Education & Scholarship

As stated in the Environmental Stewardship Action Plan, JMU will:

Enhance environmental education with an emphasis on interdisciplinary work

• Continue the Arboretum Collaborative faculty development workshops thus increasing the number of courses addressing stewardship of the natural world
• Adopt a statement of student outcomes defining environmental literacy and assess students’ environmental literacy

Enhance quantity of and participation in environmental scholarship

• Provide focus and support for pursuing faculty-led research/scholarly projects through the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research
• Foster the creation of network(s) of researchers by establishing a dynamic roster of  researchers and projects

Examples of our progress:

• Sixty-seven students participated in the 3rd annual JMU Challenge, a competition for entrepreneurial environmental stewardship ideas. The Arboretum Collaborative faculty professional development group increased opportunities for environmental stewardship education throughout the curriculum. An analysis of the JMU undergraduate interdisciplinary environmental academic programs was completed. The School of Engineering, which has a sustainability focus, graduated its first class.

• From January 2010 to early 2012, JMU researchers and staff conducted work on over $11 million in environment and sustainability-related sponsored programs. The assessment tool for student learning outcomes for environmental literacy was completed and will be launched in August 2012.