Friday March 15^th, concluded our interviews for the week. Our final session was with the Sustainable Communities Program at Northern Arizona University (NAU). We met with the director, Kim Curtis and five students enrolled in the Masters of Arts in Sustainable Communities. The masters program embodies grassroots movements to provide sustainable solutions for the campus and community. It revolves around the Action Research Teams (ARTs), which allows students to engage in outreach programs and establishing an area of focus that reflects their interests. ARTs was launched in 2009 and has since developed 13 programs that contribute to solving sustainable issues around Northern Arizona University and Flagstaff communities.

After our brief introductions we got to hear a bit about what each of the five graduate students are doing within the program and their achievements throughout the course. It was inspiring to hear how successful their initiatives within the program have been and how they have grown as leaders at NAU. Out of the 13 ARTs teams, we got to hear about the following programs each of the students participates in:

1. Sustainable Living and Urban Gardening (SLUG)

2. Students Nurturing Alternatives in Landscaping (SNAIL)

3. Immigrations Action Service

4. Queer and Ally (Q&A)

5. New Economy Northern Arizona (NENAU)

From each of the grad students I learned that finding a balance is key and creating collaborations between the school and community takes time to fully integrate. Lindsey, who works with the SLUG action team, mentioned that while she was creating her plan for the NAU garden she assumed that the school would be fully supportive of her tearing up grass and laying down some seeds to form a campus garden. During her proposal however, the school advised her that there were multiple factors to consider in terms of placement, the aesthetics, methods, materials, labor required etc. The underlying message is that while we generate our proposal for a curriculum change it’s important to take into account the various facets that go into such a program. There are multiple factors to consider in order to make a program successful and a variety of elements we have to review before “jumping the gun” or making assumptions.

The advice the students provided us at the end of the conversation contributed to a handful of questions (below) that I think will be useful as we develop our proposal and may help us narrow down our decision making process.

What does sustainability mean and how are we embodying that as a college?

How do we plan to “build excitement” about such a program?

Do an assessment – what are our resources? Strengths? Weaknesses?

What are some of the community traditions in Carlisle and how can we integrate an experiential learning component that may benefit the town?

Research – How does Dickinson define itself? What can we build on through this curriculum change?