An ethics professor at Oklahoma City University has organized a national summer institute for students in United Methodist schools to advance sustainability causes.
Mark Davies, Wimberly Professor of Social and Ecological Ethics at OCU, has arranged and will help lead the two-week Summer Sustainability Institute in June at Boston University and Green Mountain College in Vermont. Its subtitle is “Building Sustainable and Resilient Communities.”
Davies believes the institute “will provide opportunities for students from Methodist colleges and universities from across the United States and around the world to experience an intensive and practical course addressing the pressing ecological challenges we are facing today, with an eye to developing systemic approaches for building more sustainable communities.”
The institute will focus on environmental and social responsibility initiatives that could improve the bioregions specific to each student’s hometown. Using examples of initiatives in two other communities, the students will explore ways they can design sustainability programs in their own regions.
Faculty members who specialize in sustainability and environmental ethics will teach the course. Professors will come from Boston University, Green Mountain College and Oklahoma City University. Participants must be from United Methodist-affiliated institutions. They will have assigned reading materials before the event. During the institute, June 3-17, students will keep a journal of things they’ve learned each day and will give a class presentation at the end of each week. A conclusive term paper will be due a week after the institute.
Summer Sustainability Institute 2018: Building Sustainable and Resilient Communities
June 3-17, 2018
Boston University in Massachusetts and Green Mountain College in Vermont
Cost: $2,500 (includes tuition, fees, lodging, meals, and travel during the Summer Sustainability Institute – does not include travel costs to and from Boston). Deposit of $500 due March 15; full payment due May 1.
Registration requirements: Student must be an undergraduate in good standing at a United Methodist or Methodist-related institution of higher education with a minimum 2.75 GPA.
Successful completion qualifies student for three academic credits from the regionally accredited Green Mountain College. Registration and liability waiver available online at http://www.cvent.com/d/jtq2fy.
