Cornell University
AC-7: Incentives for Developing Courses

Opportunities for faculty to develop new sustainability-focused courses is supported by The Einhorn Center for Community Engagement. The center offers several incentive programs to support the mission of community-engaged learning to "combine diverse expertise and skills, and develop teams of faculty, staff, students and community members to address global issues and help build a more sustainable, just and collaborative future." Community-Engaged Learning Courses (CELC) are intended for students to collaborate with communities, in Ithaca and around the globe, to design, implement and evaluate real solutions to environmental, agricultural, and educational problems that are affecting a specific community. For instance, in the course CEE 2550: AguaClara Sustainable Water Supply Project, teams design, build, and operate prototypes for sustainable, municipal-scale water treatment plants in resource-poor communities. Students also develop measurement and evaluation protocols to measure process performance and develop educational materials for technology transfer to the communities. CEE 2550: https://classes.cornell.edu/browse/roster/SP22/class/CEE/2550 All CELC courses are similar to CEE 2550 in the sense that they all address a specific community interest, problem or public concern, include working with and learning from a community partner, and integrate community-engaged experiences with educational content. More information can be found here https://einhorn.cornell.edu/about/what-is-community-engaged-learning/. Currently, there are 8 Grants, Awards, and Capacity-building opportunities to incentivize faculty and staff to advance community-engaged learning opportunities for Cornell students. The five main incentive programs that champion this mission are the Engaged College Initiative, Engaged Opportunity Grants, Engaged Research Grants, the Engaged Faculty Fellowship Program, and the CELT Facilitators Program. The Engaged College Initiative is a novel approach to institutionalized community engaged learning which situates the Colleges within Cornell as the home and center of Engaged learning with structured support from the Einhorn Center. Through consultation with Einhorn Center staff, college leadership teams are invited to develop systematic plans to embed community-engaged learning, sustainability, and research into the mission and vision of their units. The Einhorn Center then provides large "block grants" to assist in infrastructure development to support associate deans, academic chairs, faculty and staff in the development of comprehensive curricular change, creation of engaged majors and minors, and co-curricular opportunities that support and enhance student learning in CEL and sustainability. The Engaged Opportunity Grants and Engaged Research Grants are funding opportunities that integrate community-engaged learning into curriculum exploration, development and improvement, program and research project development. The Grants offer opportunities for the development of new course series, programs, and research projects designed to benefit undergraduate students and community partners, provide modifications to existing course series to add, deepen or better integrate community-engaged learning and teaching in any field of study, as well as allow teams of Cornell faculty and their community partners to experiment with how to embed in their courses, research and curricula the public purpose of the discipline or field. Within the Grants, faculty receive funding of $5,000 for Engaged Opportunity Grants, or $5,000 as "Seed grants", or $30,000 "Project Grants" within the Engaged Research Grants. After receiving funding, all team members are provided access to our ongoing capacity-building workshops, online educational resources, and extended opportunities as engaged fellows. More information about the Engaged Grants can be found at https://einhorn.cornell.edu/opportunities-for-faculty-staff/. Within the Engaged Faculty Fellowship Program, yearlong faculty cohorts develop community-engaged expertise, programs, projects and networks. This program offers two fellowships: Faculty Fellows in Engaged Learning and Faculty Fellows in Engaged Scholarship. The yearlong fellowships are open to all faculty and provide $2,000 in funding to accepted fellows. The fellows spend a year building community partnerships and working to transform their teaching methods to incorporate the values, skills and knowledge of community engagement. Categories of projects include Energy, Environment & Sustainability; Food & Agriculture; Access, Equity & Justice; and Health, Nutrition & Medicine. More information can be found at https://einhorn.cornell.edu/opportunity/engaged-faculty-fellowship-program/. Finally, the Community-Engaged Learning and Teaching (CELT) Facilitators programs provides training for undergraduate and graduate students serving as teaching and courses assistants in faculty led community-engaged learning courses. Through a combination of asynchronous learning via our online E-Cornell modules and in-person workshops, students learn the foundations of community engaged learning, as well as skills to facilitate critical reflection and assist in the teaching of engaged courses. This program provides faculty with additional support in their courses as well as enhanced leadership and practical teaching training for students. More information can be found at https://einhorn.cornell.edu/opportunity/community-engaged-learning-and-teaching-facilitators-program. In addition to these four key opportunities, the Einhorn Center offers ongoing workshops, speaker series, and comprehensive and tailored trainings for faculty members across each academic unit to provide support for engaged learning and curricular development.

Engaged Colleges receive large block grants ranging from $200,000 - $500,000 to support holistic structural adoption of CEL courses and curricula across their College. The grant is currently structured as a 3-year phased opportunity where ongoing support and consultation from the Einhorn Center aids in the adoption of CEL across the college, and ensures a sustainable and long-term commitment to CEL opportunities. More information can be found at https://einhorn.cornell.edu/about/engaged-college-initiative/. Recipients of the Engaged Opportunity Grants are eligible for a maximum fund of $5,000. The Engaged Research Grants provide two funding options: $5,000 for seed grants to explore new partnerships/new curricula and/or new projects; and $30,000 for project grants to support fully developed projects that engaged students, community partners, and faculty in engaged research projects often tied to course curricula. More information can be found at https://einhorn.cornell.edu/opportunity/engaged-opportunity-grants/ or https://einhorn.cornell.edu/opportunity/engaged-research-grants/. Engaged Faculty Fellows receive $2,000 for their participation in a year-long cohort experience where faculty across the university engage in cross-disciplinary discussions about designing CEL courses, curricula, engaged programs and projects to enhance student learning opportunities. We also work with faculty members to develop their own engaged scholarship through publication workshops and assistance with disseminating research and knowledge generated through courses and research. More information can be found at https://einhorn.cornell.edu/opportunity/engaged-faculty-fellowship-program/