Sustainability programs and initiatives at USF and around the world.

PHI 6605 - Environmental Ethics
The first part is a review of ethical theories and biospherical trends, for the sake of acquiring normative and ecological literacy. The second part is a survey of the conceptual and policy literature on sustainability. Part three is about normative universals: human rights, nonhuman rights, and interspecies conflict resolution. The final part is about deep ecology, the land ethic, and environmental feminism.

EVR 6320 - Environmental Management
This course introduces the students to environmental management from technical and non-technical perspectives. The major topics covered will be water and air quality, environmental sustainability, collaboration, and building consensus.

ANG 6469 - Foundations in Medical Anthropology
Current topical issues in Medical Anthropology. Water is a topic of profound scholarly significance and an object of widespread public concern as it becomes a scarce resource. Water as a subject of analysis as it connects abstract notions (symbolism surrounding landscape) to concrete experiences of humans (uneven geographic development) across the globe. Analysis of water flows, systems, and structures can help us understand historical processes of manipulation of built environment, governmental structures and politics, health/medical concerns, and human and social relations. To protect water as a scarce resource and provide for future populations, we need to understand the nexus of these histories, geographies, and cultures. This course will provide the tools by which to do that.

PHC 6934 - Public Health Topics in Global Sustainability
The course will address the global health problems from the perspective of a sustainable environment and system. We live on a planet that provides an intricate ecosystem which is the source of life-sustaining services like: water, air, energy, land, and biodiversity. Students will learn how this ecosystem is materialized in goods like drinking water, food, housing, transportation, sanitation which are key elements for the maintenance of our health. Health is a key element towards our common goal of keeping a sustainable planet. As mentioned by former Director-General of the WHO, Brundtland, “We cannot achieve the goals of sustainable development in the face of widespread ill health, particularly among poor people. Improving healthy life is not only a desirable outcome of sustainable development; it is also a powerful and undervalued means of achieving it. Poor people who are sick cannot earn and cannot learn.”

GEO 6286 - Advances in Water Resources
Water resources policies are viewed from theoretical and practical perspectives focusing on management strategies in different physical and human environments.

EVR 6216 - Advances in Water Quality Policy and Management
Conceptual structure and practical implementation of U.S. watershed-based water quality regulations and policies. Practical application of scientific information and quantitative methods in management/policy decisions for water quality protection.

IDS 6951 - Independent Study
This is a project proposal that is required for all Master of Arts in Global Sustainability students. It will focus on innovative solutions to sustainability issues. The project proposal will be supervised by the USF Supervisor (Faculty).

IDS 6946 - Internship
This domestic or international internship is a capstone course in the Patel School of Global Sustainability MA program. It is based on an interdisciplinary field study, designed to provide a student with an opportunity to develop a comprehensive in-depth study on sustainability with respect to a specific field. It will also allow students to build strong interactions with external stakeholders who influence practice and policy. During this internship, students will apply acquired theoretical skills to investigate real-world problems and develop innovative solutions in sustainability.

PHI 6605 - Environmental Ethics
A study of alternative theories of environmental ethics, including the application of these theories to contemporary environmental problems, such as pollution, resource depletion, species extinction, and land use.

EVR 6320 - Environmental Management
This course introduces the students to environmental management from technical and non-technical perspectives. The major topics covered will be water and air quality, environmental sustainability, collaboration and building consensus.

ANG 6469 - Foundations of Medical Anthropology
Current topical issues in Medical Anthropology. Water is a topic of profound scholarly significance and an object of widespread public concern as it becomes a scarce resource. Water as a subject of analysis as it connects abstract notions (symbolism surrounding landscape) to concrete experiences of humans (uneven geographic development) across the globe. Analysis of water flows, systems, and structures can help us understand historical processes of manipulation of built environment, governmental structures and politics, health/medical concerns, and human and social relations. To protect water as a scarce resource and provide for future populations, we need to understand the nexus of these histories, geographies, and cultures. This course will provide the tools by which to do that.

GMS 6095 - Principles of Intellectual Property
This course focuses on the various approaches to protection of intellectual property rights including domestic and international patent filings, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets. The course examines the relevance of intellectual property protection to the development of a global strategy for business growth.

