Course Descriptions

This course is intended for students who wish to include an overseas field school in their academic curriculum. The Field school will combine on campus course work with experiential learning in the field. Topics and locations will vary depending on the Instructor teaching the course.

This course introduces students to concepts involving ecological practice and connectedness within the framework of bio-environmental sustainability. Students move through several core themes such as: introduction to eco-literacy, applied biodiversity, community sustainability, connectivity and unintended consequences, community resilience, protecting natural systems, and initiating transformational change. Through lectures, research, site visits, guest speakers and networking, students will gain valuable knowledge on the principles of ecology, practical field-based skills, connection with communities and community leaders, and the role of business and government in an eco-literate society.

This course will consider the environment from the perspective of the interrelationships between nature and culture. The first part of the course will examine the history of ideas of human encounters with the environment, and the second part of the course will identify and critically analyse a number of interpretations and controversies shaping current cultural relationships to the natural world as identified by some of the disciplines of geography, economics, anthropology and sociology.

This course is intended for students who are participating in a study abroad course overseas such as the Aichi Gakusen Exchange. Students will register in this course before embarking on the study abroad and will be expected to complete specific assignments according to the course outline.

This course will focus upon case studies that address the presence of the past in contemporary society. The course will be interdisciplinary, and may address such topics as land claims, language rights, globalization, ethnic relations, the role of tradition, the nature of historical and archaeological knowledge, and the forces of political, economic and social change.