IonE Educators

Institute on the Environment Educators Program

To incubate and encourage innovative teaching in sustainability and environmental education, IonE will recognize three to six educators per year. As individuals and a cohort group, these educators will advance best practices in sustainability instruction and curriculum development, and disseminate those innovations to the broader university and Minnesota community. IonE Educators are tenure-track faculty and instructional staff, including adjunct faculty (IonE Educators may or may not already be an IonE Fellow or Associate.) who have a special interest in effective pedagogy and curriculum development. IonE Educators are regularly engaged in formal and informal teaching. The cohort meets throughout their 15-month fellowship term to learn from each other and collaborate.

During the 15-month fellowship, IonE Educators will pursue projects around effective pedagogy and curriculum development. The program is constructed around individual focal projects, cohort community, and collective action.

Focal projects have included improving current courses creating new courses, constructing certificates or programs, and designing tools for educators to use for teaching sustainability. Projects may address education for the general public or Pre-K-12 students. All projects will champion the need for diverse perspectives in solving today’s wicked and complex sustainability challenges.

Educators are immersed in cohort and broader IonE community throughout their fellowship. This immersion brings faculty and staff together from across disciplines and campuses, catalyzing novel insights into sustainability education. Over time, alumni of the IonE Educators will form a dynamic community of educators who are united by shared objectives and benefit from inter-cohort communication fostered by the Affiliates network.

The initial cohort of IonE Educators 2016-17 developed the concept of a systemwide conversation focused on generating greater collaboration and reflexive thinking in matters concerning sustainability education. The second and third Educators cohorts furthered the Educator’s mission to advance innovative pedagogy and expand the sustainability community by hosting a multimedia, interactive, online Sustainability Education Summit in 2019 and 2020 that reached all of the University of Minnesota campuses as well as online participants in many different states and countries! These Summits created avenues for disseminating the Educators’ innovations, and fostered connection and conversation amid the sustainability community. For their collective action, the fourth cohort of IonE Educators has written an E-book called Embodying Sustainability: Stories from Our Headwaters that share their stories of teaching sustainability for other educators, students, and simply anyone interested in diverse approaches to sustainability.

The fifth cohort is currently working on an exhibition and accompanying E-book that will travel to all system campuses. The cohort is especially excited to be able to visually communicate the creative initiatives and great student work that has emerged from their fellowship.

In addition to the benefits and responsibilities of all IonE Affiliates, IonE Educators will have access to a graduate research assistant who will help them in their focal project and receive counsel from IonE staff in the development and implementation of their focal project.

You Can Check Out This Year’s Application Here
Applications will be due by April 15, 2022

Individuals can apply by submitting:

1) Letter of support from a department chair, dean, or associate dean (or similar supervisory role). (if none of these is available, please reach out to ioneaffiliates@umn.edu prior to the application deadline to find out what else could besubmitted in place of this letter.)

2) Cover letter describing their environmental or sustainability education experiences; and goals and a description of the educational project or activity they seek to advance during their fellowship year.

3) CV highlighting the qualifications described above

Selection will be based on the potential for the proposed project to significantly advance sustainability education within and outside of the University of Minnesota system. IonE Educators are recommended by the Faculty Leadership Council with assistance from the IonE Educators Advisory Board and IonE staff. Consultation with IonE education/leadership staff about possible projects is strongly encouraged before submitting an application.

Read about the first two cohorts of IonE Educators here.

Guidelines for selecting IonE Educators

We will use the seven questions below to evaluate applications from prospective IonE Educators. Other factors also will be taken into account to ensure diverse representation in terms of disciplines, perspectives, objectives and backgrounds. Applicants’ experience in teaching or in sustainability-related fields will be considered as well.

Applicants should note in their application letter if there are funding needs beyond the graduate student assistant’s time and, if so, what resources have been identified to fund those additional costs.

We request that applicants obtain the support of the appropriate departmental representative. If an applicant proposes the development of a new course as the focal project, we understand that the departmental representative’s support is not equivalent to the approval of the course.

How does the proposed focal project represent an important innovation or address an existing gap in established teaching? Why is this important?
How will the proposed project benefit University of Minnesota students or K–12 students in Minnesota, and if relevant, research in sustainability education?
How does the proposed project champion the need for multiple perspectives, particularly underrepresented and marginalized voices, in solving complex sustainability challenges?
Can the proposed project be completed in fifteen month term?
What specific research and support will the proposed project require? How might the assigned graduate research assistant contribute to the completion of the project?
How would the proposed project benefit from being affiliated with IonE?
What potential does the proposed project have for impact beyond the duration of the formal affiliation with IonE?

