University of Michigan
AC-2: Learning Outcomes

At the division level, the School for Environment and Sustainability requires sustainability learning outcomes for all students. The Master of Science program at the School for Environment and Sustainability requires three courses and a capstone project that achieve sustainability learning outcomes for all students in the program. (1) One required core course teaches core ecological concepts and applications related to environmental sustainability. Students gain a broad-based understanding of the key parts and processes of ecological systems for evidence-based design, planning, and decision-making in the real and changing world. The course develops specific skills in science communication, the research process and quantitative literacy, systems thinking, and collaboration via team problem-solving. (2) A second required core course teaches social science methodologies and tools for sustainable environmental solutions. The course illustrates applications of these methodologies and tools to current environmental sustainability challenges. It motivates students to seek out more information on the tools and approaches that speak to their own research and practice. (3) Students are required to take one additional course from a selection of qualified courses that demonstrate integrated multidisciplinary approaches to framing and addressing environmental sustainability challenges. (4) The capstone project is an opus requirement of the program. It involves a team of at least four students that forms to address a real-world environmental sustainability problem that is identified in conjunction with staff at a client organization. Client organizations come from all sectors – private, public, and nongovernmental. Students work on their capstone project on a part-time basis over fourteen months. Through the project, students receive a rich, deep experience in engaged learning related to a sustainability challenge.

Program in the Environment: The Program in the Environment (PitE) is a University-wide undergraduate collaborative effort overseen by the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA) and the School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS). Our curriculum is interdisciplinary, requiring students to take courses in the natural and social sciences as well as the humanities. Students supplement the core requirements with specialization and capstone courses, drawing their content from a variety of academic perspectives. This program was designed to develop environmentally informed citizens and leaders through an undergraduate program that balances rigorous environmental studies in many disciplines, hones practical problem-solving skills, and fosters intellectual risk taking. As a result, students will be able to define sustainability and identify major sustainability challenges. This program includes a major in Environment and minors in Environment, Sustainability, Food, Water & the Environment, and Energy Science & Policy. http://lsa.umich.edu/pite Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise: The Erb Institute was designed with the intent to equip business professionals with the skills and knowledge necessary to create environmentally, socially and economically sustainable organizations. Graduates of the dual-degree program benefit from a richer set of experiences and can draw upon a broader sustainability skill set post-graduation. http://erb.umich.edu/programs/dual-degree-curriculum/

Engineering 100 is a course that all undergraduate students in the College of Engineering must take. The course is designed to simulate a real-world engineering environment. One of the learning outcomes for this course is that students will learn about sustainable engineering. Masters of Architecture: Graduates are required to take a course entitled Sustainable Systems. This course will introduce students, aiming to participate in the build environment, to a range of perspectives comprised of theories, manifestoes, tropes, and exemplary practices that will assist in positioning new thinking and actions within complex terrestrial systems. The course content will span the planetary to the surficial, quantitative and qualitative, theoretical and applied in pursuit of a position from which design might begin to operate with these cascading and networked fields. Weekly readings will be complemented by a set of co-taught lectures and detailed discussion sessions that aim to unpack contemporary positions regarding sustainability. As a result of taking this course students will be able to: Define sustainability and identify major sustainability challenges. Have an understanding of their ethical responsibility towards present and future generations. Master of Urban Planning: Graduates must take a course on Spatial Thinking and Environmental Systems, which introduces different environmental systems while emphasizing the direct environmental consequences and the indirect human health impacts of different development patterns and existing urban conditions. We believe that addressing contemporary planning challenges, such as climate change, aging gray infrastructure, air and water pollution, low density growth, as well as potential solutions, such as renaturalization and green infrastructure, necessitate a basic ecological literacy. As a result, graduates of this program will be able to define sustainability and recognize sustainability challenges. They will also be able to identify, act on, and evaluate their professional and personal actions with the knowledge and appreciation of interconnections among economic, environmental, and social perspectives in order to create a more sustainable future.