Dr. Debaleena Majumdar was selected for the 2026 Individual Rising AIM High Impact Award for her development of EVR 3733: Introduction to Sustainable Design in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies, College of Community Innovation and Education. The course covers diverse topics—from Sustainable Built Environment and Ecological Design to Resiliency and Decarbonization—requiring a breadth of perspectives no single textbook could provide.
Dr. Majumdar carefully curated 14 library ebook chapters, 6 scholarly articles, 14 videos, and 12 web-based resources, all provided at zero cost to students. These materials are organized logically and accessed through Leganto, a Canvas tool supported by the library. One student said, “The content for each week was interesting, well-organized, and extremely informative.”
Through this work, Dr. Majumdar eliminated course material costs across sections in Spring, Summer, and Fall 2025 while maintaining high standards for quality, accessibility, and student engagement. Her course has earned both the Affordability Counts medallion and recognition as a Quality Online course within the State University System of Florida.
She is also helping other faculty adopt these practices. She presented her course at the Technology Expo along with the Leganto Team and provided insights as part of a case study that shows how Leganto can help organize affordable course reading lists.
She would also like to recognize UCF Librarian Joseph Bizon, CDL Instructional Designers Jo Ann Smith, Rebecca McNulty, Charlotte Jones-Roberts, Grace Kaletski-Maisel, and Emily Franklin, as well as Associate Lecturer Richard Plate.
I loved the content, incredibly fascinating. You can tell the teacher is well versed on the curriculum
Dr. Debaleena Majumdar (Left), Provost John Buckwalter (Right)