Bard College
AC-2: Learning Outcomes

All students must fulfill the “Difference and Justice” requirement as part of the general undergraduate education curriculum. Courses fulfilling this distribution requirement have a primary focus on the study of difference in the context of larger social dynamics such as globalization, nationalism, and social justice. They will address differences that may include but are not limited to ability/disability, age, body size, citizenship status, class, color, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, geography, nationality, political affiliation, religion, race, sexual orientation, or socio-economic background, and will engage critically with issues of difference, diversity, inequality, and inclusivity.

Four departments were identified as offering sustainability learning outcomes in the 2018-2019 academic year. The total number of 2019 graduates and the number of 2019 graduates from the degree programs listed below were obtained from the Office of the Registrar.

Anthropology:
The core of the program consists of topical courses that examine human life in relation to global debates about cultural identity formations, through language, religion, gender systems, racial categories, class dynamics, and popular culture. In addition, anthropology productively challenges dominant understandings about development and the environment. Comparative in scope, the discipline is concerned with how individuals and communities produce social and cultural meanings within a transcultural world created by an international division of labor, the wide proliferation and consumption of media, and the commodification of culture. Faculty work in collaboration with the Environmental and Urban Studies Program to offer classes in topics such as environmental anthropology, justice, and the social effects of climate change. Strengths of the faculty span across a wide variety of areas: Africa; Latin America and the Caribbean; South and Southeast Asia; Australasia (the Pacific); and the United States.

Environmental and Urban Studies:
The Environmental and Urban Studies (EUS) program is designed to encourage students to engage intellectually across the disciplines as well as to acquire practical skill sets and experience addressing urban and environmental challenges. Students study in several rigorous interdisciplinary and disciplinary core courses, complete an internship and a practicum. To balance transdisciplinary breadth with depth in a particular discipline, each student also selects intermediate and advanced courses in a chosen Focus Area. Expertise developed through the Focus Area studies (particularly during the Junior year) prepares the student for the Senior Project.

Human Rights:
Through a combination of interdisciplinary coursework, internships and field research, and a required senior thesis project, students can come to locate questions of environmental justice and sustainability within the framework of civil and human rights. Rights are understood in a broadly inclusive sense. Students pursuing these topics acquire a sophisticated knowledge of the inter-related character of human and non-human agents within a context that includes environmental and climatic forces.

Sociology:
Overview
Sociology at Bard aims to provide an understanding of the structure and processes of society—from everyday interactions among friends to social transformations of global magnitude. Sociology students learn to systematically examine a wide array of social phenomena, including social inequality, political and social movements, race, gender, economic systems, law, technological change, culture, media, religion, environmental risks, cities, family structures, and criminal justice. The Sociology curriculum offers students a theoretical and methodological foundation for conducting social research and thinking rigorously about important social issues. The most wide-ranging of the social sciences, sociology situates the economic, cultural, and political aspects of human communities within the complex whole of social life and its historical foundations. With its diverse array of topics, theories, and methodologies, the sociological perspective teaches people to examine the social world in a way that is both rigorous and flexible. Sociology 101 is a requirement and incorporates sustainability. Following is the course description: Sociology is the systematic study of social life, social groups, and social relations. The discipline views the individual in context of the larger society, and sheds light on how social structures constrain and enable our choices and actions. Sociologists study topics as varied as race, gender, class, religion, the birth of capitalism, democracy, education, crime and prisons, the environment, and inequality. At its most basic, the course will teach students how to read social science texts and evaluate their arguments. Conceptually, students will learn basic sociological themes and become familiar with how sociologists ask and answer questions. Most importantly, students will come away from the course with a new understanding of how to think sociologically about the world around them, their position in society, and how their actions both affect and are affected by the social structures in which we all live. Ecological, as well as social dimensions of sustainability, are addressed through the course and program.