2015 Conference

Poster Presentation

Kapi’olani Community College and the University of Hawai’i (UH) at Manoa have developed a pathway of engaged student learning from first year service-learning to second year STEM research experiences to baccalaureate transfer. Since these two campuses share watershed-marine ecosystems, developed sustainably by indigenous Hawaiians for more than 1500 years, this pathway focuses on complex, contested questions central to the world our students’ will inherit in the energy-climate era. We have developed over 50 service-learning courses, and 30 course sections with AASHE-defined “Sustainability” designations. We are developing sustainability strategic planning performance measures across the ten campus UH System.

With KECK Foundation funds through the NSF Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities program, and with a new 3-year grant from the Teagle Foundation we are integrating, along with six other community colleges nationally, the following big question across the liberal arts curriculum: “How do we build OUR commitment to civic and moral responsibility for diverse, equitable, healthy, and sustainable communities?” With funding support from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development, we are building a Mindful Learning Center (2,400 square feet) at Waikiki Elementary School to serve as a convening space for dialogues with community partners on “Waikiki Sustainability and Resilience.” as well as challenges arising from sea level rise and salt water intrusion in the Ala Wai Watershed which includes both the Kapiolani and Manoa campuses. We are hoping to lead a movement on campus-community engagement for “diverse, equitable, healthy, and sustainable communities” in the energy-climate era, and to collaborate with other campuses nationally.