Integrating Sustainability Across the Curriculum

Integrating Sustainability Across the Curriculum (ISAC) Program was established to help Penn faculty introduce environmental sustainability into existing and new courses. The Penn Sustainability Office provides full funding support for graduate or undergraduate summer research assistants, who work directly with faculty to update or create new syllabi, lectures, assignments, texts, and/or tests that incorporate environmental themes. Each student works 20 hours a week with two different professors, starting in June, to allow the student to benefit from exposure to two different faculty members working on two different courses.

Information for Faculty

The selected faculty supervise the student research over the summer and attend the wrap-up presentation at the end of the summer, where the students present their completed research.

Over the past nine summers, the ISAC program has supported over 60 courses in a diverse array of disciplines, including architecture, law, biology, engineering, urban planning, and Germanic languages. Faculty participants have reported extremely high-quality work and have been delighted by their students’ productivity and enthusiasm for the work.

Join the Program for Faculty

What’s Involved?

To participate in this transformational academic experience, please review the Call for Faculty Proposals. Email Penn Sustainability at sustainability@upenn.edu for more information about the program. 

How to Apply

The application for faculty proposals is currently open and will close March 13, 2023.

Program Requirements

If accepted into ISAC, requirements for participation include:

• Supervision of a student research assistant for eleven weeks over the summer academic term.

Information for Students

Students who are accepted into the ISAC Program will serve as Research Fellows for eleven weeks over the summer academic term. Each student will be teamed with two faculty members and will help to integrate sustainability into their courses. This work may involve researching material for the courses, developing new assignments, contributing to lectures, and compiling course reading lists. The selected students will participate in an initial meeting with the Sustainability Office to outline goals for the summer fellowship. Each student will also provide periodic progress updates to the Sustainability Office. After working with faculty members for the course of the summer, students present their completed research at the end of the program.

Over the past nine summers, the ISAC program has brought in numerous students to work with 74 faculty in a diverse array of disciplines, including architecture, law, biology, engineering, urban planning, and Germanic languages. Faculty participants have reported extremely high-quality work and have been delighted by their students’ productivity and enthusiasm for the work.

Joining the Program for Students

ISAC Fellows are Expected to:

• Work closely with the faculty members to whom they are assigned on the development of their courses;
• Actively participate in four sustainability-themed field trips with other student research interns;
• Present their course development in a poster session at the end of the summer.

The ISAC Fellowship is considered equivalent to a part-time job (30 hours a week). The internship is eleven weeks long beginning the first Monday, May 22.

How to Apply

Penn Sustainability will be accepting applications for ISAC positions through April 3, 2023. Please reach out to sustainability@upenn.edu with any questions.

Previous Program

ISAC Program 2022

The following courses were developed during the 2022 summer's ISAC program:

• EDUC 545 Ecoliteracy: An Introduction / Integrating Active Learning at the Penn Farm
• Interdisciplinary Projects in the Anthropocene
• MGMT 799 Strategy and Environmental Sustainability
• ENVS404 Urban Environments: Speaking about Lead in West Philadelphia
• CPLN 505 Public Schools as Equity Infrastructure Studio
• CPLN 591 Introduction to Smart Cities
• ANTH 310 Introduction to Environmental Humanities
• ENVS 410 The Role of Water in Urban Sustainability and Resiliency