Engineering Our Sustainable Future

The Greenway Center for Equity and Sustainability

Our Mission

The Greenway Center for Equity and Sustainability (GCES) is an innovative engineering campus founded in partnership by Elizabethtown College, School of Engineering, Math and Science and Greenway Institute, with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Broadening Participation in Engineering. GCES re-imagines engineering education by centering equity and sustainability at the core and by using an integrated package of best educational practices to ensure student success.

GCES will provide a supportive community and relevant, team-based, hands-on learning that gives every student the opportunity to develop the competence, confidence, and connections they need to thrive in engineering. By recentering on equity, the Center will broaden the pipeline into engineering for students from identities that are underrepresented in engineering, including women, rural students and people of color.

Gces Programs

GCES will offer programs at the college and post-college level, including:

  • Starting Summer 2023: Graduate level coursework in STEM and engineering education for K-12 educators
  • Starting Spring 2024: A Sustainability Semester Away: “Engineering for Our Sustainable Future.”
  • Starting Fall 2024: A one-year, 100% hands-on program in sustainable engineering, Sustainable Engineering for Equity (SEE), equivalent to the first year of college engineering.

Sustainable Engineering for Equity (SEE)

SEE is a one-year, 100% hands-on program in sustainable engineering. Students focus on different engineering challenges through a series of eight modules. SEE will strengthen students’ engineering identities, and build their confidence, and build their foundational math and physics skills. Students who successfully complete SEE will receive college credits for the first year engineering program.

Sustainability Semester Away: “Engineering for Our Sustainable Future”

This “semester away” program is organized around hands-on learning and sustainable engineering and is open to college engineering students in the 2nd and 3rd year of their program. It is built around community-based sustainable engineering problems that will drive both technical (e.g., engineering, math, science) and nontechnical (e.g., social science, communications) components of the program. In teams, students will tackle sustainable technology issues that are meaningful to local communities and business partners.

Green Wave: Professional Learning for Teachers and College Faculty

This program, offered through the Elizabethtown School of Continuing and Professional Studies provides graduate- level opportunities to K12 teachers and college faculty. Students can enroll in a mixed-delivery Masters in STEM Curriculum and Instruction, or count graduate courses offered through GCES towards a Certificate in STEM Education. The course offerings strengthen exposure to hands-on engineering in high school as a way to strengthen access to college engineering. GCES will also provide a robust training program to college faculty on project-based education.

Greenway Website Photo