USD Magazine Fall 2016

TORERO  NEWS

Three USD professors teamed up to co-teach a sustainability class, with the belief that this approach would help students understand the many challenges involved.

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by Taylor Milam TEAMWORK SPARKS CHANGE a class that was meant to truly spark change. According to their students, they succeeded. he world of higher educa- tion is changing. There are online classes and I nt e rd i s c i p l i na r y so l ut i ons to env i ronment a l prob l ems

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ronmental courses through our own disciplinary lenses, but we believed strongly that for stu- dents to adequately address en- vironmental problems in the real world, they should understand the scientific, ethical and socio- logical implications of these challenges,” Cantzler explains. Instead of only focusing on theories and textbooks, the pro- fessors joined together to create

cialize in environmental science. Associate Professor Mark Woods teaches philosophy; Assistant Professor Julia Cantzler is a soci- ologist and Associate Professor Michel Boudrias specializes in oceanography and marine biology. As it turns out, it’s their differences that made the class innovative and exciting. “Dr. Boudrias, Dr. Woods and I were all already teaching envi-

For fourth-year environmental studies major Claire Flynn, the class was unlike any class she had taken before, because it approached topics through multiple lenses. “Students from all three classes were able to come together, meet in groups, and work on a

newly minted social media de- grees, but there’s one change to be particularly excited about at the University of San Diego: interdisciplinary courses. This past year, three USD pro- fessors teamed up to co-teach a sustainability class. The most in- teresting part? They don’t all spe-

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USD MAGAZINE