Florida Gulf Coast University’s graduation requirement that focuses on sustainability may be changing in the coming years.
University Colloquium is a class requirement for all students looking to graduate with an undergraduate degree. The class has been offered since FGCU opened in 1996, and it targets social, environmental and economic sustainability.
Brenda Thomas is the director of the program and explains that staff shortages and a shift away from an environmental focus are behind the decision.
“One of the changes that has happened in the course over the last six, eight years, has been almost a shift away from that primary focus on the environment to include the other components of sustainability,” Thomas said. “We have taken on a broader approach and definition of sustainability to include the people and the prosperity that they depend on to live fulfilled lives that are reliant on the environment.”
Students and staff were sent a survey laying out three proposals for going forward: hiring more faculty, choosing between a Civic Engagement course and Colloquium and a selection of class choices offered by each college.
Sara Miller graduated from FGCU in 2014 with a degree in environmental studies. She is now the sustainability manager for the City of Winter Park, FL. Being in a room with students outside of her major made her feel more prepared to enter her position.
“I have to work with different people of all different backgrounds and skill sets,” Miller said. “I have to really understand where they're coming from in order to educate them on where I'm coming from. That’s what Colloquium gave to me as a student, that kind of preview of what a job would be like in the real world.”
According to Thomas, FGCU is the only institution in the world to require every undergraduate student to take a class related to sustainability regardless of their discipline.
“Bringing those different lenses to those conversations, that's powerful and impactful,” Thomas said. “That's where the learning really and truly happened. I also believe that it's important for the university because sustainability has been part of our mission and vision right from the beginning. That was cutting edge when the university was established.”
With the first option of hiring additional faculty to teach the course, arguments have been made about funding.
“The first proposal is it is a big price tag,” Thomas said. “The pot is only so big. If the administration decides to put a big chunk of that pot toward hires to support University Colloquium, then that means that other programs are going to take to get a smaller piece.”
The third option would require the university to create a council to oversee the development of the curriculum for courses to ensure that it aligns with the university’s sustainability requirements.
Each semester, students taking the course complete more than 10,000 service-learning hours and participate in over 200 field experiences, according to the university’s website. It brings together students from different majors and backgrounds during their junior or senior year.
“I don’t think [the Civic Engagement class] replaces the things taught in University Colloquium, FGCU junior Amber Nadeau said. “I think an important part of Colloquium is that it’s a mix of all majors because then you have business students in the room with political science and environmental students.”
Nadeau, who took the course last fall, says it is a writing-intensive course, and journals are used to assess student progress.
“I feel like my classroom is already sometimes an echo chamber because the same types of people pick each major,” Nadeau said.
Other students, like Daniel Copeland-Del Torro, say that it is a filler class distracting him from his studies surrounding his major.
“I don’t really see the need in pulling students away from the topics they are already passionate about,” Copeland-Del Torro said. “I would be in favor of having to take something that ties in with my event management concentration. I wasn’t looking forward to the field trips either.”
Because the process of changing curriculum is slow, Thomas expects revisions to the program to be implemented in the fall of 2024 by the earliest.
“[The redesign] is an opportunity for the university to rethink its commitment to sustainability,” Thomas said. “University Colloquium has been effective in doing that for 25 years, and we've reached the limits of what we can do. It's time to be creative and to think about how we can equip our students to address these issues that [they] all are going to face.”
The surveyis open to all FGCU students and faculty through April 28. Results will be compiled to present to administrators for the next step.
This story was produced by Democracy Watch, a news service provided by Florida Gulf Coast University journalism students. The reporter can be reached at rjhazel4249@eagle.fgcu.edu
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