Faculty Reflection: Ian Langella

Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
Course(s): N/A

Involvement with InTeGrate

I am a department chair and a faculty member, and as a scientist who has done some work on sustainability, I was overjoyed to see the workshop and focus on sustainability. It was easy for me to decide to participate in this workshop. I think the workshop had several identifiable impacts. First, it exposed the campus community to the various ways that our various disciplines teach and, more importantly think about sustainability. Second, on a more practical level, I believe that it facilitated a discussion on having sustainable programs and links between sustainability in different areas. I enjoyed the rigor. This was not "green washing", this was something I believe will have a lasting and growing impact at our university.

From a personal side, I found the sustainable web based survey to be quite interesting and I have used it in my business sustainability class as well as my upper level global logistics class. Businesses have the largest impact on sustainability (it is difficult to not say that they bare the majority of the blame) and so I believe that bringing companies to understand and accept their responsibility, that profit can be made with sustainability in mind, we can do our part in this vital junction.

Incorporating and Adapting InTeGrate Materials

In addition to the above, I attended shortly thereafter an invitation-only conference at the University of Rhode Island on designing products to be sustainable, through the selection of materials and processes, as well as ensuring a "closed loop" where products can be collected to minimize or eliminate ill effects on the environment. The workshop gave me a lot of great ideas that I took to that conference and I gave a presentation which was better because I had attended the workshop. I am currently evaluating and incrementally incorporating this material. I have found it to be of very good quality.

Outcomes and Evidence: student engagement, improvements in student learning, increased interest in research

I can see all three of these. I have found my students to be very concerned about the world and eager to see how they can, within their respective careers, contribute to the fight for our planet. I see genuine interest, motivation, and curiosity. When engaged, we all know that students tend to learn better, and I have also seen this as I exposed them to the topic. Of course, as scientists as well as teachers, we enjoy bringing ideas back from conferences and exposing our students to the cutting edge. As we do this, they can see how research is done and I believe awakens a previously invisible want to do research and the belief that they are capable of doing research.

I wanted to add one last comment if I might. I tend to attend only the best conferences in our field, and I found the workshop superbly organized and exhibiting the highest level of professionalism. Drs. Thomas and Cornell ran the workshop very effectively and the graduate assistant whose name I have unfortunately forgotten seemed to be instrumental in the execution. The coffee and the scones were also very appreciated. From front to back, it was a classy workshop. Thanks so much!