Courses for Electives and Membership in the Loyola College for Diversity and Sustainability: 2026-2027

This course begins with an introduction to the science of ecology and to the concept of sustainability as an ecological principle. The concept of sustainability is then broadened to include humans, as students are introduced to ethics, economics, and resource management from an eco-centric point of view. Students are encouraged to think critically about current environmental problems and to take action on an individual project.
NOTE: Students who have received credit for BIOL 205, 208, or for this topic under a BIOL 298 number may not take this course for credit.

NOTE: Students registered in a Biology program may not take this course for credit towards their Biology program but may take it towards the Minor in Sustainability Studies.

The course recognizes that much of the city’s early Black history is unknown and that even today, the current knowledge of the Black experience in Montreal continues to be fraught with myth and misconception.  Thus, this course is largely designed to introduce students to the major themes, issues, and debates in Montreal’s Black history from its origins until today.  This interdisciplinary survey is organized chronologically and will determine how certain trends and critical milestones have shaped Black Montreal’s unique face and given rise to complex community building on and off the island. Our wider lens explores Blacks as their own agents, contributing to the greater society while simultaneously creating cultural resources and events that highlight the multifaceted ways Blacks made their own history while simultaneously shaping and contributing to the history of Montreal. Ultimately, students should gain an understanding of how Blacks lived, worked, socialized, and defined themselves in Montreal.

This course is an anthropological approach to variations in cultural experience as they relate to communication. Students explore modes of expression and communication, including literature and film, with a view to examining questions of interpretation, aesthetics, and ethical judgment. Personal expression and communication are also discussed. This course is intended to develop an awareness of the role of imagination and creativity in expression and interpretation, and sensitivity to the role of cultural and other differences in processes of communication.

Note: Students who have received credit for LOYC 410 may not take this course for credit..

This course explores the conceptual elements that underlie the religious experience. These elements include the notion of the sacred, beliefs, cosmologies and myths, the origins and understanding of evil, ethics and salvation.
Note: Students who have received credit for RELI 211 or 312 may not take this course for credit.
This course is cross-listed with RELI 312.

The current environmental crisis has both direct and indirect effects on human health and well-being.  Using a blended strategy of lectures and discussion, this course will take an interdisciplinary approach to these cross-cutting issues from a health and natural science, social science, and humanities perspective. Suitable for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students from all disciplines, the course will involve guest lectures from multiple disciplinary perspectives and the opportunity for personal projects and will address issues such as ecoanxiety and other mental health issues; plastic and other pollution; fire, flood, and other natural disturbances and their impacts; biodiversity and zoonotic disease; agricultural practices and food systems; genetically-modified organisms; environmental cancers; AI and the digital world; resource extraction; and more. Guest lecturers will be drawn from the combined networks of the School of Health and the Loyola College for Diversity and Sustainability/Loyola Sustainability Research Centre.

The course recognizes that much of the city’s early Black history is unknown and that even today, the current knowledge of the Black experience in Montreal continues to be fraught with myth and misconception.  Thus, this course is largely designed to introduce students to the major themes, issues, and debates in Montreal’s Black history from its origins until today.  This interdisciplinary survey is organized chronologically and will determine how certain trends and critical milestones have shaped Black Montreal’s unique face and given rise to complex community building on and off the island. Our wider lens explores Blacks as their own agents, contributing to the greater society while simultaneously creating cultural resources and events that highlight the multifaceted ways Blacks made their own history while simultaneously shaping and contributing to the history of Montreal. Ultimately, students should gain an understanding of how Blacks lived, worked, socialized, and defined themselves in Montreal.

This online course is an introduction to the emerging field of global environmental politics. It surveys the present environmental crisis and the roles of states, international organizations, and civil society. Various case studies dealing with oceans, forests, fisheries, biodiversity, global warming, and others are used to illustrate the inherent complexity of transnational ecological issues in the era of globalization.

This course is offered every year online. This year, it is offered in the fall (2017). It may be offered in the summer of 2018 instead of in the fall of 2018.

The aim of this online introductory course is to have students critically examine and understand Indigenous and non-Indigenous worldviews and approaches to what sustainability means, including key principles and issues. Students will be offered pathways to explore sustainability and environmental justice topics such as Indigenous approaches to food sovereignty and food security; land-based education systems; ongoing impacts of colonial-corporate policy and practices on climate change; pollution; biodiversity loss; degrowth; systems thinking; climate action; and assessment and practice of sustainability and planetary well-being from Indigenous and diverse disciplinary perspectives.

This course introduces students to the study and practice of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) as it has emerged in North America over the past ten years. Covering best practices in EDI, the course will engage with both the pitfalls and promises of efforts to make workplaces more equitable. Topics to be covered include: the origins of EDI, current debates, and case studies of institutional transformation. Students will also have the opportunity to apply their learning to specific work-place scenarios.

The current state of biodiversity around the world and the forces that affect this diversity are the main focus of this course. It addresses the origins of this diversity, the advantages of variability in the environment for human life, and the contemporary challenges to this diversity. This course is intended to emphasize holistic thinking and system analysis