Teaching for a Sustainable Future
The concept of sustainability underlies human existence and drives the evolution of methods for using the planet. The 2006-07 Innovative Teaching Showcase features three WWU faculty members who encourage students to examine the effects of human action on local and world communities. From the disciplines of accounting, engineering technology, and environmental studies, these professors’ scholarship informs their instruction and promotes their students’ understanding of sustainability in our world.
To learn more about this year's Showcase theme, Teaching for a Sustainable Future, read the following excerpt from Victor Nolet's Introduction on Sustainability:
"It seems that the term sustainable is everywhere these days. We hear the term applied in its various adjectival and adverbial forms to such apparently disparate entities as food and agriculture, transportation, energy, clothing, buildings and all things associated with the building industry, recreation and tourism, communities, education in its many forms and contexts, economic systems, and of course the natural environment. The idea of sustainability has become so ubiquitous lately that it may seem that sustainable is on the verge of becoming the new natural. However, for the three faculty members featured in this year's Showcase the commitment to teaching for a sustainable future is neither a new idea nor a meaningless buzzword. For Julie Lockhart, Grace Wang and Arunas Oslapas, the work of creating a sustainable and just world is a way of living that defines their teaching and their scholarship."
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| Julie A. Lockhart, professor and chair of the Department of Accounting at Western Washington University, focuses her research on social justice and environmental tax policy. During a sabbatical leave at the Center for Social and Environmental Accounting Research in Scotland, she was inspired to create a new course in sustainable accounting in which she challenges accounting students to examine topics such as environmental impact reporting, initiatives, and stewardship. |
Arunas P. Oslapas, associate professor of industrial design in the Department of Engineering Technology, infuses his passion for design principles and sustainability into his courses, projects for his students, and his own pursuit of recycled garbage art. He started his career in Chicago as an architectural space planner and draftsman and has worked for a film studio, office furniture manufacturer, and taught at Kendall College of Art & Design and Brigham Young University before coming to Western Washington University.
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| Grace A. Wang, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at Huxley College of the Environment, inspires her students with her research and involvement in the human dimensions of managing natural, community-based, and cultural resources and her drive to affect federal policy. She began her career as a research social scientist at the U.S. Forest Service, and taught at the Pennsylvania State University before coming to Western Washington University in 2002. |
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