UBC Okanagan will soon be home to Canada’s first undergraduate degree dedicated exclusively to sustainability.
The Bachelor of Sustainability (BSust) is a four-year direct-entry program.
UBCO says the degree is dedicated to motivating students to address environmental challenges by gaining knowledge from different academic subjects, with hands-on and community-based learning.
The program combines a broad, interdisciplinary approach, with focused concentrations that may help develop the knowledge and skills of students who want to protect the environment.
“Heat waves, record-breaking wildfire seasons, drought—these are major threats to life as we know it, and though a lot of people define sustainability in ways that seem clear, obvious and needed, it can be tough to put sustainability into action,” said Dr. Kevin Hanna, the program’s inaugural director and associate professor of earth sciences.
He noted that the BSust is about building the skills to go from “hopeful to operational.”
Students will be able to choose from one of four concentrations: environmental analytics, environmental conservation and management, environmental humanities or green chemistry.
Program graduates will be better equipped to seek employment in numerous sectors, the school explained, such as natural resources management, environmental impact assessment, project management and education.
They may also choose to continue their studies in a graduate-level program.
Dr. Lesley Cormack, deputy vice-chancellor and principal of UBC Okanagan said she is proud that UBCO is leading the way in sustainability education.
“The creation of this program is a bold step towards realizing UBC’s vision of inspiring people, ideas and actions for a better world and fulfilling its commitment to advance sustainability across teaching, learning and research,” she noted.
The program aligns with UBC’s commitment to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
All students would be required to take an Indigenous Studies course that introduces concepts of Indigenous knowledge.
This can contribute in advancing reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.
The new program will accept its first intake of students in September 2022.
For more information about the BSust, click this link.
