Teach green
Melanie Kucera - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 4/9/08 Section: Metro
Sustainability may be coming to a major near you.
One of the latest pushes for the UI to hop on the "green" bandwagon has been directed toward academics.
Several UI faculty and staff have been exploring ways to bring sustainability courses to students, both undergraduates and graduates, who want to incorporate a green aspect to their UI academic careers.
"My goal is to try to facilitate a cross-university initiative," said Barbara Eckstein, the interim associate provost for the academic administration, and the pioneer of the idea. "I think the university needs to be leaders in both knowledge and ethical practices."
Eckstein also said she believes that though it will take some time for sustainability classes to become more popular on campus, eventually they will.
"Would all students be interested in this tomorrow, no, but I think a growing number of students are interested," she said. "And that interest will grow as the knowledge grows as to what is really needed."
Eckstein is in the process of sending out a general call to all the deans and heads of departments to find which faculty members already incorporate sustainability in their classes or would like to become involved in this task.
The long-term goal, in her eyes, is that some sort of sustainability curriculum would be in place by the fall semester of 2009 or the spring of 2010. She is unsure whether new majors, minors, or simply certificates would be the result.
Eckstein, who has been studying the idea since January, noted that sustainability is not only taught in science and civil-engineering classes but in many classes one would not expect, such as humanities, social sciences, English, and anthropology.
Laura Rigal, an associate professor of American studies and English who has become a part of the initiative, wants people to stop thinking of sustainability in only one light.
"We can't leave it to the scientists - no more technocrats," she said. "There is an urgent, growing need among students to address issues such as climate change, water use, and environmental justice."
One of the latest pushes for the UI to hop on the "green" bandwagon has been directed toward academics.
Several UI faculty and staff have been exploring ways to bring sustainability courses to students, both undergraduates and graduates, who want to incorporate a green aspect to their UI academic careers.
"My goal is to try to facilitate a cross-university initiative," said Barbara Eckstein, the interim associate provost for the academic administration, and the pioneer of the idea. "I think the university needs to be leaders in both knowledge and ethical practices."
Eckstein also said she believes that though it will take some time for sustainability classes to become more popular on campus, eventually they will.
"Would all students be interested in this tomorrow, no, but I think a growing number of students are interested," she said. "And that interest will grow as the knowledge grows as to what is really needed."
Eckstein is in the process of sending out a general call to all the deans and heads of departments to find which faculty members already incorporate sustainability in their classes or would like to become involved in this task.
The long-term goal, in her eyes, is that some sort of sustainability curriculum would be in place by the fall semester of 2009 or the spring of 2010. She is unsure whether new majors, minors, or simply certificates would be the result.
Eckstein, who has been studying the idea since January, noted that sustainability is not only taught in science and civil-engineering classes but in many classes one would not expect, such as humanities, social sciences, English, and anthropology.
Laura Rigal, an associate professor of American studies and English who has become a part of the initiative, wants people to stop thinking of sustainability in only one light.
"We can't leave it to the scientists - no more technocrats," she said. "There is an urgent, growing need among students to address issues such as climate change, water use, and environmental justice."
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