RCE Detroit Windsor
Overview
RCE Detroit Windsor is a joint effort between the two universities. Focused on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, it will identify actions that address climate change, economic and health disparities, and social inequity to create a more sustainable future for the two communities that share an international border.
Photo credit: Samantha Pickering (WSU-Graduate student)
United Nations Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) on Education for Sustainable Development in the Detroit-Windsor region launch symposiums at Wayne State University, Detroit, MI. USA
The UN’s RCE program will draw together key stakeholders across the international border and subsume activities related to sustainable development challenges. The Detroit-Windsor RCE has the following goals:
- Focus on the challenges that the region faces as a transnational metropolitan area where water is one of the most vital and precious resources and where our shared automotive economic history provides common challenges in the need for transformation.
- Connect key stakeholders from area schools, municipal governments, and nonprofit organizations to articulate areas of research expertise and collaborative projects.
- Support research, teaching, and community participation in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).
- Promote cross-border collaboration on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), focusing on goals that draw both on our most significant strengths and our most pressing challenges. We have divided these goals into two categories for implementation with respect to the Detroit-Windsor region. These categories are not rigidly divided but provide both context and structure to our region’s specific RCE needs and circumstances.
Wayne State University
Name of organisation: Wayne State University
Role: Director
Contact name: Donna Kashian
Contact email: dkashian@wayne.edu
Name of organisation: University of Windsor
Role: Faculty
Contact name: Anneke Smit
Contact email: asmit@uwindsor.ca
Activities
- Establishing working groups related to our targeted Sustainable Development goals and identifying working group leaders on both sides of the border, forming a Sustainability Council which will convene regularly to talk about progress and steps to move forward.
- Leading a Sustainability Pitch Challenge that will engage students from 4 universities across the bi-national region
- Establishing a weather station on the Wayne State campus which students will monitor to provide precipitation measurements for the region
- Co-Hosting a 2- week long series of Sustainability/Environmental Events "Green Street", which celebrates Sustainability in Higher Education Month in October. Events in this series will be inclusive and engaging; we hope to spur individual action with speaker panels, highlights of local businesses, and volunteer activities around Detroit. University of Windsor will also host related events in October specifically highlighting Fair Trade Month, Circular Economy Month (and Waste Reduction Week), and creating a Bird-friendly campus with Peele Island Bird Observatory.
- Wayne State University is hosting the bi-annual meeting of the Sustainability Council with RCE leaders from both Wayne State University and the University of Windsor. In this meeting on 20 September 2024, discussions around what the cross-border collaboration will look like and any programming planning will take place.
- Hosted a joint session for the International Association of Great Lakes Research 2024 conference to be held in Windsor, CA May 8-12. This session will highlight the importance of true cross-border collaboration to protect our shared water sources, the Detroit River and the Great Lakes.
- Identified and established an RCE High School Sustainability Network. This network aims to engage regional high school students in impactful sustainability projects, providing them with valuable experience and fostering a commitment to environmental stewardship.
- Submitted a National Science Foundation (US) collaborative grant to support graduate education and increase educational partnership between the University of Windsor and Wayne State University
- Convene a listening session of university, municipal, and community stakeholders to identify how the UN RCE WSU UW can best support the Detroit-Windsor sustainability/educational community
- Established both Community Sustainability Council to serve in an advisory capacity to the RCE.
- Supported an internship for our Sustainability Fellow Halima Salah with the Arab American National Museum. Through this internship, she worked with local youths engaging them in hands-on activities with bio-material paints, participating in forest field trips, and enjoying visits from scientists and engineers.
- Partnered with a local non-profit to implement an educational program on reducing food waste.
Communication Channels
Contact Details
dkashian@wayne.edu
asmit@uwindsor.ecu
Wayne State University
3115 Biological Sciences
5047 Gullen Mall
Detroit, Michigan USA 48202
c/o Donna Kashian
