GLOBAL SEMINAR ON SUSTAINABILITY

During summer 2011, faculty and students from nine prominent Asian and American universities will conduct a joint research seminar on “Sustainability”.  Participating universities include:  

Columbia University 

Harvard University 

Korea University 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

National University of Singapore 

Peking University

University of Washington

Waseda University

Yale University

The Seminar will begin “on line” during June and July, then continue for three intensive weeks (August 1 - 20) “on site” at Waseda University in Tokyo.   The two phases of the Seminar form an integrated program and may not be taken separately.   Instruction will be in English.

Course Concept

The idea of “sustainability,” even the word itself, has a long and rich history both in Asia and the West.  In its modern form it is attributed to a 1987 report to the UN General Assembly by the World Commission on Environment and Development, which sought to link the two terms of its mandate in a single definition:  “Sustainable development seeks to meet the demands and aspirations of the present without compromising the ability to meet those of the future.”

The Seminar will not ignore this definition, but neither will it accept it as settled or ignore the many debates about its adequacy and implications.   Rather, the Seminar will approach “sustainability” as a structured concept, a kind of web with interconnected threads:  climate change, human health, clean water, energy, biodiversity and ecosystem function, poverty and human development, food production and security, globalization and the market economy, and many others.  The Seminar will enter this web through one or more such threads, but this will inevitably lead to related concepts and other lines of investigation that will lay bare the technical, social, economic, and moral dimensions of “sustainability.”  Accordingly, faculty and students from a variety of science and non-science disciplines will make up the Seminar.

Requirements

Students must be currently matriculated as undergraduates in one of the participating universities.  They may be enrolled in any discipline of study.   They need not have environmental studies as their concentration or major, but should have an interest in issues of “sustainability.”  They must have completed at least one year of university work and have a facility in the English language sufficient to participate in a research seminar.

Faculty

The course will be taught by faculty from four of the participating universities: 

Chou Loke Ming, Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore.  Specialties:  marine biology, coral biology, and coastal management.

Kevin Griffin, Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University.  Specialties:  forest ecology, respiratory physiology, and climate change.

Stevan Harrell, Professor of Anthropology and Faculty Associate in the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology, University of Washington.  Specialties: environmental anthropology, ethnoecology, socioecological systems.  

Ichida Toshihiro, Associate Professor, School of Commerce, Waseda University.   Specialties: international trade, industrial organization, and labor economics.

Two faculty who taught in the Seminar in prior years will contribute “blogs” through the program’s website:  James Engell, Gurney Professor of English and Faculty Associate of the Harvard University Center for the Environment, Harvard University, and Zhang Shiqiu, Professor of Environment Economics, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University. 

Curriculum

The Seminar will be formed “online in early summer and proceed in two integrated phases.  During June and July students will complete four modules of an interdisciplinary course on “sustainability” prepared and led by the program’s faculty.  Each module will contain lectures, readings, videos, and related materials and require interactive participation with faculty and other students as well as the completion of various individual and joint assignments.   At the beginning of August the Seminar will gather in Tokyo for three weeks of intensive research together.  Part of the work will be conducted in small cohorts led by program faculty on aspects of sustainability.  Two field trips in the Tokyo area will be conducted.  Oral and written reports will be prepared, and a joint report by each cohort will conclude its work.   The Seminar will be “built” online as it proceeds.

Credits

Successful completion of the coursework will earn four semester hours of credit awarded by Waseda University, two for the online preparatory course and two for the onsite seminar. Students must successfully complete the online course with the grade of a C or better before participating in the onsite seminar.   Transfer of credit will be made at the discretion of the student’s home university.

Program Evaluation

The Seminar is part of an ongoing effort by the participating universities to form a “Global Honors College” focused on issues of enduring and emerging global concern.   Faculty and students will be asked at the end of the course to evaluate the program and offer suggestions for its improvement.

Costs:

Tuition costs will be borne in full by Waseda University.  Students will be accommodated free of charge during the program at one of Waseda University’s dormitories.   Thus students will be responsible only for the following expenses:

·         Round-trip airfare to and from Japan

·         Local transportation in their home country (round-trip between home and nearest international airport).

·         Local transportation in Japan between Narita or Haneda Airport and Waseda University

·         Meals and other living expenses during the program.

·         Study abroad insurance covering the period of stay in Japan.

Application:  To apply for the program, send a completed application form, cover letter, CV and academic transcripts to Natalie Unwin-Kuruneri at natalie@ei.columbia.edu