Can Colleges and Local Governments Work Together on the Sustainability Agenda?

This closing plenary panel was moderated by Jim Elder of the Campaign for Environmental Literacy and includes Harvey Rubin, the clerk of the courts from Miami-Date County, FL, Kevin Foy, mayor of Chapel Hill, NC, and Debra Rowe, a professor at Oakland Community College and president of the US Partnership for the Decade of Education for Sustainability:

Debra Rowe, a professor at Oakland Community College who is famously involved in countless sustainability organizations and efforts, said that many campus career offices don’t tell students about the sustainability jobs that city governments will need to fill in the future. Sustainability advocates, she said, should use that potential demand to push sustainability education on campus.

She also said that students should be engaged in projects and learning opportunities in local communities to improve their education. That kind of hands-on learning would not only help the local community but also provide more vital lessons for students.

“Cities can get students out of these dumb assignments where we have students jump through hoops,” she said.

Rowe has, with assistance from SCUP in its inception, creating a "Match.com" to match students seeking real-world challenges for credit with professors, and professors who want to offer such credit with cities and communities at playagreaterpart.org.