Students and Faculty to Provide City Officials a Preview of Coursework September 24th
September 2nd marked the first day of classes in College Park and the start of a new, innovative way of learning for roughly 350 students on campus. This semester, 17 courses—spanning a variety of disciplines campus-wide—have been re-shaped with the goal of addressing specific sustainability-related challenges and concerns facing the City of Frederick, Maryland. Frederick is the second-largest city in the state and the inaugural site for the University of Maryland’s ambitious, new program, the Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS). A combination of community outreach and action learning, PALS offers a unique opportunity for students to apply classroom concepts to a real world challenge, while fulfilling UMD’s land grant mission of sustainability and stewardship for the state. Coursework will tackle a variety of issues this semester, from examining the ecology of the city’s acclaimed Carroll Creek to developing a revitalization plan for parts of Frederick’s downtown. All in, over 50,000 student and faculty hours will be dedicated to the city over the next year, equating to over three million dollars in consultation work.
The program will celebrate its official launch on September 24, 2014 in Frederick, where students and faculty will provide city and state officials with a sneak peek of projects under way this semester. Three days later, two busloads of students will descend on the city to explore their project sites, meet with city officials and talk with residents. A new PALS blog, which will highlight program progress and student work, will debut September 16, 2014 on the PALS website.
Learn more about this semester’s coursework by visiting the PALS website here. Read more about PALS inaugural partnership with Frederick here.