Courses for Electives and Membership in the Loyola College for Diversity and Sustainability: 2024-2025

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.

This course explores the main differences between the world’s major cultures, religious beliefs, and philosophies, and addresses the tensions between establishing universal values and maintaining cultural diversity in an age of accelerating globalization. There is also an emphasis on the conception of different levels of social complexity, principally the role of the individual, the interpersonal, and the group within a society. This course is intended to develop team research and presentation skills, and the ability to communicate and work effectively within a small group setting.

This course focuses on the natural environment and our interactions with it as presented through selected films. Students deconstruct the visual representation of a problem or complex set of problems around the natural environment presented both as “fact” and as “entertainment”. Students generate an understanding of how the individual and one's society can operate more effectively in a global context of increased inter-cultural interaction, in unison with the environment.

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 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 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 environmental crisis is arguably the first truly global crisis that humanity has faced. Increasingly, scholars and others are coming to see it not as a crisis of technology but rather as one of values. Since religions are the primary source of values in any human society, we may look to the world’s various religious systems to better understand how they place humans within the broader context of nature, how they teach us to value it, and what our responsibilities are towards the non-human world.

This course is cross-listed with RELI 398. Students who have received credit for this topic under LOYC 398 or RELI 398 may not take this course for credit.

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 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

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.

In 2015, the 193 members states of the United Nations (UN) adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), providing a vision of a brighter future for people and the planet. They explicitly recognized the links between social, economic, and environmental sustainability, stressing the crucial need to address issues of poverty, inequality, health, education, and economic growth, while tackling the challenges of climate change and biodiversity conservation. Through this course, students will be introduced to all 17 SDGs from an interdisciplinary perspective and will examine progress towards these goals in Canada and across the globe. By the end of the course, students will be able to describe the different SDGs, understand their inter-relationships, and analyze our effectiveness at achieving these goals from different disciplinary perspectives.