The Envisioning Process

Through a shared envisioning process that included two community events, online surveys, blogs, and email submissions of ideas, thousands responded to the design challenge. 

In the Spring of 2007, 140 community members contributed to a questionaire that guided participants in crafting a vision for the “perfect university.” 77 community members sent letters to the task force describing their visions for university change, and 200 students in an introductory natural resources class developed a list of university priorities.

On April 30th, 2007, the task force hosted an “Open Space” event, where 350+ attendees worked in break-out groups to craft vision statements relating to topics such as carbon neutrality, curriculum and pedagogy, diversity and social justice, community integration, sustainable food systems and campus landscapes.

Task Force members  reviewed and synthesized the results of these surveys and events to establish a set of vision statements to guide the proposal's development.   988 students, faculty, staff, and community members ranked the vision statements in a second survey.

In September 2006, a "Community Congress on Integrative Solutions" brought together over 300 community members to learn about the proposal and help develop ideas for "transformative projects."  Watch videos of the event's speakers (Including David Orr) here.

In January, 2008, over 60 names for the new pan-university agency were proposed and discussed on a blog by the community , and 300 previous project participants scored the names in an online survey, the results of which are posted here.

This paper, recently submitted to the Journal for Sustainability in Higher Education, presents the envisioning process and results in more detail.  

Videos from the 1st Annual UVM Community Congress on Integrative Solutions

September 24th, 2007 

	Melinda Moulton, Main Street Landing Co. Video: MOV (16 MB)
	President Daniel Fogel, University of Vermont Video: MOV (62 MB)
	Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline: the Art and Practice of the Learning Organization who has been named one of the "people who had the greatest influence on business strategy over the last 100 years." Video: MOV (301 MB)
Audio with all three talks: MP3 (116 MB)

 

September 29th, 2007

	Robert Costanza, UVM Gund Professor of Ecological Economics and Director of the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics Video: MOV (130 MB) Audio: MP3 (34 MB)
	Lisa Aultman-Hall, Professor, School of Engineering and Director of the UVM Transportation Center Video: MOV (117 MB) Audio: MP3 (31 MB)
	Fayneese Miller, Dean of the UVM College of Education and Social Services Video: MOV (82 MB) Audio: MP3 (27 MB)
	David Orr, UVM Marsh Professor at Large Professor and Chair of Oberlin College Environmental Studies Program Video: MOV (159 MB) Audio: MP3 (42 MB)

Learn More About Envisioning

www.uvm.edu/giee/ESDA

http://www.uvm.edu/giee/?Page=beyondenvironmentalism/index.html   (see especially the video of Dana Meadow’s talk)

Last modified April 06 2009 03:08 PM