Undergraduate Classes
Fall 2012
- SUS 201: Principles of Sutainability
- SUS 202: Topics in Sustainability: Sustainability on Campus
- SUS 350: Special Topic in Sustainability: Creating Sustainable Communities
- MAR 110: Natural Hazards and the Ocean
- MTX 110: Enviornmental Science and Business
- CHM 130: Chemistry and the Environment
- MGT 312: Legal Framework Business
- ENL 357: Special Topics in Rhetorical Studies
- PSC 477: Topics in international Relations: Global Environmental Politics
Course Descriptions
SUS 201 Principles of Sustainability
Fundamental principles of Sustainability. Goal is to provide a larger context for topics covered in sustainability courses. Topics covered include: What is Sustainability?, Climate Change and Environmental Challenges, systems Thinking/Systems Analysis, "Natural" Systems and Function, Human Interactions with Natural Systems, Ethics, and Value.
MON WED FRI - 2:00PM-2:50PM
SENG 215
Instructors: Garry Clayton
SUS 202: Topics in Sustainability: Sustainability on Campus
What does it mean to live “sustainably” in a world of limited resources and an increasingly overburdened natural environment? Although these are questions of great global importance, the answers begin at home. We will examine this challenge by exploring almost every corner of UMass Dartmouth and almost every aspect of its daily operations: transportation, power production, architecture, purchasing, landscaping, food services, and more. Our class project this semester will be the creation of an educational program for the newly renovated library that will explain the building’s “green” features and the ideas and techniques of the original campus architect, Paul Rudolph. Joining us as co-instructor will be the lead architect of the library renovation project, Professor Jennifer McGrory of the Boston Architectural College. No prior knowledge is necessary—the only prerequisites are curiosity and a pair of sensible shoes!
TUE THUR - 3:30PM–5:00PM
LIB 213
Instructors: Robert Darst & Jennifer McGrory
SUS 350 Special Topic in Sustainability: Creating Sustainable Communities
The growing realization that orthodox economic practices are unsustainable is matched with a realization that “communities” will be key agents in the transition to a sustainable future. As with “sustainability” there is no agreed definition of a Sustainable Community. Rather there is general agreement of what it is: well
planned, managed inclusively, and environmentally sensitive. Their vision is to offer equality of opportunity and quality services for the diverse needs of the people now and into the future. In short it is one in which people want to live and work. While communities can be "virtual", students in this course will concentrate on those defined geographically and reinforced by economic, social and cultural activities. They will review both the nature of sustainability, concept of community and the transitions required to create and enhance “Sustainable Communities”.
MON WED FRI - 11:00-11:50
Room: TBA
Instructor: Garry Clayton
MAR 110 - Natural Hazards and the Ocean
Natural Hazards & the Ocean is primarily a descriptive course that is intended to educate students about the roles of the oceans in such natural hazards as hurricanes, earthquakes, global warming, and tsunamis. The course will address student curiosity about these ocean-related hazards, by presenting a conceptual understanding of the relevant underlying ocean-atmosphere, and earth-mediated mechanisms. The students will be presented in lecture and through their readings about how the application of the scientific method (a) overturned historical Misunderstandings of Earth geology; (b) explains the far-reaching effects of ocean storm-generated waves; (c) relates deep ocean earthquakes to tsunamis; and (d) relates how dust from the North African deserts is related to hurricane generation.
TUE THUR - 2:00PM–3:15PM
DION 110
Instructor: Daniel MacDonald
MTX 110 - Environmental Science & Business
An in-depth course on environmental economic aspects of industrial operations and sustainable development. Basic science and engineering principles are applied to the identification, assessment, and management of occupational health hazards and environmental quality.
MON WED FRI - 2:00PM-2:50PM
SENG 210
Instructor: Qinguo Fan
CHM 130 - Chemistry and the Environment
Available to anyone in the university, this course provides substantial treatment, with demonstrations, of the chemistry involved in consumer concerns (food additives, medicines, detergents, etc.), air and water pollution, elementary biochemistry, and the general question of power generation and utilization (fuel cells, solar energy conversion, nuclear energy, etc.). No knowledge of chemistry is assumed, but it is hoped the student will have had high school chemistry or its equivalent.
MON WED FRI - 1:00PM–1:50PM
DION 115
Staff
MON WED FRI - 3:00PM–3:50PM
DION 115
Staff
MGT 312 - Legal Framework Business
Overview of the legal environment of business. Topics covered include contracts, agency and tort law; labor law; securities law. Students will develop a general background in the major aspects of the law as it affects the daily business environment.
MON WED FRI - 3:00PM-3:50PM
DION 110
Instructor: Adam Sulkowski
MON WED - 5:00PM-6:15PM
SENG 117
Instructor: Adam Sulkowski
ENL 357- Special Topics in Rhetorical Studies
A study of non-traditional rhetorics, including established and emerging sub-disciplines and important areas of contemporary research. Depending upon instructor the course will focus on such topics as visual rhetorics, digital rhetorics, rhetorics of place, organization rhetoric, composition theory, and more. Course may be repeated with a change of focus.
MON WED FRI - 11:00AM-11:50AM
LARTS 110
Instructor: Jerrold Blitefield
PSC 477- Topics in International Relations: Global Environmental Politics
In this course, we will examine the ecological, socioeconomic, and geopolitical causes of transnational environmental problems, and the causes of success and failure in efforts to address them. This will require attention to the details of individual cases as well as theories that can be applied across cases. The class as a whole will focus on the case of climate change, while individually, each student will examine a different international environmental issue of his or her choice. (The range of possibilities is, sadly, quite vast.) No prior coursework is required, but junior or senior standing is a must.
MON - 2:00PM-4:30PM
TBA
Instructor: Robert Darst