ENT 6016 - New Venture Formation
An overview of the new venture creation process, this course is intended to provide new students with a basic understanding of the entrepreneurial process of Venture Creation and Innovation. Lectures and selected case studies are combined with experienced guest speakers to give students a rich understanding of the challenges facing entrepreneurs.

ENT 6186 - Strategic Market Assessment for New Technologies
This course focuses on development of techniques for assessing technology merit of new innovations (including development of an appreciation and understanding of intellectual property) and development of strategic frameworks to commercialize new products. It uses classroom discussions, field projects, and technology assessment tools to evaluate investigators’ intellectual property portfolios of client entrepreneurs and technology organizations to help create high value licensing opportunities and new venture creations.

ENT 6116 - Business Plan Development
The first part of the course focuses on developing the effective written and oral communication skills students will need in preparing and presenting their business plans to investors. The second part of the course is focused on how to develop an effective business plan. Student teams will develop a business plan for either an opportunity developed by students or one by an entrepreneur in the local community. Business plans developed by student teams will be presented before a panel of local entrepreneurs for evaluation and critique in a business plan competition format.

ENT 6936 - Special Topics in Entrepreneurship (Internship)
Comprised of Applied Topics in Entrepreneurship and an Independent Study Course (Internship) to be completed in a domestic or international capacity. This capstone course is a major piece of work in the Patel School of Global Sustainability MA program, designed to provide a student with an opportunity to carry out a comprehensive in-depth study on sustainability with respect to a specific field. During this internship, students investigate practical problems and develop solutions to sustainability issues through a culmination of their skills and education learned.

PHI 6605 - Environmental Ethics
The first part is a review of ethical theories and biospherical trends, for the sake of acquiring normative and ecological literacy. The second part is a survey of the conceptual and policy literature on sustainability. Part three is about normative universals: human rights, nonhuman rights, and interspecies conflict resolution. The final part is about deep ecology, the land ethic, and environmental feminism.

EVR 6320 - Environmental Management
This course introduces the students to environmental management from technical and non-technical perspectives. The major topics covered will be water and air quality, environmental sustainability, collaboration, and building consensus.

PHC 6934 - Public Health Topics in Global Sustainability
The course will address the global health problems from the perspective of a sustainable environment and system. We live on a planet that provides an intricate ecosystem which is the source of life-sustaining services like: water, air, energy, land, and biodiversity. Students will learn how this ecosystem is materialized in goods like drinking water, food, housing, transportation, sanitation which are key elements for the maintenance of our health. Health is a key element towards our common goal of keeping a sustainable planet. As mentioned by former Director-General of the WHO, Brundtland, “We cannot achieve the goals of sustainable development in the face of widespread ill health, particularly among poor people. Improving healthy life is not only a desirable outcome of sustainable development; it is also a powerful and undervalued means of achieving it. Poor people who are sick cannot earn and cannot learn.”

IDS 6100 - Sustainable Tourism Development: Principles & Practices
This course focuses on environmentally and socially responsible tourism strategies and innovations, including initiatives such as the Global Sustainable Tourism Council. It examines how destinations have improved competitiveness by creating environmentally and socially friendly tourism products and services. The course emphasizes establishing policies and management plans to identify and reduce the environmental impact created by tourism facilities and services, and looks at how to create environmental management systems (EMS) with broad public/private support.

IDS 6200 - Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Management for Coastal & Marine Habitat Protection
This course focuses the ecotourism and sustainable tourism management for coastal habitat and marine protection.  The course includes strategies and innovations, including best practices developed in the global “Blue Criteria” and the Sustainable Travel “Shore Excursion” criteria.  It examines the major threats of coastal habitat and marine environments, such as ocean acidification, climate change, overfishing, and pollution.  The course emphasizes establishing policies and management plans to identify and reduce the environmental impact created by tourism facilities and services, examines twelve cost effective strategies for coastal and marine habitat protection and provides an introduction to culture based leadership development for change.

ANG 6436 – Issues in Heritage Tourism
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the theoretical and practical issues in heritage tourism and the business of heritage resource management from an anthropological perspective.

