Florida Institute of Technology
High Tech with a Human Touch
Applied Sustainability Education
Sustainability is one of the most important and marketable specialties available in the 21st century. Florida Tech addresses these opportunities by offering applied courses and an Undergraduate Minor in Sustainability. We unravel the complexity and learn real-world applications in your areas of interest. Final projects use a Campus Classroom model: students address real-world university sustainability opportunities to generate marketable skills for resumes as well as campus systems.
Undergraduate Minor in Sustainability
Florida Tech’s Minor in Sustainability is available to undergraduates from any College - Science, Business, Engineering, Aviation, and Psychology/Liberal Arts. The minor consists of 6 courses (2 required, 4 elective) that total 18 credits. With planning, many students easily integrate the courses into their curriculum. The 2 required courses are:
• Introduction to Sustainability (ISC 1500, 3 credits) This fall semester course is available for students enrolled in the Sustainability Minor and also for students not in the minor. Sustainable practices are examined among diverse specialities at international through local levels following the ISC 1500 syllabus. How to register. Instructor: Dr. K. Lindeman.
• Applied Sustainability (ISC 4000, 3 credits) Taken during the spring semester of the junior or senior year, students synthesize and apply what they have learned in ISC 1500, eligible electives (see below), and ISC 4000 classwork to create hands-on sustainability products in their areas of interest. The class can also be taken by students not in the minor. ISC 4000 syllabus.
Electives for the Sustainability Minor (12 credits) For the remaining 4 electives, students take 1 course within each of these 4 topic areas: Environmental Sciences, Business, Technology, and Social Sciences/Humanities. FIT has over 80 eligible courses among these 4 topic areas that can be viewed here: Sustainability Electives List. For many students, 1 to 3 eligible Sustainability electives are courses they are already taking within their major.
Enrolling in the Minor Evaluate your scheduling with the Course Planning Form and the Sustainability Electives List. If interested, visit Dr. Lindeman to process the forms in the Dept. of Education and Interdisciplinary Studies. You will then take a completed Change of Major/Minor form to the Registrar's office (you are just adding a minor). Questions? E-mail or visit lindeman@fit.edu (Spring 2012 Office Hours: Tue: 1230-1600, Wed: 1030-1230 & 1500-1700, Thu: 1030-1230 & 1330-1600, or by appt., Rm 007 Shephard Bldg.).
Florida Tech's Minor in Sustainability has five primary objectives:
- to increase student knowledge of concepts and best practices associated with sustainability;
- to improve student understanding of the relevance of sustainability within their areas of study;
- to increase awareness of the complexity of problems involving society and environment and, by exposure to sustainable practices from other fields, develop interdisciplinary solutions to such problems;
- to provide students with opportunities to synthesize and apply their understanding of sustainability through interdisciplinary projects on and off campus; and
- to generate applied scholars who are prepared after graduation to employ best sustainability practices in their professions.
The undergraduate program in sustainabillity was conceived by Dr. G. Nelson, Dean of Florida Tech's College of Sciences. Dr. R. Aronson, Chair of the Dept. of Biological Sciences, and Dr. T. Marcinkowski, Associate Professor in the Dept. of Science Education, were responsible for the construction of the program proposal.