From the President Students at Unity College benefit from our long history – and mastery – of experiential education. Now, as we ground ourselves deeply in the challenges of the 21st century, we embrace sustainability science, a new framework bringing people together in transdisciplinary, problem-solving groups. In traditional environmental science programs, students have been required to take courses in each discipline sequentially. As a result, the sciences have often been poorly articulated with one another. Sustainability Science appeals to those who want more than the surface connections provided by the interdisciplinary model. It appeals to those who seek a deep integration of knowledge and who look for a new way forward. At the heart of this transdisciplinary framework is our liberal arts emphasis on the humanities: philosophy, history, literature, and social sciences. Sustainability can be dry stuff unless its theory and practice are infused with what the arts and the humanities can give it – the power to question, to hope, to ascribe meaning, to create. These qualities inspire us to make sustainable practices a part of our lives. Because the arts and humanities form a vital center of sustainability science, we need the expertise of Unity’s entire faculty. Careers in the forward-looking green economy are typically technical and science-based, and jobs in the 21st century will increasingly focus on manag- Sustainability can be dry stuff ing the flow of energy and materials through human systems in ways that are unless its theory and practice are compatible with how energy and materials flow through natural systems. In infused with what the arts and the this respect, sustainability science is a new paradigm for planning, providing humanities can give it – the power managers and planners with a means of integrating sustainability goals into plans and everyday practice. Central to this is the need to expand the process to question, to hope, to ascribe beyond the natural sciences to include the social sciences and the views of meaning, to create. stakeholders and practitioners. The ability to connect these human elements with the science relevant to the flow of energy and materials is the crucial ingredient necessary for the success of sustainable management. The future needs college graduates with mature, rational decision-making skills in addition to their STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) skills. The sustainability science framework offers students the network of culture, information, logic, and ideas they will need to make informed decisions. It offers them the experience in weighing relative values, ordering priorities, and reasoning toward meaning they will need to make humane decisions. Since its inception, Unity College has been a leader in experiential education. We continue to innovate as one of the first institutions to embrace sustainability science as a curricular framework. It’s changing how we approach incoming students by asking them to see themselves as knowledge-brokers at the outset of their intellectual careers. It’s changing how we approach upper division and capstone courses by moving us away from didactic, lecture-based systems to immersive systems embracing a problem-oriented pedagogy. We are honoring our hands-on history by identifying with sustainability science.
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| UNITY Summer 2009
Stephen Mulkey President, Unity College