ARC 5931 - Sustainable Neighborhood Development
Urban designers, architects, landscape architects, planners, real estate developers, environmental engineers, public officials and community advocates are all involved the integrated decision-making processes often referred to as urban and community design, or more specifically that of city building. Increasingly they are being asked to create healthy, sustainable, adaptive and resilient urban neighborhoods. This course will focus on understanding and evaluating sustainable neighborhood development strategies, using multiple concepts, practices and approaches. In doing so, the course will utilize a number of criteria used at the national level to establish benchmarks and rating metrics for sustainable neighborhood design and development (including LEED for Neighborhood Development).  Students will assess and critique neighborhood development projects and design proposals that reflect a number of qualities related to sustainable urbanism in general or seek to promote specific aspects of sustainable and resilient communities. The scope of this course will include a survey of sustainable conditions related to the built urban landscape, within the broader context of the city as an integrated dynamic urban social-ecological system

CGN 6933 - Green Engineering for Sustainability
This course will provide a foundation for green engineering design. Concerns regarding population growth, global warming, resource scarcity, globalization, and environmental degradation have led to an increasing awareness that current engineering design and policy strategies can be engaged more effectively to advance the goal of sustainability. Approaching sustainability from a design perspective requires the need for a fundamental conceptual shift from the current paradigms of product toward a more sustainable system based on efficient and effective use of benign materials and energy.

CGN 6933 - Green Infrastructure for Sustainable Communities
The focus of the course will be on green infrastructure for urban settings, i.e., water, wastewater, transportation, roads, bridges, buildings, energy, wastes, housing, etc. Of particular emphasis will be the complex interdependencies of infrastructures in an urban/regional setting. Green building and green construction will be a part of the class. We will address the various USGBC LEED programs, from buildings to communities. The course aims to bring together engineers, architects, planners, business managers, natural and social scientists, health professionals, etc in the same class and form multidisciplinary project teams to plan a green building.

CGN 6933 - Sustainable Development Engineering
Study of applying appropriate and sustainable engineering solutions and technology to control environmental pollutants found in a developing world setting and smaller communities in North America. Concepts of sustainable development are covered. Topics are drawn from several areas of engineering, including water supply, water treatment, water storage, wastewater treatment,materials, solid waste management, construction, and watersheds.

CGN 6933 - The Chemical Element and Sustainability
An introduction to the form, structure, and chemical activities of the important processes essential to treatment of domestic and industrial wastewater.

CPO 6036 - Politics of Developing Areas
This graduate seminar is designed to approach the student with some of the topics relevant to analysts, policy-makers, and practitioners of “development” today. We will read some of the foundational writings in this field in order to create a better understanding of poverty, inequality, and underdevelopment. This seminar will then elaborate, though critical reading and dialogue, answers to the question what causes underdevelopment, as well as what can be done to overcome it. We will furthermore ask what “development” means, has meant, and could mean and what “sustainable development” might look like. We will also evaluate some concrete examples of different development projects and analyze their impact and long-lasting outcomes for the involved individuals, as well as the broader societies within which they occurred. To achieve this goal, students are required to actively engage in the seminar and contribute with critical and thoughtful commentary and writing.

CWR 6239 - Waves and Beach Protection
A study of the fundamentals of shoreline dynamics including distribution of wave energy, motion of beach sand, stable configurations and protective measures.

CWR 6305 - Urban Hydrology
A study of the quantity and quality problems and solution techniques associated with urban runoff.

ECH 5785 - Sustaining the Earth: An Engineering Approach
This course will introduce an approach of global perspective on ecological principles revealing how all the world’s life is connected and sustained within the biosphere and how engineering provides the tools to design solutions engaging materials science and environmental ethics.

EEL 6935 - Sustainable Energy
This course aims to introduce students to concepts of sustainable energy production. Solar, wind, hydroelectricity, hydrogen, biomass and geothermal energy production methods as well as main storage technologies will be discussed. These major production methods will be quantitatively compared throughout the course with the main energy consumption pathways of human societies in different parts of the globe. Energy consumption of transportation, heating/cooling, food production and manufacturing of goods will be discussed. Energy savings potentials of the various consumption pathways will also be examined. After successful participation in this course students will be able to assess technological aspects of public energy policy, as well as have the foundation for advanced study of sustainable energy topics.

ENT 6415 - Venture Capital and Private Equity in Entrepreneurship
The course focuses on critical skills necessary to develop appropriate financing strategies for new venture creation and growth. Students will use case studies and team projects in course studies. Three primary topics are covered: first, an overview of the entrepreneurial finance process and involved players; second, performing business valuations; and third, securities law with emphasis on developing term sheets and private placement memorandums. Student teams will complete a valuation and mock securities offering for an existing small to mid-size business. Financial valuations and terms sheets developed by student teams will be presented to a panel of venture capital professionals for evaluation and critique.

