![\"Professor](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Sustainability480_Sullivan.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFaculty members from across Oakland University came together on May 21-22 for a two-day teaching workshop focused on integrating sustainability into the curriculum.<\/p>\n
Organized by the Academic Sustainability Committee and co-chaired by Lily Mendoza and Jeffrey Insko, the inaugural workshop marked a significant step in advancing sustainability education at Oakland University. Inspired by the successful Piedmont\/Ponderosa Model of Faculty Development, the event brought together 19 faculty members representing a wide range of academic disciplines.<\/p>\n
As part of the workshop, participants committed to revising an existing course syllabus to incorporate sustainability principles or developing a new course centered on sustainability-related topics. The initiative supports Oakland University’s ongoing efforts to prepare students to address complex environmental, social and economic challenges through their academic and professional work.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Professor Jennifer Law-Sullivan at the inaugural Sustainability Teaching Workshop<\/p>\n
Throughout the two-day program, faculty engaged with resource speakers who explored topics including the meaning of sustainability, climate change and infrastructure, practical classroom strategies for sustainability education, and approaches to community engagement. Breakout sessions provided opportunities for participants to discuss their projects, exchange ideas and collaborate on ways to incorporate sustainability concepts into their teaching.<\/p>\n
The workshop also included experiential learning opportunities on campus. Participants toured Oakland University’s Biological Preserve, led by Scott Tiegs, professor of biological sciences, and visited the Native American Heritage Site with Beth Wallis, librarian and co-chair of the Native American Advisory Committee. These experiences highlighted the University’s commitment to sustainability, environmental stewardship and community connection.<\/p>\n
Faculty participants represented schools and departments across the university, demonstrating the interdisciplinary nature of sustainability education:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Rob Anderson, English, Creative Writing and Film<\/p>\n
\u2022 Elise Brown, Health Sciences<\/p>\n
\u2022 Szufang Chuang, Organizational Leadership<\/p>\n
\u2022 Keren M. Escobar, Sociology, Anthropology, Social Work and Criminal Justice<\/p>\n
\u2022 Rebekah Farrugia, Communication, Journalism and Public Relations<\/p>\n
\u2022 Diane Hartmus, Political Science<\/p>\n
\u2022 Jaemin Kim, Management and Marketing<\/p>\n
\u2022 Laura Landolt, Political Science<\/p>\n
\u2022 Jennifer Law-Sullivan, Modern Languages<\/p>\n
\u2022 Rebecca Mercado Jones, Communication, Journalism and Public Relations<\/p>\n
\u2022 Megan Peiser, English, Creative Writing and Film<\/p>\n
\u2022 Oscar Omar Rodriguez Quiroz, Theatre<\/p>\n
\u2022 Steven Stanton, Management and Marketing<\/p>\n
\u2022 Joshua Tomlinson, Music<\/p>\n
\u2022 Greg Thrasher, Management and Marketing<\/p>\n
\u2022 Jiannan Tian, Computer Science and Engineering<\/p>\n
\u2022 Scott Tiegs, Biological Sciences<\/p>\n
\u2022 Megan Widman, Social Work<\/p>\n
\u2022 Ziming Yang, Chemistry<\/p>\n
The workshop reflects Oakland University’s growing commitment to embedding sustainability across academic disciplines and equipping students with the knowledge and skills needed to contribute to a more sustainable future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Faculty members from across Oakland University came together on May 21-22 for a two-day teaching workshop focused on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7291,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":["post-346465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}