Texas A&M University
AC-5: Immersive Experience

Geography 380, Environmental Workshop, is designed to allow students to immerse themselves in real issues of sustainability and the environment using an experiential learning approach. Class size is limited to 18 undergraduates. Each semester the class explores a specific theme related to sustainability and students work in groups to tackle projects centered around that theme. All projects require hands on active fieldwork that engages the local community in some manner. Recent topics have included: • Working with community members and leaders to assess and analyze levels of food security in the Brazos Valley. (Fall 2014, Spring 2015) • Engaging with University Sustainability officials to evaluate campus waste management practices. (Fall 2015, Spring 2016) • Conducting greenhouse gas assessments/carbon footprints of Brazos Valley small businesses. (Fall 2016, scheduled for Spring 2017) The first month of the course, students read around key issues centered on the current course theme. For example, during the waste management course, students developed a deeper understanding of the broader social context of waste management by reading about the history of waste, discussing issues surrounding various waste management practices (including concerns of environmental justice), and visiting with local community stakeholders to better understand what happens at the landfill and the local recycling facility. Using the knowledge gained in the first few weeks, students then tackled waste management on campus by conducting waste audits of various campus waste streams. The ultimate goal of the varied campus audits was to provide the university with specific waste management and waste minimization guidance based on what was being thrown out, and how it was arriving to waste bins. The two semesters culminated with a white paper summarizing that guidance based on students’ research. This white paper was presented to campus waste management stakeholders. This course allows students to interact with a broad range of local stakeholders from within academia and within the local community, on issues of sustainability that affect us all. Geography 380 at Texas A&M University promotes professionalism and a deep understanding of sustainability issues from multiple perspectives, through immersion experience in research. The Texas Target Communities Program (TTCP) at Texas A&M provides training, tools, and assistance necessary to facilitate the transformation of communities from high risk/low opportunity to equitable, resilient, and adaptive by mitigating threats to the economy, environment, and culture. TTCP, a part of the Public Partnership and outreach office of the Provost, works with at least 8 courses per semester to immerse students in community needs related to sustainability and resilience. Going forward, TTCP plans to include more courses on campus as a way to meet the needs of under-served Texans.

Additional url: http://ttc.arch.tamu.edu/