Peace With Creation

About Peace With Creation

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What is Peace With Creation?
 
Peace with Creation: Sustainability from an Anabaptist Perspective is an initiative that draws together EMU students, faculty and staff around the theme of  sustainability.   The initiative is a five year Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) that focuses on undergraduate student learning. It builds on EMU's "Theological Foundation for Sustainability" and the following interdisciplinary "Framework For Sustainability in the Curriculum".

Framework for Sustainability in the Curriculum

Educating students to serve and lead in a global context, the core of EMU’s mission requires that we incorporate into our teaching the interlocking aspects of economic, environmental, and social sustainability.  Peace with Creation: Sustainability from an Anabaptist Perspective draws together EMU students, faculty and staff around the theme of sustainability and how it relates to Anabaptist beliefs concerning creation care, peace and social justice.
 

Theology of Sustainability 1

 
  • God declares creation “very good” and placed human stewards in the garden of the earth to tend and   keep it.
  • We have the same hope for the rest of creation that we have for ourselves: transformation and renewal through the life, death and  resurrection of Jesus Christ.
  • The church promotes and engages in more sustainable practices as an expression of its love for and gratitude toward God whose glory is made manifest in creation.  

Principles of Sustainability

·     We acknowledge that individual, institutional, and community actions have local and global impacts on the current and future health and prosperity of all humans and other species. These impacts include the:

  •    The fairness, equity, stability and security of human cultures and social systems
  •    Economic opportunity for all current and future humans
  •    Ecological diversity and integrity2

·     Therefore, we strive to transform and renew social, economic and ecological systems to create just and peaceful relationships between humanity and the rest of Creation.

 

Principles for Teaching Sustainability

The following principles are essential aspects of teaching sustainability:

  • Emphasize the interconnectedness of all people, disciplines and actions (i.e. systems thinking)
  • Engage students in actions that are experiential and include real world problem solving
  • Explore economic, environmental, and social justice through connections to people both locally and globally

Student Learning Outcomes

 

1.   Define sustainability according to the Principles of Sustainability.

2.   Justify sustainability from a theological perspective.

3.   Explain how individual, institutional, and community actions impact sustainability

4.   Name and defend actions that promote sustainability at the individual, institutional, and community levels

5.   Integrate the Principles of Sustainability within the student’s discipline

6.   Incorporate sustainability into one’s values system

 
1 EMU Bible and Religion Department January 2011 , abbreviated, see https://my.emu.edu/ICS/QEP/ for full version

2 Cortese, A. D. (2005, April). Learning principles for sustainability: Sustainability curriculum framework for curriculum development. Retrieved January 28, 2009 from http://www.secondnature.org/efs/res_sheets/sustainabilitythemes.pdf

 
Peace with Creation:
Why does EMU need a QEP?
 
EMU’s accrediting organization, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) requires us to submit a QEP as part of our 2009-10 reaffirmation of accreditation. SACS asks that the QEP describe “a carefully designed course of action that addresses a well-defined and focused topic [that enhances] student learning.”
Peace with Creation:
How was EMU’s QEP chosen?
 
Selection of EMU’s QEP began with discussions among EMU’s strategic planning council in 2007. The council identified five possible topics. These topics were reviewed by the EMU board of trustees, faculty and staff, and students, and narrowed the field to three candidate topics. These three topics were voted on by faculty and staff in March 2008, and environmental sustainability received the most votes. The topic was further refined during 2008 and 2009, creating our QEP topic: Peace with Creation: Sustainability from an Anabaptist Perspective.

Contact

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QEP Implementation Team
Jim Yoder (Chair)
Louise Babikow  (Student intern)                
Ben Beachy
Eric Codding
Linda Gnagey                             
Jerry Holsopple
Jonathan Lantz-Trissel
BJ Miller
Carol Snell-Feikema
SGA representative
 
 
Send comments or questions to:
Jim Yoder
QEP Implementation Team Chair

Peace With Creation Documents

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  • EMU

    EMU Framework for Sustainability
    Required
    EMU Framework for Sustainability 8_24_11.pdf
    Quality Enhancement Plan

    Read EMU's full QEP proposal

    Required
    QEP version 2 (final).pdf
    QEP Implementation Team
    From the Faculty/Staff Handbook - purpose and membership of the QEPIT.
    Required
    QEPIT.doc
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  • SACS

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  • Presentations

    Sustainability Survey Results
    Results from a student-initiated survey on student attitudes and opinions about sustainability, administered in spring 2012. Presented at the Peace with Creation focus group, Faculty Staff Conference on May 3, 2012.
    Required
    Sustainability Survey Results - Spring 2012.pdf
    QEP Presentation
    View a presentation from the January 25th, 2010 undergraduate faculty meeting.
    Required
    QEP Presentation.pdf
    QEP Case Study: Eastern Mennonite University
    View the slide show presented at the 2010 SACS Summer Institute in Tampa, FL.
    Required
    EMU QEP - powerpoint.pdf
    Handouts
    Helpful QEP resources. Companion to Case Study slide show.
    Required
    EMU QEP handouts.pdf
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.
While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.