Magnolias Curriculum Project

Since 2012, we have invited Wake Forest faculty to enhance teaching and engagement with sustainability issues by participating in the annual Magnolias Curriculum Project. No prior experience with sustainability-related issues in the classroom or in research is necessary, and faculty at all ranks and career stages are welcome. This innovative approach to curricular change, modeled on the nationally renowned Piedmont Project (Emory University), provides faculty with an intellectually stimulating and collegial experience to pool their expertise.

The workshop explores how we can meaningfully integrate sustainability—broadly defined—into our classrooms. Although we start by taking a close look at Wake Forest University and the larger Piedmont region, we invite participants to engage in local-to-global comparisons.

The Magnolia Project kicks off with a two-day workshop each May that offers opportunities to extend research and teaching horizons across disciplines and create new networks with fellow colleagues.  Following the workshop, faculty participants prepare discipline-specific course materials on their own over the summer. They reconvene in early August to discuss their insights and experiences. Participants receive a stipend of $500 upon completion of a new or revised syllabus.

Project participants agree to:

1. Read some materials prior to the workshop.
2. Participate in the full 2-day workshop.
3. Commit time during the summer to prepare or revise a syllabus and submit it in August.
4. Report back to the group in August.

Booklist

Each cohort of the Magnolias Project has contributed to this list of books that they have found relevant in teaching sustainability-related courses.

Course Listing

The Wake Forest faculty offer many courses that stimulate and facilitate learning for sustainability. A snapshot of the course inventory is pictured below. Click here for the full inventory of courses.