Sustainability in the

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• Sustainabilityin the
• Faculty of Communication and Culture
• a pilot research and website development project
  by undergraduate students in Communications
  Studies 451 and 463 -- Fall 2008
• Instructor Dr. Tania SmithTA Chaseten
  RemillardPeer Mentor Ashley SpinellaWith the
  assistance of Jo Wright, U of C Office of
  Sustainability

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The Courses and Concept

• COMS 451 Research in Communication (44
  students)?
• COMS 463 Advanced Professional Technical
  Communication (30 students)?
• Both taught by T. Smith in Fall 2008
• Designer Teacher of Community Service Learning
  (CSL) courses
• CSL involves educational service partnerships
  between teachers, students, and an organization
  outside of the classroom.

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The Courses and Concept

• Partnership with the Office of Sustainability
• U of C had recently signed the Talloires
  Declaration a ten-point action plan for
  incorporating sustainability and environmental
  literacy in teaching, research, operations and
  outreach at colleges and universities
• Research data from 451 would be used by 463 to
  create content for a website.

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Research Questions

• How do staff and students in the Faculty of
  Communication and Culture support environmental,
  social and economic sustainability through their
  teaching, research and service efforts?
• What are the Facultys unique strengths and
  challenges in regard to contributing to
  sustainability ?
• How can these features of the Faculty help to
  develop an action plan to implement the Talloires
  Declaration ?

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Research Methods in COMS 451

• 44 Students with 3 small research exercises each
• Research involving human subjects, with research
  ethics approval and informed consent of subjects
  
• Interview 2 students, OR
• Interview 1 instructor in the Faculty of CC, OR
• Surveys of 3-6 COMS 463 students, OR
• Auto-ethnography of one's learning in a course,
  OR
• Ethnographic observation of a public event on
  campus
• A small literature review, history, or visual
  analysis
• A discourse analysis or content analysis of
  campus news articles, OR statistical analysis of
  data

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Research participants

• 12 faculty members interviewed
• 24 students interviewed
• 25 students in COMS 463 surveyed
• 8 short auto-ethnographies of courses
• 4 ethnographic observations of campus events

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12 Faculty member interviews

• Participation required the faculty member's
  consent to be named publicly and waive
  confidentiality.
• Dr. Max Foran Canadian Studies
• Dr. Tamara Seiler Canadian Studies, Division
  Head of Culture
• Bart Beaty Communications Studies
• Rebecca Carruthers Den Hoed Communications
  Studies (Sessional PhD student)?
• Marcia Epstein General Studies
• Margo Husby General Studies
• Ron Glasberg General Studies
• Maureen Hiebert Law and Society
• Dr. Denise Brown Latin American Studies
• Dr. Gwendolyn Blue Science, Technology and
  Society
• Dr. Richard Hawkins Science, Technology and
  Society
• Fiona Nelson Women's Studies

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12 Faculty member interviews

• Initial definitions of sustainability
• 8 included the concept of environment
• 4 were broader than the environment and included
  other aspects (social, political, cultural,
  knowledge, economic)?
• 5 included the idea of sustaining over time or
  generations

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12 Faculty member interviews

• Responses to 3-spheres model
• 5 responses were suspicious or cynical about the
  role of economic sustainability. i.e. economic
  sustainability will trump everything else. Two
  of these people felt that economic did not belong
  in the model
• 4 felt it was accurate, comprehensive, or a
  good start
• 3 wished to add a culture circle
• 1 added the component of knowledge
• 1 added internal sustainability (personal
  growth, consciousness)

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12 Faculty member interviews

• 6 had heard of the Talloires Declaration
• 4 had known about the Office of Sustainability
• 3 did not feel they researched sustainability
• 9 conducted research in an area of sustainability
  
• 8 researched social sustainability
• 3 researched environmental sustainability
• 3 researched economic sustainability
• 5 researched multiple aspects of sustainability

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12 Faculty member interviews

• Courses that directly integrate elements of
  sustainability education
• M. Foran CNST 201 lecture on cities and urban
  wildlife lecture on Kyoto, conservation, and
  general environmental principles
• G. Blue STAS 341 New media and society 1 week
  on environmental issues
• G. Blue SCIE 403 The impact of science on
  society environment, health and safety
• M. Epstein GNST 500 -- implications of cultural
  decisions for the health of the planet, economic
  sustainability
• M. Epstein COMS 401.xx Acoustic Ecology the
  social patterns that produce noise and social
  reactions
• M. Epstein World Music course sustaining
  indigenous music cultures ...
  continued on next slide

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• Courses (cont'd)
• D. Brown LAST 201, 203, 301, 401 and GEOG 371
• M. Hiebert Began in LWSO program in 2008. Was
  former PoliSci instructor sustainability taught
  in Poli 279, 283, 381
• R. Carruthers Den Hoed COMS 361- issues of
  public debate, advocacy, increased participation
  in politics and public issues. GNST 300 - social
  justice and enlightenment through Western
  historical contexts. GNST 500 - how to position
  oneself currently in regards to contemporary
  debate around government agency and civic duty.
• M. Husby GNST 300 / 500
• T. Seiler Gender, Race and Ethnicity class

