| Overall Rating | Platinum |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 86.87 |
| Liaison | Carrie Metzgar |
| Submission Date | Nov. 5, 2024 |
University of California, San Diego
AC-5: Immersive Experience
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 2.00 |
Carrie
Metzgar Campus Sustainability Officer Utilities & Sustainability |
Does the institution offer at least one immersive, sustainability-focused educational study program that is one week or more in length?:
A brief description of the sustainability-focused immersive program(s) offered by the institution:
UC San Diego offers several sustainability-focused immersive programs that give students the opportunity to witness and learn in-depth about sustainability challenges and solutions. The sustainability-focused immersive programs are highlighted below.
GLOBAL SEMINARS IN ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES/SYSTEMS
UC San Diego's Global Initiatives Study Abroad offers several sustainability-focused Global Seminars. The Global Seminars are summer session (about six week) global experiences led by a UC San Diego professor. Students enroll in two academic courses while participating in several academic excursions and field trips. The Global Seminars program has a webpage dedicated to all environmental studies/systems immersive program opportunities, click here. As of summer 2024, sustainability-focused programs include:
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Health, Healing, and Sustainable Community Development: Bali, Indonesia led by Professor Leslie Lewis
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Geology Adventures in the Swiss Alps: Bern, Switzerland led by Professor Geoffrey Cook
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Environment and Justice in Cape Town: Cape Town, South Africa led by Professor Ivan Evans
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Sea Turtles and Tropical Ecology in Costa Rica: Guanacaste, Costa Rica led by Professors Jonathan Shurin and David Holway
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Warren in Costa Rica: Environment, Equity, and Sustainability: San Jose, Costa Rica led by Professor Jeff Gagnon
ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS PROGRAM BY SCRIPPS INSTITUTION OF OCEANOGRAPHY (https://scripps.ucsd.edu/esys)
The Environmental Systems Program (ESYS) at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography offers several immersive, sustainability-focused educational study programs that are one week or more in length. One such program is the Senior Project, which is a two-quarter program that requires ESYS students to work on a community-based or campus-based internship. The Senior Project is designed by the student to focus on an interdisciplinary environmental problem or research topic. Past ESYS Senior Project topics and descriptions can be viewed here.
ALTERNATIVE BREAKS BY CENTER FOR STUDENT INVOLVEMENT
Alternative Breaks is a year-long program where participants meet weekly to learn about their trip’s social justice issue and the community they are working with, discuss logistics, engage in training and reflection activities, and coordinate fundraising. Alternative Breaks offers several themed service and learning trips, including a theme focused on sustainability. During the 2023 Winter Break, students went to Guatemala and learned how sustainable practices such as green building promotes economic opportunity to the people of Comalapa. To learn more, click here.
GLOBAL TIES
Global TIES is UC San Diego’s internationally recognized program in social innovation and sustainable development (https://globalties.ucsd.edu/). Interdisciplinary teams of undergraduates co-design solutions and partner with not-for-profit organizations in San Diego and in developing countries world-wide. The projects take place for one quarter (11 weeks). As of summer 2024, the current list of sustainability-focused projects includes:
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Schoolhouse Ghana: The project team is partnered with the Godfreds Foundation, an organization whose goal is to build and operate a low cost, sustainable private school that promotes a positive learning environment for the children of rural Ghana.
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K-12 STEAM Education: Visit schools and introduce interactive STEAM-related activities to students in K-12.
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One Village Philippines: The goal of the project is to help alleviate poverty by empowering local Filipino communities. The project focused on designing affordable solar-powered lanterns and creating a community-owned enterprise that employs villagers to build the lanterns and run business operations.
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Baja Solar Thermal Water: Baja del Sol focuses on assisting underserved communities in Tijuana, Mexico, in all aspects ranging from clean water to education and beyond. Projects have been most involved in providing sustainable solutions for delivering and storing hot water in different orphanages in Tijuana.
Optional Fields
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
“Jet-Set and Learn: Summer Travels Transform Student Perspectives” - Article from September 2023 highlighting the Global Seminars and Alternative Breaks programs.
“CIEE Awards UC San Diego $1 Million Grant to Lead Change in Study Abroad” - Article from May 2024 highlighting UC San Diego receiving $1 million to establish new study abroad programs. UC San Diego will debut a Global Internship program for Pell-eligible students, prioritizing underserved populations, that will foster an ecosystem of access and entrepreneurship opportunities to increase study abroad rates, reduce time-to-degree, and positively impact student employability and economic mobility.
Points of contact for credit information:
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Carrie Metzgar, Campus Sustainability Officer, Utilities & Sustainability
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Mike Salisbury, Sustainability Data Analyst, Utilities & Sustainability
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.