The Science and Practice of Sustainability: A New Transdisciplinary Field Course at UBC

TitleThe Science and Practice of Sustainability: A New Transdisciplinary Field Course at UBC
Faculty/College/UnitScience
StatusCompleted
Duration2 Year
Initiation04/01/2001
Completion03/31/2003
Funding Details
Year 1: Project TitleDiscovering New Perspectives on Sustainability Issues: Designing an Interdisciplinary Field Course on the BC Coast
Year 1: Project YearYear 1
Year 1: Funding Year2001/2002
Year 1: Project TypeSmall TLEF
Year 1: Principal InvestigatorKurt Grimm
Year 1: Funded Amount15,552
Year 1: Team Members

Kurt Grimm, Earth and Ocean Sciences, Faculty of Science
George Spiegelman, Microbiology / Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science
Lee Gass, Zoology / Integrated Sciences, Faculty of Science
Kathryn Harrison, Political Science, Faculty of Arts / UBC "College of Sustainability" Committee Chair
Douw Steyn, Earth and Ocean Sciences / Science One, Faculty of Science

Year 1: Summary

Objectives: We request funding to develop a field-based course that addresses sustainability issues on the BC Coast; and is complementary to the aims of the forming College of Sustainability, the Integrated Sciences program, and the Environmental Sciences program. The course would ideally be offered through the College, although either of the other programs could work. This proposal targets course development only, in the interval spanning April 2001 to January 2002. In August 2002, the course will be offered as a self-supporting summer session course; we may reapply to the TLEF in 2001 to purchase analytical equipment. We envision an enrollment of24 students in the first running.

Rationale: Sustainability is a critical interdisciplinary issue in society. This proposal builds on successful experience designing and implementing field-based ISP courses and complements the aims of Trek 2000, the UBC Academic Plan, and the plans for creating a College of Sustainability at UBC.

This proposal is founded in our collective experience and passion for education on sustainability issues, and is structurally rooted in the Baja field course. This field course in the Baja Peninsula, Mexico was developed with TLEF funding to K. Grimm, will run as a self-supporting course for the fourth time in May 2001 and has become a very successful course course in the integrated Sciences Program.

Year 2: Project YearYear 2
Year 2: Funding Year2002/2003
Year 2: Project TypeSmall TLEF
Year 2: Principal InvestigatorKurt Grimm
Year 2: Funded Amount40,000
Year 2: Team Members

Kurt Grimm, Earth and Ocean Sciences, Faculty of Science
George Spiegelman, Microbiology / Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science
Christina Chociolko, Environmental Sciences / Integrated Sciences, Faculty of Science
Janet Moore, Community and Regional Planning, Sustainable Development Research Institute
Shauna Sprules, Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science
Rob VanWynesberghe, Sociology, Faculty of Arts / Sustainable Development Research Institute

Year 2: Summary

Objectives: We request funding to support salary costs, modest honoraria, and minor capital equipment (field gear) for the first-offering of a field-intensive, research-based undergraduate course in sustainability. This funding will permit us to capitalize upon a very extensive effort by the course development team over the past eight months, activities that were made possible by TLEF course development funding last year. We intend that the course will be self-supporting in future years.

Rationale: Sustainability is a critical interdisciplinary issue in society. Sustainability education is a pressing concern and a profound responsibility for the modern university; boldly addressing this challenge presents administrative and pedagogical obstacles alongside enormously rich opportunities. Our proposal builds on successful experience designing and implementing interdisciplinary courses (e.g., ISCI 320 Interdisciplinary Sciences Field Course; ISCI 411, Scientific Uncertainty and Risk), is complementary to seminar-learning and student-directed group research in the Environmental Sciences Program, and complements the aims of Trek 2000, the UBC Academic Plan, SDRI, and ambitions for creating an lnterfaculty Program in Sustainability Studies at UBC.