Project overview: the UBC APSC Sustainability Pathway Initiative

In Sept 2014, Dr. Naoko Ellis received a Pathway Seed Grant for the Faculty of Applied Science (APSC), UBC (Point Grey) from the University Sustainability Initiative (USI) to examine the possibility of developing a sustainability pathway in APSC. The Faculty consists of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), Engineering and Nursing. When looking from the interconnectedness of the disciplines, sustainability emerges as one of the strong ties. It is a good opportunity to engage with the APSC community as means to further connect the different disciplines within the Faculty, and cultivate a stage to bring various departments together. In order for the sustainability pathway to truly become rooted and embraced in APSC, it is imperative that the process remains inclusive by consulting to many “communities-of-interest” as possible. With the USI pathway seeds fund, this initiative aims to enhance our collective capacity to advance the sustainability education, and to nurture a culture of collaboration across the disciplines within APSC. Furthermore, this will be a good opportunity to build a strong foundation in which to further build interdisciplinary learning opportunities in the Faculty.

The APSC Sustainability Pathway Engagement initiative seeks to develop strategies on the engagement and consultation towards a sustainability pathway in the faculty. Naoko Ellis (CHBE) and Susan Nesbit (CIVL) have received funds from UBC USI to facilitate the process with the support of USI for 2014-2016.

A Sustainability Pathway is a collection of sustainability-oriented courses and experiences that students pursue alongside their disciplinary major. Pathways may be embedded within existing programs, or offered as a separate entity such as aminor.

Project goals:

  • To assess the interest and support for a sustainability pathway in APSC by students and faculty
  • To develop a sustainability pathway learning outcomes
  • To build strategies for implementing undergraduate (UG) curriculum changes
  • To build strategies for creating pathways at the graduate (GRAD) levels

Purpose of engagement:

  • Obtain high-level and ground-up support for the pathway strategies
  • Build consensus across schools of what the proposed strategies should look like

To learn more, please visit the APSC Sustainability Pathway Initiative website.