ENT 6606 - Product Development
This course focuses on new product development process from invention to commercialization of technology products. Topics include intellectual property, product design, manufacturing process patent process, licensing, market assessment, and commercialization. Students will use case studies and team projects in the course of study.

ENV 4417 - Water Quality and Treatment
ENV4417 provides students with experience in conducting engineering calculations to evaluate water quality and to design water and wastewater treatment facilities. Topics include water quality, principles of physical, chemical, and biological treatment systems, design calculations, and interpretation of regulatory constraints. Students learn to evaluate performance and reliability of treatment units used in the production of drinking water and treatment of wastewater. Constraints associated with municipal, private, and point-of-use treatment systems are evaluated.

ENV 6666 - Aquatic Chemistry
An introduction to the form, structure, and chemical activities of the important processes essential to treatment of domestic and industrial wastewater. This course focuses on the chemistry of natural waters, especially fresh water systems such as lakes, ponds, rivers, and groundwater. Students will be introduced to the concepts of equilibrium as they relate to water chemistry. Emphasis will be placed on solving problems that involve: acid-base equilibrium, heterogeneous equilibria, coordination chemistry, redox reactions and adsorption. (Recommended students have at least chemistry II background)

ENV 6667 - Environmental Biotechnology
Environmental Biotechnology is an important tool in providing sustainable water resources and protecting the health of humans and ecosystems. The focus of the class will be on both principles and applications of environmental biotechnology pertaining primarily to biological wastewater treatment. It is anticipated that topics of bioremediation will also be covered to some extent. Under principles, we will review the basics of microbiology and cover topics such as electron and oxygen equivalents, stoichiometry, energetics and kinetics of microbial growth, substrate degradation kinetics, suspended- and attached-growth systems, bioreactor concepts for completely-mixed and plug flow systems. Under applications, we will cover treatment processes relevant to environmental engineering, such as lagoons and ponds, activated sludge, biological nutrient removal, membrane bioreactors, trickling filters and rotating biological contractors, fluidized bed reactors, and anaerobic digestion. This class will be most useful to engineers and scientists interested and responsible for municipal and industrial wastewater treatment, as well as the biological treatment of industrial and hazardous wastes.

EVR 6937 - Seminar Environmental Policy: Sustainability and Development
The course will take a holistic approach to exploring the concepts of sustainability and development. We will critically evaluate sustainability initiatives and challenges; and the role of economic, political and cultural systems in development, environmental and social change and the notion of development as progress.’ The seminar will, largely be an article-based course where each student will have the opportunity to focus on an issue or topic related to their research interests in the context of sustainability and development. Students may explore criteria associated with AGENDA 21 including but not limited to strategies for sustainable development; cooperation and alliances for a sustainable future; education, culture and sustainable development; business, corporate social responsibility and green technology; environmental management and sustainability; global, national and local governance and institutions for sustainability.

GLY 4734 - Beaches, Coastal Environment
A comprehensive introduction to the nature of all coastal environments including beaches, dunes, tidal inlets, estuaries, reefs, and river deltas. Emphasis will be on the natural state of these environments and how human activities have and will impact them. Consideration of coastal management policies involving economics, ethics, policy, and environmental law.

MAN 6746 - Designing Sustainable Enterprise
This is an advanced course designed to provide an analytical framework for thinking about new developments in organizing for a sustainable world. It will familiarize participants with several key themes and concepts that are relevant to transforming organizations from traditional production systems to systems that can contribute significantly to building more sustainable economies, societies and natural environments.

MAR 6936 - Sustainable Marketing
A course designed to complement the sustainability track. It is designed to help the student understand the challenges and opportunities with respect to marketing an organization that strives to be sustainable.

PAD 6336 - Community Development Programs and Strategies
Discusses community development principles and practices in historical and contemporary perspectives, federal, state and local initiatives, physical, social, and economic approaches to community development.

TTE 6270 - Intelligent Transportation
ITS architecture design and evaluation, simulation and modeling, advanced traffics management systems, traveler information systems, vehicle control systems, commercial vehicle operations, public transportation systems, and telecommunications.