The UC Environmental Stewards program is housed within the University of California and must adhere to the rigorous standards set forth by the UC. As such, the instructors who run our courses are required to meet these standards through education experience, work experience, and the ability to provide high-quality instruction to the public. The UC collects information on our instructors through the instructor application and determines an instructor's designation based on this application. The instructor designations are Lead Instructor, Lead Instructor w/ Limitations, Supporting Instructor, Certified. The designation definitions are as follows:
Lead Instructor:
Master degree in related field with teaching experience or Bachelor's degree in a related field with significant lived experience.
Lead Instructor with limitations:
An instructor with a lot of lived experience but not able to meet the UC qualifications to be a Lead Instructor. They can teach a course but they must bring in experts to cover a gap in content knowledge.
Supporting Instructor:
They may implement course instruction under the leadership of the Lead Instructor or lead Instructor team.
Course Coordinators:
No application needed but we need to know about them.
If you receive a designation other than lead instructor, please know that we may require you to secure additional support in order to offer a course. Our team is committed to upholding these standards while ensuring that our programs are accessible to all Californians. We can provide options if the lead instructor designation isn't met.