FRAMING GEOSCIENCE COURSES AND CURRICULA IN THE CONTEXT OF SUSTAINABILITY

Increasing numbers of colleges and universities are changing their missions, curricula, operations, and research agendas to reflect sustainability concerns. For example, as of December 2010, 675 institutions were signatories of the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) which requires institutions to develop a long-term climate action plan, including “actions to make climate neutrality and sustainability a part of the curriculum and other educational experience for all students.” Over 615 4-yr and graduate institutions were members of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), and over 235 were registered to participate is AASHE’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS). Credits for engaging students in sustainability issues via co-curricular education, curriculum, and research make up one of three STARS assessment categories.

Many geoscience programs have embraced environmental issues associated with sustainability, for example, the effects of resource overutilization, pollution, natural hazards, and climate change. However, modern life depends on interconnections that transcend disciplinary silos. Sustainability frames the long-term success of humanity in holistic terms that translate, in the academy, to greater interdisciplinarity, to experiential learning, and to greater engagement with the communities in which we are embedded, from the local to the global. This presentation provides one answer to the question, “What role can geoscience faculty, courses, and programs play in a university’s response to sustainability?” It reflects my experiences at West Chester University, a public comprehensive university with over 14,000 students, that signed the ACUPCC and began STARS in fall 2010. As a geology professor and the University’s Sustainability Coordinator, I am engaged with faculty and administrators from across the university to introduce sustainability into courses and curricula. I present principles to visualize geoscience topics in a sustainability framework and give examples of promising approaches.