Sustainability Curriculum: Looking Forward
A recent workshop was the first look at how faculty will begin to talk about how to integrate the principles of sustainability into the curriculum
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A first-ever workshop last week brought together faculty to begin to talk about how to integrate the principles of sustainability into the curriculum.Approximately 20 faculty members spent last Wednesday discussing the future academic role of sustainability at BC as well as gaining an understanding about the university’s commitment to sustainability and its place within BC’s Jesuit Catholic tradition.
The workshop was led by Associate Professor of Biology Laura Hake and Peter Crawley, an adjunct faculty member in the Carroll School of Management Leadership for Change program. Hake said the program grew out of her involvement for the past two years in the volunteer campus group SustainBC, which convinced her to look at ways to incorporate sustainability principles into her own classes.
“I realized we really have to work on educating our students so they can make the decisions in a responsible way,” said Hake. “If we educate them to be responsible citizens, they’ll make decisions that take into account other people, but also the planet.”
SustainBC’s definition of sustainability envisions a world where the “creation of economic growth and equity, conservation of natural resources and the natural environment and sustainable social development and social justice” coexist. Sustainability has become a focal point across many areas of the University – from facilities management and dining services to strategic planning and student activities.
Hake said the goal of the workshop is not to tell faculty what to teach, but to make available tools and expertise to those who want to integrate sustainability into their courses.
“You can’t legislate curriculum change,” said Hake, who teaches introductory Biology to hundreds of students each year. “You can’t tell people what to teach. But you can try to inspire them to see the connections between what they’re teaching and a larger discipline.”
Workshop speakers included environmental writer Diane Dumanowski, author of The End of the Long Summer, and Matthew Kochka, the farm manager from the Victory Programs’ reVision House Urban Farm, which practices sustainable farming as part of social services it provides in Boston’s Mattapan neighborhood.
Jesuit Institute Director T. Frank Kennedy, SJ, and Founders Professor of Theology James Keenan, SJ, discussed connections to the University’s Jesuit mission. Fr. Kennedy said that mission has long advanced many of the same principles now central to sustainability: understanding how the actions of one individual can impact many, embracing social justice, and honoring a world where God’s work is evident every day.
“This isn’t a matter of pasting some religious dimension on top of the idea of sustainability, which we’ve come to see as more and more important,” Fr. Kennedy said. “This is really part of becoming a whole person, of educating a whole person of the facts that one must care for the earth and all who live on it.”