Two years ago, a course in sustainability was not even an option for the University Studies program. Now, not only is it a Freshman Inquiry course, it is part of the first year experience and a relatively new program called Living Learning Communities.
Jeffrey A. Fletcher entered his third year teaching sustainability to freshmen this week. Fletcher is an assistant professor of systems science and University Studies courses.
Last year was the first year his Sustainability course was offered in the LLC format, and he could not be happier with the results.
Though the LLC is a yearlong class designed to teach freshmen Portland State’s goals, it is different than a regular Freshman Inquiry course because students are living together in a residence hall.
“They try to put [students from the same class] all on the same floor so they will see each other regularly,” Fletcher said. “They are not necessarily roommates.”
According to University Studies’ Interdisciplinary Program Assistant Professor Christopher Carey, the course is a partnership between student affairs, academics and Residence Life.
There have been some misunderstandings about the nature of the course, Fletcher said. Although the students are being taught sustainability in class, the time students spend in the residence hall is not part of the course.
“The program is not imposing any particular living restrictions, like cold showers or lower energy usage, but we definitely touch on these issues [in class]. We hope to give them more information that they can make their own decisions [with],” he said.
According to Fletcher, the LLC program basically has three tiers of focus, the first of which is a Freshman Inquiry class.
“I am trying to teach them how to write better, be better communicators and critical thinkers, and…to take into consideration ethical matters and be aware of diversity,” he said. “Those are all University Studies goals.”
The second focus is the issue of sustainability, which the course itself handles.
“And then the third [focus] is that they have to be in this living learning community program, and so we have more opportunities to learn together, do things together and socialize together,” Fletcher said.
Many students have taken what they’ve learned from class and applied it to life in the residence hall, according to Fletcher. The course requires students to write reflections about what they have done in class.
“[I] read comments about students who were changing their diet because they hadn’t realized how impactful their eating habits were [prior to the course], or [are] using more public transportation and recycling more,” Fletcher said.
Sara Guinn, 19, is entering her sophomore year at PSU. She participated in Fletcher’s LLC last year, and views her experience as a purely positive one.
“It helped open my mind up to the problems we face, whether we like it or not,” she said. Guinn admitted that the course really made her reconsider her showering and travel habits. For example, she is more conscious of how air travel increases one’s carbon footprint.
Overall, she felt that living in a more sustainable way was much easier than she expected, especially with the current sustainability-driven atmosphere at PSU.
For Guinn, the biggest issue of sustainability seems to be awareness.
“I think that the chief reason people don’t try to do more to help their community, the environment or even the world is simply because most are not well-informed, or not informed at all,” Guinn said.
Carey, who has been working in the First Year Experience program for about four years, has been able to see the progress of the LLC.
In fact, he worked with faculty like Director of Housing and Residence Life Corey Ray and Assistant Director of Residential Education Christina Shafer to bring the LLC alive.
“It was a collective effort,” Carey said. “If those guys hadn’t made the initial step and walked over from [Residence Life], we wouldn’t have this program.”
Carey teaches a different LLC course called “On Democracy,” which focuses on students from different majors who want to be leaders in their respective fields.
“We know from lots of research that connections with professors outside of campus [and] connections with the community brings students grounding,” Carey said. “Then they are more likely to be involved, more likely to stay, more likely to succeed.”
Carey sees retention as the major issue addressed by the LLC program. Students who have a more meaningful support system within campus life seem to fare better and return again the next year.