| Sustainability minor could be added to curriculum |
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| Written by Chase Webster, The Shorthorn staff | |||||
| Tuesday, 17 November 2009 07:53 PM | |||||
How to Declare it as Your MinorTo declare a sustainability minor, a student has to visit his or her major adviser and ask to declare the minor.Next semester, undergraduate students can declare a sustainability minor. Courses will be distributed throughout the natural sciences, architecture, communications and sustainability issues, said James Grover, chair of the President’s Sustainability Committee Curriculum, Research and Community Engagement workgroup. The program is targeted to students not yet at a university, who might want to attend UTA for its environmental efforts, he said. Hopefully, this would attract more environmentally-concerned students, Grover said. “The core courses will be on environmental sustainability, though it will be looking at all areas of research,” he said. “There will be a wide range of courses for students to choose from.” More than 60 current courses will be available for the curriculum. The courses include broad sustainability classes from the School of Architecture, Project Planning and Carbon Footprint Analysis from the School of Urban and Public Affairs, and writing and anthropology courses from the College of Liberal Arts. There are also upper level business, electrical engineering, civil and environmental engineering and science courses. In the past, the university received poor sustainability rankings from the Princeton Review. Adding sustainability to the core curriculum could improve the university’s ranking, Grover said. Forensics junior Aamir Malik said he would have been interested in the sustainability minor had it been available when he chose his degree program. “I always like to learn other things, instead of being squared away in one subject type,” he said. Malik, a criminal justice minor, said he switched from nursing because the classes feed into his forensics degree. He said a degree covering a broader set of topics appeals to him. Grover said he wants to see a sustainability major program develop. None of the surrounding schools have such a program, and the university is one of the first that will have a sustainability minor, he said. The program will improve the personal and professional lives of the students enrolled, he said. “There is a growing business side to sustainability,” he said. “There are positions as sustainability directors and advisers. Big companies are pursuing professionals that are broadly skilled in multiple aspects of sustainability.” Amy Schultz, the committee Communication workgroup chair, said experts in sustainability are valuable to employers. “Let’s say someone becomes an accountant,” she said. “Had that someone learned about sustainability infrastructure, they would have a greater impact than someone who didn’t. If they can influence the environmental and economic impact of a company, they will have added value that others don’t.” She said she is excited about the new program because it will give students a chance to think about sustainability as an academic subject. “Ultimately, what I hope happens is that more people will take what they learned and continue to make a difference,” Schultz said. CorrectionAn earlier version of this story appeared in print on Nov. 18, 2009 and on www.theshorthorn.com with incorrect information. This version has been amended with the correct information.Views: 373 | E-mail
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