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12 Faculty member interviews

• Other courses 16 Faculty members interviewees
  named as also involved in Sustainability (
  multiple times mentioned)
• CNST 441 M. Foran G. Melnyk(2)
• DEST courses (2) C. Tam (6) W. Tettey(2) A.
  Parmar
• COMS 451 this term (2) T. Smith(2)
• LWSO courses C. Atkins
• WMST courses F. Nelson R. Cochrane (2)
• GNST 300/500 R. Glasberg(2), M. Epstein (2) M.
  Husby
• G. Blue C. Langford D. Brown H.
  Devine(2)

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12 Faculty member interviews

• Problems / Critiques of the university's approach
  to sustainability
• (4 respondents) U of C not doing enough to
  practice environmental sustainability (recycling,
  bicycle paths, buildings)?
• (3) Lack of awareness and discussion
• (3) Vagueness of concepts and terms
• (2) Caution about moralizing about sustainability
  and requiring it in courses/research. Academic
  freedom and the need to maintain a critical
  perspective.
• Sustainability is a highly politicized issue,
  especially due to the Oil Sands in Alberta.

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12 Faculty member interviews

• They knew the least about sustainability in...
• faculty events and clubs (7 DN)
• student service (5DN) and
• faculty service. (5 DN)
• DN I don't know
• Faculty members believed CC had a moderate to
  high reputation for sustainability in...
• Student interest (4 high, 1 moderate)?
• Faculty research ( 2 high, 4 moderate)?
• Course content (3 high, 2 moderate)?
• Course Experiential learning (3 high , 2
  moderate)?

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12 Faculty member interviews

• 7 members strongly disagreed (4) or disagreed (3)
  with the statement University policies should
  NOT attempt to influence individual staff members
  and students to teach, learn, research, or
  practice sustainability.
• Only 3 members strongly agreed or agreed that
  Professors in my faculty/department should be
  actively researching aspects of sustainability
• Therefore influence is often seen as positive,
  but placing moral imperatives on research is
  largely discouraged.

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12 Faculty member interviews

• All or most expressed strong agreement (SA) or
  agreement (A) with the following
• Universities should offer clubs, events, and
  service opportunities that focus on
  sustainability (9 SA, 2 A)
• Universities should frequently communicate
  publicly about the ways they are researching,
  practicing and teaching sustainability (8 SA,
  3A)
• University units and staff should practice and
  model sustainability (6 SA, 4A)?

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• 2) STUDENT INTERVIEWS

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24 Student interviews

• 10 COMS (Communications Studies)?
• 3 COMS combined as major or minor
• 2 DEST (Development Studies)?
• 2 GNST (General Studies / Multidisciplinary)?
• 1 FILM, 1 LWSO, 1 WMST
• 2 SOCI and 1 ENGL (Outside CC Faculty)
• 2 Alumni
• 10 men and 14 women
• 10 in 1st to 3rd year of studies, 14 in years 3-5
  
• Age range 19-50. Average 23.75 yrs old

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24 Student interviews

• As shown on next slide,
• University Students identify most strongly
• Faculty Slightly less strongly
• Program Slightly less, again
• Student Org Less than half identify

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24 Student interviews

• How do students want to receive communication?
• Slightly more than half were interested in
  receiving information about faculty/program
• Campus events most popular medium ( average 2.1
  out of 3)
• Public media and E-Newsletter second most popular
  (1.9)
• Blog/Discussion least popular (1.3) , followed by
  Faculty Website (1.4)

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24 Student interviews

• What sources inform students knowledge of
  sustainability?
• News ranked highest (avg 2.4 out of a range of
  0-3)
• Postsecondary courses in 2nd place (1.8)
• Tied for 3rd place (1.6)
• Community org,
• Research,
• Postsecondary organizations / lectures / evens,
• Online
• Lowest rank Religious org (0.5)

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24 Student interviews

• Students have a moderate to high interest in
  sustainability and value for sustainability
• Most students are moderately confident that they
  practice sustainability
• Students believe that they have a minor to
  moderate degree of knowledge about
  sustainability.

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24 Student interviews

• Most students know very little about the
  reputation of the facultys research and service
  in sustainability. (16-17 do not know)
• CCs reputation for sustainability in course
  content is minor (10) or moderate (11)
• Higher ratings were for CCs reputation for
  student interest (11 moderate, 4 high) and
  class discussion (8 moderate, 4 high)

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24 student interviews

• Student Suggestions
• 8 felt sustainability should be integrated into
  courses.
• 7 desired more information and clearer
  definition of sustainability
• 5 suggested campus events or forums, or
  involving the SU
• 3 emphasized freedom of choice regarding
  sustainability involvement

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• OTHER RESEARCH METHODS
• Survey findings
• Ethnography / Observation findings
• Textual / historical / visual research findings