Paul Smith's College of Arts & Sciences
AC-5: Immersive Experience

Paul Smith's Colleges offers a two week sustainability-focused immersive course entitled "Adirondack Park Field Experience: Sustainable Communities and Working Landscapes". This course is a two week intensive located within the six-million acre Adirondack (ADK) Park in northern New York state. The ADK Park serves as the living laboratory for this intensive which focuses on the seminal issues related to rural sustainability and resiliency. Students are active participants in field research that blends theory and hands-on experience. The interdisciplinary structure of the course encourages collaboration and a diversity of approaches in pursuit of more sustainable communities. Students gain a thorough understanding of the ecology of the Adirondack Park while also examining the unique policy framework which governs development in the park, this framework balances the management and use of the Park's natural resources with economic and residential development. Students engage in this material though on site visits, participatory action research, and guest speakers. Topics covered include sustainable food system development, renewable energy projects, economic development, and local green building techniques. In addition to touring (and working) on various sites throughout the park, students conduct a rural Rapid Rural Appraisal of 3 Adirondack Communities, this involves inventorying community resources, economic challenges, and opportunities present in these three unique communities. This course is offered by Paul Smith's College and is open to both Arizona State University Students and Paul Smith's College Students.