Five members of a committee working to develop a sustainability minor held an information session yesterday night to provide details and gauge support for the minor.
The committee members presented a slideshow explaining the progress of the minor's development so far and the possible requirements to declare the minor. The committee also fielded questions from interested students present at the session.
Graduate Architecture student Carla Jones, a member of the committee and teaching assistant for the course titled "Global Sustainability," helped lead the session.
"At the end of last semester, we talked about what improvements could be seen in the course," Jones said. "I noticed that a lot of students wanted more than what a one-semester course could offer."\nJones helped come up with the idea of starting the minor and formed a 10-person committee in December. The committee then began researching possible courses to include in the minor's curriculum, she said. This semester, the committee has been meeting with faculty to continue the minor's development, she said.
The committee announced during last night's session that the goals of the minor include preparing students to incorporate sustainable practices into different careers and to build communities throughout the world.
Engineering Prof. Paxton Marshall, who teaches the Global Sustainability course, is helping to spearhead the effort. The next step, he said, is to find a home for the minor.
"[Sustainability] is an inherently interdisciplinary activity," he said. "It is important that it is not pegged into the environmental science department. It requires skills of people in the arts and humanities and technical people. We don't want to pigeonhole it, but at the same time, it has to have an administrative, institutional home."
Marshall said the committee currently is leaning toward the Architecture School because of its involvement in urban planning and sustainable practices. The committee also will operate as a task force of Student Council's Environmental Sustainability Committee.
Marshall said he believes there is sufficient student interest in the minor and the question is whether the University can provide the resources.
"The various people involved would like to have a real research or practical component to this," he said. "It wouldn't only consist of just taking courses about water or energy but would allow students to undertake a significant project. This may take some resources. It might require faculty members to supervise projects, and it might take monetary requirements to do that."
The only required class for students of the minor would be the Global Sustainability course that is offered already, committee members said last night. Students earning the minor would pick from four other classes, as well. Additionally, the committee is working on a three-credit practicum that would be part of the minor requirements. Students also will have the opportunity to petition classes not already included on the list to count toward the minor.
"As you know, the economic times are not in our favor, but a lot of people are excited about this," Jones said. "I think it can happen within the next year."
Second-year Engineering student Sarah Mercer, who attended the session, said she believes the minor will be a positive contribution to the University.
"I haven't taken any classes for it, but I am hoping that it would work out because it is completely down my alley," Mercer said. "[Sustainability] is gaining a lot of attention from the media and especially politics. It is completely relevant"
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