FAQs

Q: Are non-tenure-track teaching professionals eligible to apply?

A: Yes. IonE Educators have teaching as a core part of their professional work. We encourage applications from those who have both a history of teaching and ongoing plans to teach.

Q: Does the IonE Educator program offer funding beyond the graduate student’s assistance on the focal project?

A: No. However, IonE Educators may pursue other grants, such as IonE Mini Grants.

Q: Are applicants who are informal educators working in Extension, Outreach Centers, or environmental education eligible?

A: Yes, as long as the criteria above are met.

Q: Does the focal project need to have a research question and goals, such as publication?

A: Since education is the primary focus of the IonE Educators, research is not expected or required. However, education research may be part of a focal project.

Q: What is the approximate time commitments to be an IonE Educators?

A: Over the 15th month period, an IonE Educator is expected to dedicate approximately 80 hours or 5-10 hrs per month. This time is split between individual project meetings, cohort gatherings, planning & participating in the collective event, and spent at the Educators retreat (late August). Educators may dedicate more time on their focal project.

Questions can be directed to Beth Mercer-Taylor or Mary Hannemann in Sustainability Education.

Educators Advisory Board

Linda Buturian
IonE Educator since 2017
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
University of Minnesota Twin Cities

Paul Imbertson
IonE Educator since 2017
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Minnesota Twin Cities

David Syring
IonE Educator since 2017
Department of Anthropology, Sociology and Criminology
University of Minnesota Duluth

Katy Chapman
IonE Educator since 2017
Math, Science and Technology Department
University of Minnesota Crookston

Ned Mohan
IonE Educator since 2016
College of Science and Engineering
University of Minnesota Twin Cities

Aparna Katre
IonE Educator since 2019
Cultural Entrepreneurship
University of Minnesota Duluth
Bula Wayessa
IonE Educator since 2021
Department of African American & African Studies
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Clement Loo
IonE Educator since 2019
Environmental Studies; Equity, Diversity, and Intercultural Programs
University of Minnesota Morris
Daniel Nolan
IonE Educator since 2022
College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
University of Minnesota Duluth
David Syring
IonE Educator since 2017
Department of Anthropology, Sociology and Criminology
University of Minnesota Duluth
David Wilsey
IonE Educator since 2018
Humphrey School of Public Affairs
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Dominic Travis
IonE Educator since 2018
College of Veterinary Medicine
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Jane Wissinger
IonE Educator since 2017
Department of Chemistry
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Jessica Larson
IonE Educator since 2019
Studio Art/Humanities
University of Minnesota Morris
Jessie Barnett Schimek
IonE Educator since 2020
Department of Public Health
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Katy Chapman
IonE Educator since 2017
Math, Science and Technology Department
University of Minnesota Crookston
Kimberly Byrd
IonE Educator since 2019
College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Kristin Osiecki
IonE Educator since 2019
Center for Learning Innovation
University of Minnesota Rochester
Linda Buturian
IonE Educator since 2017
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Liz Spodie
IonE Educator since 2021
Operations & Program Development Director, Rural Physician Associate Program
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Matt Peterson
IonE Educator since 2020
Department of Entomology
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Michelle Garvey
IonE Educator since 2016
College of Liberal Arts
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Mindy Granley
IonE Educator since 2018

City of Duluth
Ned Mohan
IonE Educator since 2016
College of Science and Engineering
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Paul Bates
IonE Educator since 2021
Assistant Professor in Biology
University of Minnesota Duluth
Paul Imbertson
IonE Educator since 2017
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Scott Spicer
IonE Educator since 2018
University Libraries
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Shanda Demorest
IonE Educator since 2018
School of Nursing
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Sheila Williams Ridge
IonE Educator since 2020
College of Education and Human Development
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Susan Craddock
IonE Educator since 2020
College of Liberal Arts
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Teresa Bertossi
IonE Educator since 2021
Assistant Professor and Director of the UMD Land Lab and Sustainable Agriculture Project
University of Minnesota Duluth
Thomas Beery
IonE Educator since 2018
Minnesota Sea Grant
University of Minnesota Duluth
Tiffany Richardson
IonE Educator since 2016
College of Education and Human Development
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Tiffany Sprague
IonE Educator since 2021
Minnesota Sea Grant
University of Minnesota Duluth