Creating the Climate University of the Future

Last May I moderated a panel at a 2-day event hosted by Duke University focused on climate change and higher education. The conference was called All In: Higher Education, Interdisciplinarity and Our Collective Climate Challenge and brought together faculty and administrators from 2- and 4- year institutions from across the US to engage in deep conversations about higher ed's role in addressing the climate challenge. We formed workgroups and wrestled with a broad array of topics, including integrating climate education with racial and social equity education, using college campuses as testbeds for experiential and applied learning approaches, creating turnkey resources for instructor development and to facilitate inclusion of climate and sustainability into curricula, and training the green workforce of tomorrow.

The All In conference is where I met today's guest, Dr. Toddi Steelman, Vice President & Vice Provost for Climate and Sustainability at Duke University, the person behind the conference and also driving Duke’s ambitious Climate Commitment.  We talked about what Duke’s climate commitment entails, how the college was able to take such a bold step when many other colleges struggle to even acknowledge climate change, and how Duke can be a model for other institutions of higher education.

Guest bio
Dr. Toddi Steelman is currently Duke's new Vice President and Vice Provost for Climate and Sustainability in 2023. She had previously served as the Stanback Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University where, during her initial term, she oversaw the launch of two new majors to help advance climate, earth science, and environmental literacy among undergraduate students; invested in efforts to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion within the school; secured philanthropic support for new faculty hiring; expanded the school’s engagement with other schools and units at Duke and external partners; and oversaw changes to the school’s research and business management infrastructure to better support research activities.  She also played a leading role in the planning and development of the Duke Climate Commitment.

Prior to being named dean of the Nicholas School in 2018, Dr. Steelman served as the first permanent executive director of the University of Saskatchewan’s School of Environment and Sustainability, after serving 11 years on the faculty in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at North Carolina State University. She also was a faculty member in the Graduate School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado a Denver from 1997 to 2001.

She holds a Ph.D. from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, a Master in Public Affairs from Princeton University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and International Studies from West Virginia University.

Resources and links
Terra.do's Learning for Action course
The Duke Climate Commitment
Aspen's This is Planet Ed Higher Ed Action Plan

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