Broadening Participation in Undergraduate Climate Education

  • 18 Sep 2025
  • 4:00 PM
  • 19 Sep 2025
  • 5:00 PM
  • Harvey Mudd College (with virtual option available for some sessions)
  • 134 registrants

Registration

  • For attendees (in-person or hybrid) for whom the registration fee represents a barrier to their participation, please email climateeducation-L@g.hmc.edu to request a code that waives the registration fee (a code is needed to use this registration option).

    The organizers wish for this conference to be accessible to all who would like to attend.
  • For all attendees who can join in-person or hybrid (part in-person and part virtually).
  • For all attendees who can only join virtually for the entire event.
Registration is closed

Broadening Participation in Undergraduate Climate Education 

The world is on track for at least a 2℃ global average temperature increase by 2100 based on international agreements, pledges, and targets - and even optimistic scenarios of current pledges result in an estimated 1.8C of warming1, all despite the 2015 Paris agreement goal of keeping the global average temperature increase below 1.5℃ . The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has released their 6th Assessment Report describing the impacts of warming beyond 1.5℃, which will touch every aspect of our lives. And yet K-12 education is only just beginning to adopt climate literacy into its standard curricula,2 and the inclusion of climate change in higher education, through core curricula, is lagging.3  

Despite these shortcomings, there is a growing effort to expand climate education in higher education and to incorporate climate beyond the earth sciences. Faculty understand that, regardless of field, our graduates will inherit a personal and professional landscape that is fundamentally changed from the world today. Their education should prepare them for this new world.

This one-day conference will convene climate experts, teacher-scholars from other disciplines, and community partners to discuss the future of climate education for undergraduates.  The goal of the conference is to expand the number of faculty involved in climate education and for those already involved to deepen their understanding of and appreciation for the strengths that multiple perspectives bring to addressing the challenges of climate.  A theme throughout the conference will be broadening participation in climate education on our campuses and in our communities.


Outcomes:

  1. Participants will learn how their disciplinary expertise can be integrated with other disciplines to improve and expand climate education for undergraduate audiences. 

  2. Those attending the conference will be empowered to engage/expand/improve climate education at their home institution and will have the opportunity to workshop ideas for lessons and modules that could be implemented in their own classrooms.

  3. Participants will critically reflect on which voices/types of knowledge are being included and excluded from the conversation about climate change at their campus.

  4. Participants will explore how working together with communities and practitioners can enhance climate education in mutually beneficial partnerships.

  5. Attendees will make connections and network with fellow educators from diverse backgrounds who are working on climate education

1. https://climateactiontracker.org/global/cat-thermometer/

2. https://cdn.naaee.org/programs/coalition/resources/mapping-the-landscape

3. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652617322187?via%3Dihub

At-a-glance schedule:

(times are in Pacific Time)

Thurs. Sept 18, 2025

4p Check-in and reception

5p - 6:15p‡  Keynote Speaker Katie Worth, Censoring the Future: How Climate Change is Taught in America 

Fri. Sept 19, 2025

7:30–8:20 a.m.  Check-in and breakfast

8:30–9:10 a.m.‡  Keynote by Provost Wayne Yang, “Why Climate Change Education?”

9:15–10:45 a.m‡. Session A: Institutional Endeavors – Oral presentations

10:45–11 a.m.  Break and transit to Platt Campus Center

11 a.m. –Noon.  Poster presentations

Noon–1 p.m.  Lunch break

1–1:15 p.m.  Break and transit to Shanahan Center

1:15–2:45 p.m.  Session B: Truth Mandala, led by Dr. Krista Hiser 

1:15–2:45 p.m.‡ Session C: Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts – Oral presentations 

2:45–3 p.m. Coffee break

3–4:30 p.m.. Session D: Climate Futures Activity, led by Dr. Krista Hiser

3–4:30 p.m.‡   Session E: Civic and Community Engagement – Oral presentations

4:30–5 p.m.  Closing reception

.‡ - indicates that this session is available for remote attendees

Additional information:

We are committed to supporting participation to the extent possible. Please contact us by email if you need registration waiver, milage reimbursement, or ground transportation subsidy and we will try to accommodate you. Please email us before registering at climateeducation@hmc.edu 


For more information and most recent updates, please visit the conference web site


For other questions, please email climateeducation@hmc.edu

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