The Climate Literacy Teacher Leader (CLTL) Fellowship Program provides in-service preK-12 teachers with support, resources, mentorship, and training to become leaders in climate literacy education. Fellows develop tools and strategies to leverage written, visual and multimodal narratives in the classroom to empower students to understand the climate crisis and become agents of change in their lives and communities. Fellows deepen their knowledge of pedagogy and curriculum development, create climate literacy educational materials for their classrooms, provide mentorship to peers, and join a growing community of teacher leaders committed to transforming education as a system capable of supporting the transition to an ecological civilization
Applications for 2025-2026 open February 1
The Center for Climate Literacy will soon accept applications for the 2025-2026 CLTL cohort. Fellows will read and discuss climate literacy scholarship, young people’s literature and media, and more. They will also develop standards-aligned curricular materials for their classrooms, which will be shared in the spring professional colloquium. In the first year, fellows will receive a $4,000 stipend. Funds will be disbursed after the successful completion of each semester’s work: in December 2025 and then in May 2026.
Program Requirements
Participating in the CLTL Fellowship requires 44 in-person hours with an estimated 132 hours of additional work at home. Fellows are expected to commit to the following:
- Attend ten in-person working sessions (9am - 1pm) on the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities campus. Fall 2025 dates: August 23, September 13, October 11, November 8, and December 13. Spring 2026 dates: January 10, February 14, March 14, April 11, and May 9. Applicants must attend all sessions except for extenuating circumstances (illness, family emergencies, etc). Missed sessions will be made up in consultation with program facilitators. We cannot offer a hybrid model at this time.
- Carefully engage all assigned materials and readings
- Design one curriculum project in fall 2025 to be taught in spring 2026
- Draft one literature or media entry for publication in the Climate Lit Database
- Draft one curriculum development or personal reflection article and submit it for publication in the pocket journal for teachers Climate Literacy in Education
- Publicly present their work to a professional or community organization
Eligibility and Application
All in-service preK-12 educators from all content areas are eligible to apply. School librarians, media specialists, and instructional coaches are also welcome to apply. We especially encourage applications from early career and BIPOC educators. Multiple educators from the same school are highly encouraged to apply. Please note the following deadlines:
- February 1, 2025: application opens
- April 1 (11:59pm central): application closes
- April 15: selected applicants notified via email
- April 30 (11:59pm central): selected applicants must notify program staff of their acceptance
Questions can be addressed to Nick Kleese at [email protected]. Click here to access the application information as a pdf.
Year One
Year Two
Year Three
Dongmei Lian (Math)
"The fellowship has opened my eyes, humbled me and help me become a better educator. Seeing how the other Fellows teach climate literacy in their subject area definitely gave me confidence to do so too."
Luke Gliddon (Science)
"Having time set aside for this work is important. Without it I would be spending time on other important things, but would neglect this longer-term, and ultimately more important, work."
Joseph Lin (Chinese)
"This Fellowship is important to connect educators and feel an urgent obligation to impart climate knowledge to the next generation through the school education system."
Abby Hartzell (English)
"I loved the interdisciplinary connections in our cohort. I learned more about the curriculum writing process as well since I saw my fellow educators develop and hone ideas, create timelines, and workshop lessons."
Zach Johnson (Science)
"I learned a lot about how we tell stories and how those stories are used to communicate ideas, and it's given me a lot of ideas for how to discuss climate with my students."