Abstract
A two-year project, currently in progress at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, called “Crucial Terrain: Ecological Flourishing, Environmental Justice and Regenerative Culture in the Face of the Climate Crisis” aims to cultivate informed, regenerative visions for the future within a liberal arts curriculum and across the college’s community. This project strives to be intergenerational in reach, cross-disciplinary in structure, and transformational in long-term effect. Primary elements of the project include (1) year-long faculty learning communities of 6 members from a wide range of disciplines, (2) public programming including lectures, presentations, short workshops, art exhibitions and performances, delivered throughout each academic year by scholars (internal and external), artists, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders (3) a discussion group comprised of students (who earn partial credit), and other members of the college community (alumni, faculty, staff, administrators, and members of the university’s Board of Trustees and Board of Regents) in a spirit of cross-generational community-building and collaboration (4) an expansion of the existing Environmental Studies minor, currently contributed to by only a few disciplines, to a major that includes courses from all four academic divisions and, (5) for the long-term, plans for an interdisciplinary academic center for environmental arts and sciences that supports creative innovation and changemaking across boundaries of specialization to address urgent contemporary environmental challenges. This session provides an overview of this project-in-progress and invites recommendations for expanding this work and connecting with similar efforts in the liberal arts space.
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
Technical, Political, and Social Responses
KEYWORDS
Climate, Education, Liberal Arts Education, Environmental Justice, Regenerative Culture. Responsibility
