Sustainability in Curriculum Plan

In 2015, Concordia partnered with the Sustainable Action Fund and its Sustainable Curriculum Project to identify sustainability content in courses. The 2015 curriculum inventory identified sustainability content in 37 of our 57 departments, while a 2020 inventory found sustainability course content in 46 out of 57 departments.

Between 2015 and 2020, the proportion of sustainability courses at Concordia doubled

We have over 20 undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs across all four faculties that include a focus on social, environmental, or economic sustainability:

• The Department of Geography, Planning and Environment currently hosts nine interdisciplinary programs related to sustainability.
• In 2012, the Minor in Sustainability Studies was offered for the first time through the Loyola College for Diversity and Sustainability.
• In 2013, the First Peoples Studies program was launched through the School for Community and Public Affairs.
• In 2016, Concordia partnered with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) to develop a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) entitled Wicked Problems, Dynamic Solutions: The ecosystem approach and systems thinking.
• In 2019, Concordia launched Canada’s first Sustainable Investment Professional Certification.

Provide support for the administration and delivery of the curriculum

• Offer assistance to faculty members seeking to increase and integrate sustainability content, activities or learning outcomes into their courses
• Showcase courses with sustainability content and/or faculty members who have successfully incorporated sustainability into their courses
• On our website, dedicate space to promote activities that support the promotion of sustainability in the curriculum

Achieve a 20 per cent threshold of sustainability-related courses

• Encourage sustainability researchers to include sustainability research content in their courses
• Work with students and faculty to identify opportunities to infuse sustainability into new or existing curricula or courses
• Create a non-credit based immersive, sustainability-focused educational study program

Increase the number of programs with a sustainability learning outcome available to students.

• Develop a multidisciplinary sustainability major across faculties
• Develop a new graduate program in sustainability
• Increase sustainability-related programs delivered across multiple formats and/or open to members of the public
• Develop an openly accessible, interdisciplinary course on sustainability for students who otherwise would not have access to sustainability-focused courses

The committee members below worked between June 2018 and May 2019 to draft the 20-year goals and five-year targets and strategies of the stream plans. Concordia then consulted with key stakeholders to determine the feasibility and impact of their recommendations, which allowed for the prioritization and budgeting of the plans.

Note that titles reflect members’ designated roles at the time of their work on the committee.

Chair: Sandra Gabriele (Vice-Provost, Innovation in Teaching and Learning, Office of the Provost)

Coordinator: Shannon Gilead (Special Projects Coordinator, Office of the Provost)
As of April 2019: Émilie Martel (Special Projects Coordinator, Office of the Provost)

Membership:

• Akira de Carlos (Sustainability Coordinator, CSU)
• Carol Hawthorne (Curriculum Developer, Centre for Teaching and Learning)
• Emily Carson-Apstein (External Coordinator, Sustainable Concordia)
• Govind Gopakumar (Associate Professor and Chair, Centre for Engineering in Society)
• James Grant (Professor, Department of Biology)
• Keroles Riad (Individualized program, Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science)
• Mark Underwood (CEO, Sustainability Action Fund)
• pk langshaw (Professor and Chair, Department of Design and Computation Arts; Fellow, Loyola College for Diversity and Sustainability)