Overall Rating Bronze
Overall Score 41.51
Liaison Lori Chance
Submission Date May 16, 2024

STARS v2.2

Messiah University
AC-5: Immersive Experience

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Brandon Hoover
Director of Sustainability
Operations
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Does the institution offer at least one immersive, sustainability-focused educational study program that is one week or more in length?:
Yes

A brief description of the sustainability-focused immersive program(s) offered by the institution:
AuSable Institute: Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies offers field-based, upper-level college courses that surround students in the natural world, immersing them in the ecosystems they'll study during their January, May, and Summer sessions at four different locations around the globe:

Tropical Biology:
This course will survey and investigate biological processes at the levels of organism, population, community, and biosphere, emphasizing the relationship of these bioprocesses to the tropical latitudes. This course will guide students through a comparative study of major tropical plants, animals and biomes, and examine the essential principles of tropical ecology and conservation biology. This course travels to and is delivered in Costa Rica and Panama.

Rocky Mountain Ecosystems:
A field-intensive experience of the geology, flora, and fauna of the northern Rocky Mountain region. The focus is on the identification of ecological principles and small group research projects to test understanding of those principles. Students will also discuss and understand human impacts and the policies driving these impacts, with particular attention to water supply and climate change. Accommodations are primarily camping. Students are expected to hike distances of up to 10 miles per day, at elevations up to 14,000ft at temperatures from 20F to 80F. Course fee for travel.

Website URL where information about the institution’s immersive education programs is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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