| Learning Sustainability at Penn |
Penn’s Climate Action Plan provides opportunities for the entire University community to educate themselves on the critical issues that affect climate change. Sustainability education, training, and discussion will extend beyond classroom walls, engaging Penn faculty, students, and staff in a variety of courses, lectures, and continuous learning initiatives.
Implementing the Climate Action Plan will: |
- Encourage faculty, students, and staff to serve as the environmental stewards of their College Houses and office spaces with training programs and innovative peer-to-peer outreach
- Offer a new inter-disciplinary minor in Sustainability and Environmental Management
- Connect students to senior administrators through the class Towards Environmental Sustainability on Penn’s Campus in which student projects can influence the University’s sustainability practices
|
|
Sustainability and environmental issues are central to Penn’s curriculum and student life, across a wide range of schools and programs. In the past year, there have been a number of academic initiatives that have focused on Penn's relationship to its environment. |
| |
| Academic Opportunities and Initiatives |
 |
The T.C. Chan Center, in collaboration with Tsinghua University, brings together experts from around the world to develop strategies for sustainable environments and high-performance, energy-efficient buildings. |
 |
Toward Environmental Sustainability on Penn’s Campus, an Ideas in Action course in Fall 2007 funded by the Provost’s Office, directly involved Penn students in creating reports to the administration on the best methods of advancing the University’s sustainability goals. |
 |
The Undergraduate Minor in Sustainability and Environmental Management allows students to learn the nature of environmental constraints which face organizations and individuals in the modern world, and to understand how these constraints can be effectively considered as part of the decision-making process in for-profit and nonprofit organizations. Students in any of the four undergraduate schools may elect to take the minor. |
 |
Masters of Environmental Studies, offered by the School of Arts and Sciences in addition to its Department of Earth and Environmental Science, draws together courses across the University in the natural, social, and biomedical sciences, as well as in humanities, engineering, law, and business. |
 |
Organizational Dynamics Sustainable Development Concentration
In collaboration with other Penn departments and external partners, Organizational Dynamics has created a series of courses designed to help leaders implement sustainabiity initiatives today.
This program is funded through Dow Chemical Company and is a Master's Degree in Organizational Dynamics focused on applying sustainability principals broadly across an organization. |
 |
The Initiative for Global and Environmental Leadership is a new global initiative on business and the environment that brings together business leaders with professors at Wharton and other Schools at Penn to discuss and research selected topics concerning business and the natural environment. |
 |
Ecology, Technology, and Design and Architecture and Ecology: Dimensions of Sustainability are new courses in Penn’s School of Design, whose faculty includes William Braham, a global expert on sustainable architecture, and the PennPraxis project, which works directly with the City of Philadelphia on its new, state-of-the-art, pedestrian-friendly waterfront area. |
 |
PennEWB is the University of Pennsylvania chapter of Engineers Without Borders. On campus, around Philadelphia, and around the world, PennEWB seeks to address the challenges of international development through educational initiatives and the implementation of hands-on, sustainable engineering projects. |
 |
TerraPass, a world-leading system for funding renewable energy projects, was developed by Prof. Karl Ulrich with his MBA class on "Problem Solving: Design and System Improvement" in fall 2004. The system charges customers an annual fee, proportional to the size of each customer's car, which then helps fund organizations devoted to energy reduction and conservation. Terrapass works to reduce individuals' carbon footprints and has reduced over 1 billion pounds of carbon. |
 |
The Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology, in the School of Medicine, acts to create change in environmental and public health policies, often working directly with local communities to improve environmental health, medicine, and justice, especially around issues of environmental exposure. |
 |
The Environmental and Risk Management Program, in the Wharton School, founded in 1998, coordinates the MBA in Environmental and Risk Management, the undergraduate concentration in Environmental Policy and Management, and the undergraduate minor in Organizations and Environmental Management. |
 |
The Program on Law, the Environment, and the Economy at Penn Law School brings scholars, regulators, and policymakers to campus to engage students and faculty on such topics as global warming and natural hazards. |
 |
Certificate in Ecological Architecture - Penn is proud to offer a new cross-departmental certificate in the School of Design as part of the graduate degree coursework in Architecture and related disciplines. Students will develop an understanding of the dynamic interaction between the natural and built environments with a program of elective courses in Landscape Architecture, Historic Preservation, City Planning, Engineering, Environmental Science, and Legal Studies. |
| |
The Biosphere at Kings Court/English House is an active student experience designed to enhance the interaction of College House residents with their environments, especially in relation to food and nature. |
| |
The Penn Energy Research Group sponsors research around a variety of energy issues. |
| |
|
