M.A. Urban Environmental Leadership

Curriculum

The Master of Arts in Urban Environmental Leadership is a 32-credit program completed in two years, beginning each summer with a one week residency. Students take a sequence of courses which form a common core of knowledge and skills while also allowing room for individual focus and specialization.

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

GENED 6122
Ecology and the Urban Environment
Understanding the ecology of cities is critical to our planet's future. This course examines the ecology of cities through field observation and research. Students work with urban ecologists and biologists at field sites including parks, rooftops, waterways, vacant lots and industrial areas. Ecological concepts such as cycles, adaptation, diversity and competition are reformulated through an urban lens. Students evaluate the behaviors of human communities that influence the ecology of cities in healthy and unsustainable ways.

GENED 6123
Environmental Justice
Historically, communities of color and underserved communities carry a disproportionate weight of our nation's toxic and industrial legacy. In this course, students critically analyze the history and principles of the urban and rural environmental justice movement. Students learn successful strategies for addressing environmental justice issues from grassroots activists. They also examine environmental justice issues on a global scale to understand how Western nations are shifting environmental burdens onto countries in the global south.

GENED 6124
Urban Environmental History
To understand the ecology of cities, students analyze historical forces and decisions that have shaped the urban landscape. Students study the environmental history of a city from early settlement to recent development. As we read about and travel the urban landscape together, we discover clues to the city's environmental history and understand how planning decisions made decades and even hundreds of years ago affect the ecology of cities and influence contemporary efforts toward environmental sustainability.

GENED 6125
Theory and Practice of Environmental Leadership
This course evaluates various concepts of and approaches to leadership, critically examines leadership in the environmental movement, and identifies qualities and characteristics of effective urban environmental leadership. Students critically reflect on the biographies of environmental visionaries and leaders, and learn from the experiences of local grassroots urban environmental leaders. Students use these concepts and stories to define their personal and professional approaches to environmental leadership.

GENED 6126
Urban Ecological Citizenship
This course evaluates personal and community practices that contribute to healthy environments in cities. Students meet with community gardeners, urban farmers, green space advocates, alternative transportation organizations, sustainable building designers and public utilities managers to assemble strategies for living "green" in a city. Students adopt and critically reflect upon personal practices that contribute to sustainable urban lifestyles. The importance of building community in cities is central to the focus of this course.

GENED 6127
Research Methods for Social and Environmental Change
Action research focuses on creating social and environmental change by empowering individuals and communities to generate knowledge grounded in their own experience. This course examines the action research methodologies of action inquiry, participatory action research, cooperative inquiry, and appreciative inquiry. Students analyze critical topics in action research by designing projects and practicing methods. This course also supports the program's final action research project by developing a formal research proposal.

GENED 6128
Envisioning Sustainable Cities
This course evaluates current efforts to create cities that are life sustaining. Students meet with urban planners, community groups, and political leaders to construct a collective vision of a sustainable city. Students draw on current literature that explores what green cities might look like not just in the next decade, but in the next century and beyond. The role of citizen participation in creating sustainable cities is central to the focus of this course.

GENED 7702 Research Project for Social and Environmental Change
In this course, you will complete an action research project focused on positive social and environmental change in the urban environment. You will write a thesis that documents your research methods, relevant literature and research findings. Students will present their action research projects to the wider community at the final cohort meeting.

GENED 5999
Independent Study
In consultation with core faculty, students complete an independent study of an urban environmental topic relevant to their professional and academic interests and related to their development as leaders. The independent study may address a research topic that is not covered within the program of study or is an advanced study of an area already introduced. A core faculty member must approve specific course requirements, including reading, written assignments, other documentation and assessment.

GENED 6089
The Global Challenge of Cities
This course is a 10-day intensive field study in a city in the "developing" world. Many environmental burdens created by Western consumption are borne by disenfranchised communities in other countries while at the same time, economic development is seen as key to eradicating poverty. Students study the environmental challenges faced by local residents, and meet government, community, and business leaders working to find sustainable urban solutions to poverty, human rights, and environmental degradation issues. Offered Summer 2011.

GENED 6090
The City in a Bioregional Context
This course is a 10-day field study of a bioregion that includes an urban environment. Students examine the effect of cities on their bioregion, and identify ways in which urban and rural communities are dependent upon each other. Students critically examine sustainable practices and policies in rural communities, and how they may or may not differ from similar strategies in urban settings. Short outdoor experiences provide opportunities for students to connect with local landscapes. Offered Summer 2010.