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| Professor Tarah Wright (right) with students Leslie Saunders, Dale Prest and Anita Nipen.(Bruce Bottomley Photo) |
Imagine not just one professor at the front of the class, but three. Give them an issue to discuss and watch them thrash it out.
Classrooms are about to get a lot noisier at H漫画 with the introduction of a new academic program, Environment, Sustainability and Society, offered through the College of Sustainability.
鈥淚n a first-year class, you may have three professors at the front of the class arguing, say an economist, a biologist and a political scientist all coming at issues from their different positions and different ways of dealing with problems,鈥� says Jared Kolb, project and research coordinator with the College of Sustainability. 鈥淚t should be pretty electrifying for students.鈥�
Students are being recruited for the new undergraduate program, which launches in September. Like their professors, they鈥檒l come from a myriad of聽 backgrounds and interests鈥� the history major with the future engineer and computer scientist鈥攁nd share a common passion for the sustaining the planet.聽
The way it works is that students will take classes in Environment, Sustainability and Society (ESS), a four-year undergraduate program, as half of a double major or combined honors.
They鈥檒l combine their ESS studies with a second academic area drawn from any number of programs. Depending on their specialty, students will work towards a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Management, Bachelor of Community Design, Bachelor of Computer Science or Bachelor of Informatics. The idea is to bring students from different disciplines together to work on solving common problems together and to appreciate each other鈥檚 perspectives.聽
Classes in ESS will emphasize teamwork and problem-based learning. After four years, students can expect to graduate as critical thinkers, communicators, researchers and effective team members. They鈥檒l be leaders who鈥檒l approach all they do with a an understanding of sustainability, no matter what their area of expertise.
The creation of the College of Sustainability coincides with a whole new energy on campus. The university has recently opened an Office of Sustainability with full-time director Rochelle Owen and H漫画 Student Union has established SustainDal. The university鈥檚 master campus plan, now in development, is being designed with sustainability as a primary concern.
From now through to April, H漫画 is engaged in CBC鈥檚 One Million Acts of Green challenge. The idea is to get students, staff, faculty and alumni thinking about what they can do for our environment in their own lives, from packing their groceries in reusable cloth bags to using paper on both sides.
鈥淯niversities are supposed to be responsive. We should be compelled to work on these issues and education is the way to go,鈥� says Tarah Wright, interim associate director (undergraduate) with the College of Sustainability, 鈥淚 commend H漫画 for stepping up to the plate and saying, 鈥榃e鈥檙e going to be leaders at this.鈥