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Savannah State University - Collaborate to Heighten Awareness, Rejuvenate, and Train: CHARTing a course to bring Environmental Justice to the coast

Dr. Sue C. Ebanks, Savannah State University
Dr. Jolvan T. Morris, Savannah State University
Dr. Carol J. Pride, Savannah State University
Initial Publication Date: November 16, 2015

Summary

Bordering an extensive salt marsh estuarine system along the Georgia coast with a local economy that is largely tied to tourism and the port, the Savannah State University campus naturally provides a strong environment to host programs that are relevant to coastal hazards, management, and environmental justice. However, it is challenging for a student to get the diverse training needed from these different departments to address issues of environmental justice or coastal hazards and management due to minimal flexibility in existing degree programs and only a fledgling level of inter-college course offerings for interdisciplinary training. This program aims to bring awareness of Environmental Justice issues associated with coastal risk and hazards and strengthen cross-college collaboration in course design and implementation using a certificate structure as a means to reach a broader group of students regardless of their selected discipline to develop a culture of appreciation for the interdisciplinary nature of coastal hazards and the management and environmental justice issues associated with coastal hazards. The program includes a capstone experience, which enables students to collaborate in with peers from other degree programs using service-learning to address local community needs in regards to coastal hazards, management, and environmental justice. Further, it built meaningful intra- and inter-university partnerships, forging a positive, transformative pathway to enhance Historically Black Colleges and Universities as pathways to improve workforce diversity in the Geosciences and Geoscience Education.Visit Savannah State's Dept. of Marine &
Environmental Sciences website »

About the Program

The program at Savannah State University used aggressive, abbreviated timelines totaling less than 18 months, to infuse Coastal Hazards-related InTeGrate materials into existing and new courses, to engage a broad range of faculty and students within and traditionally external to the geosciences, and to create opportunities for bridging SSU faculty to partnerships with other HBCU and non-HBCU institutions. Using the InTeGrate Coastal Hazards modules as a platform for the curricular/education components, CHARTing and CHARTing II have laid the educational foundation for participants (students, teachers, and others) to better address the coastal hazards and engage in the multi-pronged management of coastal hazards that should be grounded in effective communications, sound logistics, and strategic empowerment. These hinge upon the understanding and proper evaluation of the natural and anthropogenic challenges, the socioeconomic demographics and forcing, as well as limitations and predicted changes within each of these.

Program Goals

  1. Develop a pathway to help students better understand Environmental Justice issues associated with coastal risk and hazards
  2. Establish a certificate in Coastal Community Risks and Management, which involved the design of 2 new courses
  3. Develop a mechanism through which service learning projects, structured around Coastal Hazards, could be introduced using the InTeGrate module. This presentation format allowed for efficient training of students in the areas of coastal risk, management, and environmental justice
  4. Impact courses by facilitating the incorporation of Geoscience into a wide range of disciplines.
  5. Present/Publish findings of CHARTing
  6. Develop at least one new significant partnership with whom a draft proposal is prepared to promote continuing and broader impacts of CHARTing

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This program description is part of a growing collection of models of ways to bring learning about the Earth to a diverse range of disciplines, institutions, and networks, as well as provide the documentation and resources necessary to help other groups implement similar programs..
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