Jennie Carlisle, Laura England and Dr. Derek Davidson

Six winning entries by Appalachian State University faculty and staff have been announced for the 2019 Chancellor’s Innovation Scholars Program. The chosen teams were awarded close to $10,000 each from the Office of the Chancellor and Division of Academic Affairs.

Among the winning proposals, is The Climate and Creative Practices Across the Disciplines project proposed by Jennie Carlisle, lecturer in the Department of Art and director of Appalachian’s Smith Gallery; Laura England, senior lecturer in the Goodnight Family Department of Sustainable Development; and Dr. Derek Davidson, assistant professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance.

The project is designed to grow the capacity of faculty and students to be more creative and compelling climate storytellers. Its goal is to create opportunities for interdisciplinary learning and connections while increasing awareness of the problems of climate change. The project’s collaborators propose developing an art exhibition, as well as gallery-based education programs and workshops.

Carlisle, England and Davidson are co-facilitators for the Climate Stories Collaborative and will use that platform to partner with the New York University-based art collective Dear Climate.

Carlisle said, “This commissioned project will bring new knowledge and new ways to think about climate change to campus and make people more confident in the ways that they’re engaging with this issue — one of the biggest issues of our time.

“We’re particularly excited to host Dear Climate, because its projects, which focus on cultivating a more affectionate relationship with the nonhuman world, are an outstanding example of creative research and the ways that artists are participating in meaningful social change.”

To learn more about the 2019 Chancellor’s Innovation Scholars Program and other winning proposals, visit Appalachian Today.

By Jan Todd