and Learning for Climate Resilience) is an NSF-funded project (Award #2228170) aimed at building a learning ecosystem around climate change resilience in Northern Colorado. This planning grant supports the development of trans-disciplinary climate change curricula, as well as connections between UNCO students and faculty with community groups on projects that build local climate change resilience.
Questions?
Please contact us with questions!
Dr. Cindy Shellito, Prof. of Meteorology and COOLER Project Lead: lucinda.shellito(a)unco.edu