Pando Days is a program in higher ed that brings together educators from the arts, humanities, sciences, and communications to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing LA County. And asks them to inspire each other. And their students. And Angelenos. And the world. With ingenious new solutions and plans.
Pando Days creates collaboration between higher education, public sectors, and community partners to help advance the Sustainable Development Goals in our region. Collaborating higher educational institutions dedicate full courses, studios, or labs to developing ingenious solutions for a more vital and resilient Southland — with the aim of real-world implementation.
Our educational model is project-based, transdisciplinary, and oriented toward a practical view of education that serves the common good.
We support the work of Pando Days teams with curricular resources, faculty support, and extensive applied-learning resources of a kind that would be difficult for a college/university instructor to gather for their projects on their own.
End-of-project deliverables combine innovation with practicality for on-the-ground engagement in local communities. Projects are showcased at premiere events and honored at the Pando Sustainability Awards, a celebration of the ingenuity developed under Pando’s diverse slate of project-based programs which honors those who have made the programs happen.
Projects range from edible salt-water gardens to artificial intelligence algorithms addressing homeless needs. From biodiversity solutions at the treetop level to green transportation in disadvantaged areas. Download our one page summary description. See the impact we’re having.
Pando Days seasons
Hear about Pando Days ’22 from the students’ perspective. By Oscar-nominated filmmaker Lyn Goldfarb (12 min.)
How Pando Days works
Our season begins every year in the spring with outreach to fifty-some colleges, universities, and professional schools throughout the Southland.
Instructors from across departments and disciplines apply for the opportunity to enroll their fall- or spring-term courses, studios, or labs in the Pando Days program.
Pando Days projects may be instructor-led or student-led, developed in tight coordination with the needs of an NGO or developed in response to a college’s sustainability needs as prioritized by campus administration.
We provide a full curricular framework and a broad range of resources, including a Pando Fellowship opportunity for course instructors and honoraria. The program is provided free of charge.
See Overview deck below for a full description of the program, timeline, and events. College and university instructors, see Instructor’s deck for additional information on curricular resources. Pando Days Subscribing Members, see Sponsor’s deck for information on how you can get involved advising and mentoring school teams.
Pando Days began in 2019 with the aim of focusing Southland college and university creative and intellectual talent on the challenge of helping to implement the OurCounty plan for Los Angeles County.
Since that time, Pando Days has accelerated the development of dozens of new sustainability initiatives across the Southland involving 25 higher ed institutions. See our impact.
Four projects from the 2019-20 Pando Days season were picked up by outside funders, including Google and Mellon. The 2021 season saw sixty per cent of the projects pushed forward with public agencies and NGO partners. The rate of 2022 projects still moving ahead six months after their premiere is in the eighty per cent range.
Pando Days empowers teachers and students to use their intellectual and creative assets to build the future they want to inhabit, and gives them tools to do it. It puts community at the heart of education, and real-world projects at the heart of civic engagement. Pando Days builds hope on a foundation of collaboration and trust.
Pando Days is produced in partnership with the Chief Sustainability Office of Los Angeles County and in collaboration with LA’s CSO (Chief Sustainability Officer) Taskforce.
Participating schools
The good news.
Pando Days is succeeding.
Selected blog posts
Thank you!
Pando Days was launched in collaboration with the CSO Taskforce for LA County. The initial years of program development were made possible in part by The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. (Go here to see Pando Days sponsors for 2022.)
