In light of the meeting theme “A change is gonna come”, this session addresses how ESA’s Four Dimensional Ecology Education (4DEE) framework seeks to engage and motivate ecology teachers and students in addressing critical and complex ecological and societal changes. Talks will examine how a multidimensional approach to ecology education can help students develop a useful understanding of our changing world. Presenters will offer national and international perspectives that address four key areas of change that challenge today’s society. How do we prepare tomorrow’s ecologists to deal with continued urbanization and interconnectedness between human-influenced and natural environments? What crosscutting concepts and practices do students need to understand as ecologists or citizens in grappling with the interdisciplinary and changing nature of disease? How do we integrate practices that prepare ecology majors and non-majors to tackle the complex problem of climate change and deforestation of the tropics? How can we make the field of ecology more inclusive and incorporate human dimensions in how ecology is taught and practiced? The ideas and conversation generated by this symposium will help inspire ecologists and educators to develop a collective vision for ecology education that empowers informed decision making in the face of these pressing changes.