ENS 401.02

Professor Elena Lioubimtseva

As a capstone course in Environmental and Sustainability Studies major, ENS 401 is designed to integrate theoretical multidisciplinary knowledge and practical experiential learning. Students engage core environmental studies content from previously taken courses to apply them in the local place-based research. Students will examine best practices in environmental problem-solving, civic engagement, and interdisciplinary integration. It will also introduce experience of effective capacity-building grant writing. Community-based learning is a high impact educational strategy that integrates classroom learning with community engagement. It upholds best practices concerning ethical human subjects research and offers students opportunities for reflection before, during, and after their participation in work with a community partner. 

A semester-long group project with a substantial community engagement component is a significant of part of ENS 401 and is designed to enhance your analytical research, design thinking, collaboration, and oral and written communication skills.  The video presentations of ENS 401 students provide an overview of their collaborative, community-based, transdisciplinary research and civic engagement.