ASU and UL Research Institutes partnership

The challenge

Sustainable environments are critical in ensuring safe environments. Arizona State University’s new Regional Center of Expertise in Sustainability Education, granted by the United Nations, is building out initiatives in support of sustainability and education throughout the greater Phoenix metropolitan area. The RCE Greater Phoenix was developed  in collaboration with ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College and RCE  is one of the educational arms of ASU’s Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory. Sustained and deepened collaborations with local, national and global organizations are key to expanding sustainability education.

The approach

The ASU and ULRI Partnership is a collaborative approach to developing a cohort of teacher fellows prepared to expand sustainability education throughout the Greater Phoenix area. The project is led by Iveta Silova, associate dean and professor, in coordination with the RCE Greater Phoenix at ASU through a partnership with the Office of Research Experiences and Education  of UL Research Institutes. Specifically, ULRI collaborates with OREE’s education team to build learning resources available for community and classroom educators. 

OREE will sponsor the UL Research Institutes Teacher Fellows program. The first cohort of teacher fellows will create resources for the Greater Phoenix area that can be utilized in global platforms such as UL Xplorlabs and potentially Mission 4.7, the UNESCO platform sharing high-quality resources aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The partnership agreement between OREE and ASU through its various participating entities will align missions and strategies between these organizations in support of education and sustainability issues.