Minor in sustainability studies now offered
Concordia has been placing increasing importance on sustainability as a core value. In fact, the issue has become an important element in the university’s practices and policies.
This fall, the Faculty of Arts and Science will offer a Minor in Sustainability Studies, a unique program that will give Concordia undergraduate students an interdisciplinary perspective and an opportunity to apply their knowledge on a year-long project.
The minor is the product of four years of discussion and planning across numerous departments in the Arts and Science Faculty. Over the past few years, sustainability has become an integral part of many classes within the Faculty.
What is a minor in sustainability studies?
The program will examine social, economic and environmental sustainability through various approaches including science, policy and values.
As a result, students will learn how these issues interact and impact the world.
“At its most basic, sustainability is about not doing something today that precludes you from doing things in the future or harms future generations,” says biology professor Jim Grant, one of the people who helped establish the minor.
“It’s about harnessing human behaviour within the set points of ecosystems and natural populations. In that sense, everything is the environment. Humans are the biggest players on the natural environment.”
Who is this minor for?
“This program is for Concordia students in the Faculty Arts and Science who have a burning interest in the world around them and are acutely aware of the problems we face,” says political science professor Peter Stoett, who took the lead in developing the program.
Current Concordia Arts and Science students interested in enrolling in the minor can do so at any time. Students from English, communication studies, history, biology, exercise science and psychology have already signed up for courses; many more have inquired about it and are considering registering.
Students not currently studying at Concordia will be able to apply this fall for the program’s winter term.
There is potential for other Faculties to establish similar programs, says Grant. “We see this as the first step towards creating a centre or school for sustainability studies.”
Stoett agrees: “Right now, every Faculty has sustainability initiatives underway. At one point, we’d all like to come together. The ultimate game plan here is to get campus-wide with this.”
What are the course requirements?
The 30-credit program will comprise courses throughout the Faculty.
Students must take several 200- and 300-level courses chosen from geography, biology, chemistry, philosophy, urban studies, political science, religion, history, applied human sciences, economics, sociology, and courses from the School of Community and Public Affairs.
While the newly developed core 200-level course, Introduction to Sustainability, doesn’t begin until winter, all other courses are currently offered and will count toward the minor.
The specific direction of research during the program is up to the student. “It’s open as to how it would be shaped in its final form. The program will not force anyone into a particular vein,” says Stoett. “If a religion student is taking this, then their ultimate project may be about the transmission of values. For a political science student, he or she may want to examine policy. It would be different altogether for a biology student,” he says, adding that community engagement will be a core focus throughout.
Students will also participate in a 300-level capstone course that will take them out of the classroom and into the community to gain hands-on experience.
The capstone concept borrows from the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science, where students collaborate on a final project, often related to a real-life industrial problem.
“There’s work everywhere that students can get involved in,” says history professor Rosemarie Schade, who is also involved in the program’s development.
“At Concordia alone, there’s urban agriculture, the Greenhouse Project, the People’s Potato, the RealiTEA Garden, the Hive ... This will create fantastic opportunities for dialogue between staff, faculty and students.”
Grant says a few examples of hands-on engagement would be helping Sustainable Concordia streamline the annual waste audit, enhancing policy for urban development projects such as the Turcot Interchange, or assessing the environmental impact of climate change in local river conditions.
Where will it be located?
“It made perfectly good sense for this to be housed at the Loyola International College,” says Schade, who is principal at the LIC. “We already have a program of what is essentially globalization studies, which is very interdisciplinary. This new program has some overlap, so it was a natural fit.”
The LIC is located in Room AD-502 of the Administration Building (7141 Sherbrooke St. W.).
How to find out more?
Contact Cristina Barbu (514-848-2424, ext. 2125 or loyolaic@alcor.concordia.ca) at Loyola International College.
Related links:
• Sustainable Concordia
• Loyola International College
• “How to Measure Sustainability” - Concordia Journal, March 5, 2009
• “Sustainability in Theory and in Practice” - Concordia Journal, March 6, 2008
• “Rethinking Education” - Concordia Journal, April 19, 2007