INNOVATIVE TEACHING SHOWCASE

This year's Showcase theme, Teaching for a Sustainable Future, honors three WWU faculty members who encourage students to examine the effects of human action on local and world communities.

THEME 

Julie A. Lockhart, professor and chair of the Department of Accounting at Western Washington University, focuses her research on social justice and environmental tax policy. During a sabbatical leave at the Center for Social and Environmental Accounting Research in Scotland, she was inspired to create a new course in sustainable accounting in which she challenges accounting students to examine topics such as environmental impact reporting, initiatives, and stewardship.

Arunas P. Oslapas, associate professor of industrial design in the Department of Engineering Technology, infuses passion for design principles and sustainability into his courses, projects for his students, and his recycled garbage art. Starting his career in Chicago as an architectural space planner and draftsman, he has worked for a film studio, office furniture manufacturer, and taught at Kendall College of Art & Design and Brigham Young University before coming to Western Washington University.

Grace A. Wang, associate professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at Huxley College of the Environment, inspires her students with her research and involvement in the human dimensions of managing natural, community-based, and cultural resources and her drive to affect federal policy. She began her career as a research social scientist at the U.S. Forest Service, and taught at the Pennsylvania State University before coming to Western Washington University in 2002.

We need to look at sustainable development as a whole—how to use our resources without wasting them; how to teach and learn about sustainable development; how to generate the skills, knowledge and understanding to allow us to fulfill our duty as global citizens.

— C. Clark, Sustainable Development Action Plan for Education and Skills