Dr. Angela Cuthbert, Millersville, Geography
Energy Sustainability and Food System Sustainability
My initial goal in attending the 2025 Valley and Ridge program was to explore ways to develop sustainability competencies within my courses. A departmental review of our sustainability curriculum revealed that students had limited exposure to systems thinking—a key competency in sustainability education. As an instructor of Energy Sustainability and Food System Sustainability, I aimed to address this gap. After engaging with program leaders and participating in the first day’s activities, my goal evolved. I became focused on intentionally integrating systems thinking into my sustainability curriculum and embedding sustainability principles across all my courses.
Systems thinking involves analyzing the interdependencies within systems to better understand complex sustainability issues. To foster this competency, I plan to implement a variety of instructional strategies, activities, and assessments, including:
- Place-based assignments - Small group projects - Inquiry-based and problem-based learning - Flipped classroom design - Interactive class activities (e.g., ball of yarn, four corners, gallery walk)
In Energy Sustainability, students will work in small groups to become experts on a specific energy resource. They will evaluate their resource in terms of supply, production, and demand, and assess its sustainability across social, economic, and environmental dimensions. These findings will be compiled into factsheets that inform a capstone project. The capstone assignment challenges students to design a sustainable energy pathway for electricity generation in the United States. They must consider regional resource diversity and propose a mix of energy sources tailored to different geographical areas. Students will set goals for both the near term (25 years) and long term (50 years), and identify policy instruments necessary to support their strategy. Two role-play activities—siting a nuclear power plant and a congressional hearing on climate change—will further develop systems thinking by requiring students to present and defend diverse stakeholder perspectives.
In Food System Sustainability, students will form expert groups on topics related to the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of food systems. Each group will lead class discussions and facilitate peer learning. Additionally, students will complete a Food Citizen Action Plan, a problem-based assignment in which they identify a food system issue and design an intervention. This plan will require consideration of economic, public health, societal, and environmental impacts; identification of contributing factors and supportive allies; and anticipation of barriers and opposition, along with strategies to overcome them.
Beyond my sustainability-focused courses, I am committed to embedding sustainability into other areas of my teaching. This summer, I introduced a new assignment in Human Geography that incorporates Project Drawdown and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—an idea inspired by a Valley and Ridge alum. In Geography of Africa this fall, students will now assess their assigned country’s progress toward the SDGs as part of their country report. In Urban and Regional Planning next spring, I plan to add a component to the community report requiring students to evaluate their community’s alignment with the SDGs.
The Valley and Ridge program provided invaluable time and space to reflect and be intentional about embedding sustainability into my teaching. I am grateful for the opportunity and inspired by the ideas and support shared throughout the experience. Thank you for a truly enriching program