Web exclusive posted March 7, 2008 at 12:42 p.m. CST

A western Minnesota liberal arts college is launching an environmental studies major, tapping into the resources offered by the campus’ new biomass heating plant under construction, its large research-grade wind turbine, and other campus renewable energy and sustainability initiatives.

Troy Goodnough, University of Minnesota Morris sustainability coordinator, said the new major will give students hands-on experience and course work in the sciences and humanities. “It’s been fun to see how having [the wind turbine and biomass plant] on campus has inspired students and faculty to ask different questions, and initiate different research.”

Core courses for the undergraduate major will include environmental problems and policy, environmental biology, and an English class titled, “The Environmental Imagination.” Students will be able to choose electives such as “Global Change Ecology,” “Environmental and Natural Resource Economics,” “GIS and Remote Sensing” and “Environmental Political Theory.” The major will require an internship or research experience. Internship candidates will have opportunities to work with the campus’ partners in the biomass project—the West Central Research and Outreach Center and the USDA Agricultural Research Service’s North Central Soil Conservation Research Lab.

Besides providing heat for the university campus, the biomass heating plant will provide a platform for research on several topics including the sustainability of corn stover as a cellulosic ethanol feedstock and emission studies of various feedstocks.

As the sustainability coordinator at UMM, Goodnough said one goal is to give students an understanding of the triple bottom line of sustainability, where projects are evaluated on their social, environmental and economic impacts. Goodnough added that the campus has joined the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, and is working toward developing a carbon-neutral campus.

© 2010 BBI International