Pennsylvania State University
AC-5: Immersive Experience

Penn State offers a number of courses and programs with sustainability-focused immersive experiences, both domestic and abroad. Topics may change from year to year. A number of Education Abroad programs have a strong sustainability focus, including, for example, the Parks and People Program in South Africa and in Tanzania.
Sustainability is a core component of the international research and educational programs in the College of Agricultural Sciences, which offers an interdisciplinary undergraduate minor in international agriculture, as well as graduate programs in international agriculture and Development.
Listed below are some examples. Additional information on study abroad programs can be found here: https://gpglobalea.gp.psu.edu

"City Semester Pittsburgh": While living in the heart of Pittsburgh, students participate in a rewarding internship with a prominent community partner, take relevant online courses, and join fellow students in an urban sustainability course taught at the Penn State Center Pittsburgh space in the Energy Innovation Center, exploring issues in climate action, architectural design, clean energy, landscape architecture, urban equality, education, and more. The Sustainability Institute continues to support the work of Penn State Outreach, including Conferences & Institutes and the Penn State Pittsburgh Center, to make the City Semester Pittsburgh engaged scholarship program self-sustaining. In 2021-22, the cohort course for the program received a permanent course catalog designation and the program overall continued to find strong interest and participation for its summer cohort, attracting more than 30 applicants for what ultimately became a summer 2022 cohort of 11 students from 7 different majors.

Students who participate in the course "Issues in Economic, Community and Agricultural Development in Kenya" (AGECO/ CED 499) develop viable economic and social development options in vulnerable youth, culminating with 3 weeks in Kenya.

EGEE 497 - Sustainable Energy in New Zealand: This course examines methods of energy recovery and conversion from conventional fossil fuels through renewables. Students will investigate the political, economic, scientific and technological factors driving the recovery and utilization of energy using New Zealand as an archetypical example.

The Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship (HESE) program is an integrated learning, research, and entrepreneurship program that brings together students and faculty across campus in the rigorous research, design, field-testing, and launch of technology-based enterprises in low- and middle-income countries. Through a series of five courses, HESE teams systematically advance ventures over multiple years with aspirations for large-scale commercialization and dissemination. The overarching goal is to deliver sustainable impact while preparing students for careers in social innovation and global sustainable development.

The Adventure Literature series of courses - offered as ENGL 181 - explores the relationship between culture and nature through reading and place-based experiences. In one course, Sailing the Chesapeake: Cultural and Natural Landscapes, students read classic texts about the Bay while participating in a series of weekend trips meant to deepen their knowledge of the Bay and its watershed. In another, The Beach: Cultural Artifact/ Environmental Reality, students read and study the nature and culture of the shore, with specific attention to the South Carolina Low Country.

All Sustainable Community Collaborative courses are immersive and focused on sustainability. Students identify the applicable SDG as part of their project. See http://sustainability.psu.edu/live/staff/sustainable-communities-collaborative for information about this program. Courses offered in the 2021/22 academic year:

ASM/ERM 309 - water quality study in partnership with the Chesapeake Bay Foundations,

BBH416- Health assessments in Williamsburg

Be 460.466 - stormwater mitigation in Reading, Williamsburg, and State College

BE 487 - Reading infrastructure flooding

CED 309 - commuter transportation; community development project for marginalized populations in Harrisburg

COMM 471- Economic development initiative communication strategies

COMM 475 - sustainability newsletter for State College, Bellefonte, Reading, Centre COG

EGEE 437 - solar design options in Centre Region

EGEE494 - solar potential in Centre County

EME 466 - Rooftop solar policy for HOAs, Centre County

ENGR 490 - solar design for a retirement community, State College

ERM 447 - stream restoration project (Walnut Springs, State College)

EXPR 997 - solar ordinances, Mifflin County; Blair County; Erie County

EXPR 936 - negotiating plastics - plastic ban options

GD 203 - sustainability logos Bellefonte, State College

LER 460 - integration of sustainability in hiring practices, State College

MKTG 442 - sustainable marketing for paper production waste product