50th Anniversary of Earth Day

The Impact of UVM Research & Teaching on Sustainability

Wednesday, April 22, 9am – 4:30pm (Eastern Daylight Time)

The purpose of the Summit is “How might we achieve and measure the impact of our sustainability teaching, reseach, and outreach efforts.” Because the Summit will take place on April 22nd, which is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, it is a good opportunity for an inflection point for students, faculty, and staff at UVM and the broader region to see how we can drive sustainable change within our own systems for the next 50 years. The meeting will be interactive, participative, and co-facilitated by UVM students who will be applying tools they have learned in the Sustainable Innovation MBA, especially those during a course titled Driving Sustainable Change.

Who will be attending: Gund fellows and community; current students, alumni, and partners of the Sustainable Innovation MBA; UVM faculty, staff, and partners

Location: The Summit will be held virtually. Please click on the following link to join. The link will be active from 8am (eastern time) on Wednesday, April 22nd. https://zoom.us/j/641431322

Outcomes: While outcomes will be driven by participants of the Summit, we envision that potential outcomes could be:

  • Developing a plan for research that crosses disciplines and boundaries while having an impact on real world sustainability practice
  • Transforming teaching and education in general so that it impacts the learner directly to be more sustainable as well as equipping the learner to be a sustainable change agent
  • Skill building: participants will also learn the methodology that will be used at the Summit.

Time Commitment & Agenda: Because we are all busy, following is a general agenda draft to help you plan out your time. Although we encourage participation for the whole day, we know that schedules are tight and that Earth Day falls in the middle of the week, and close to the end of the semester. So, if you can only attend a part, that is fine even if you join for a few minutes. But if possible, we encourage that you join the morning session or afternoon session so as to experience that part as a complete whole (or at least join for the beginning of the morning and/or beginning of afternoon and then drop off). These are recommendations, but feel free to come whenever you can for as long as you can. The moderator will be there to help bring you up to speed. The below times are current estimates

Agenda

9:00 - 11:00 Morning session I (introduction, series of participative exercises in which sustainability strengths of the UVM community are analyzed)

11:15 - 12:30 Morning session II (visioning phase that builds on strengths of the UVM community)

12:30 - 1:30  Break

1:30 - 3:15 Afternoon session (parallel working groups that work on specific initiatives / ideas related to the vision / strengths that emerge from the morning
  - note we will meet in the main session first before breaking out)

3:30 - 4:30 Closing (next steps, de-brief, closing remarks)

4:30 (optional) You are invited to a special UVM Earth Day Keynote at 4:30pm hosted by the Gund Institute and delivered by Dr. Nalini Nadkarni. More information on the Keynote.  

Again, feel free to join any time. The above times are estimates. Mid-morning and mid-afternoon break times might vary slightly. This is due to the creative nature of the workshop. However, we will do our best to keep the Lunch break as scheduled.

Details have been e-mailed to all participants that have registered. In summary, the most important document that you need during the Summit is the Workbook which will be our central operating / organizing system. In it are detailed instructions and links to all the technology that we will be using during the Summit. To download a copy of the Workbook, please click here: Earth Day Summit Workbook

To register, please click on the “REGISTER NOW” link below the logo of The Sustainable Innovation MBA or click here to register.