Career Ecology Seminar

Just three aquatic species account for most seafood consumed in the US: shrimp, tuna, and salmon. But worldwide consumption is more diverse, including an array of finfish, invertebrates, aquatic plants, algae, and other animals. These ‘blue foods’ are fished, collected, gathered, or grown in the sea or freshwater and play essential roles in supporting human health, nutrition, livelihoods, and culture. Recent studies have shown that the top 7 categories of nutrient-rich animal-source foods are all aquatic in origin. So why do food policy and science still heavily focus on terrestrially produced foods, overlooking blue foods? This course will unpack this conundrum and examine blue food systems from ‘bait to plate’ by analyzing food production, provisioning, and consumption as interlinked activities. Blue food production includes small-scale and industrial harvesting and wild capture and aquaculture systems. Provisioning activities link production and consumption: the offloading of catch, storage and transportation of highly perishable foods, transformations from raw fish to the final product, and the marketing and distribution affected to reach consumers. Finally, consumption includes how we acquire our food, cook and eat it, and dispose of waste, as well as our nutritional and health outcomes. While conventional food policy and science have focused on food production in isolation, a food systems framework sheds light on dynamics that impact the flows and distribution of foods with equity implications: which foods are made by whom, where does food go, and who benefits? This course will introduce students to key changes in the goals and means of food policy, focusing on how the emergent dialogue on food systems in fisheries is reframing how we know and govern aquatic resources. A significant portion of the course will be dedicated to examining blue food case studies, which may include: seaweed farming in Tanzania, fishing cooperatives in Mexico, tuna longliners in the Mid-Atlantic, and Lobster fishing in Maine. Students will work in teams to analyze one of these case studies in-depth, applying a food systems lens to examine each case’s sustainability and equity challenges. Students will be evaluated through their participation in class discussions and in-class activities, weekly writing reflections, and co-leading a class with your case study team. The final project will be a group policy proposal outlining how stakeholders could better govern from a ‘food systems’ perspective in your blue food case study.

Buildings account for nearly 40% of global carbon emissions. Sixty percent of Maine homes are heated with heating oil, the highest percentage of any state, and Mainers spend more than a billion dollars on heating oil each year. Improving the efficiency of our homes and buildings is essential for transitioning away from fossil fuels and reducing carbon emissions.

In this course, students will learn how to safely transition buildings away from fossil fuels. This includes understanding the science of energy and moisture movement through a building, how to monitor carbon monoxide and other harmful combustion gases, and methods to reduce energy loss, while maintaining comfortable levels of humidity and fresh air. Students will gain proficiency measuring air leakage with a blower door, using an infrared camera to assess insulation levels, calculating heat loss, and identifying solutions and best practices to develop a plan of action for homeowners.

They will also learn about high efficiency mechanical systems like air source heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, and how to assess lighting and appliance electrical usage. Students will learn how to carry out cost calculations for energy savings and research and share information on rebates and incentives available for homeowners. This will be a very hands-on course, with weekly labs to teach energy auditing field skills. This course will include presentations from local energy contractors, and students will participate in energy audits of residential buildings on or off campus. Through these experiences, students will meet and interact with home performance businesses and non-profit organizations in the local community. As time and weather conditions permit, students will gain experience implementing efficiency solutions such as insulation and air sealing.

Students who successfully complete this course will be able to conduct energy audits for homes, identify cost-effective improvements, and prioritize energy improvements to maximize energy savings. This course will provide students with the tools and experience to reduce building energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in a holistic, whole-building approach.

Evaluation will be based on completion of assignments, participation in class discussions, and mastery of field skills.

Anyone who is involved with for profit or non-profit enterprises needs to understand a wide variety of interdisciplinary skills. This introductory course will introduce students to marketing, finance, leadership, strategy and other essential areas of knowledge needed to run or participate in any venture. This course is meant to build basic skills and expose students to a variety of business disciplines.

How have schools changed and how should schools change to ensure "the good life"? This interdisciplinary, team-taught course examines the potential and limits of a human ecological education as an instrument of enlightened progress and lasting positive social, cultural, and environmental change. It explores three essential questions about education and its relationship to human development and social progress. Looking at the role of formal educational institutions and their relationship to government and other social institutions: What is the role of schools in development and social change? Considering the role of teachers as agents of change: What is the role of the teacher in school/organizational change and community development? And finally, reflecting on our subjective motives for working in the field of education: Why do you want to become an educator? Through course activities such as service-learning in schools and group project work on a contemporary educational phenomenon (e.g., school choice, new technologies for learning, single-sex education), students will learn how educational policy at the federal, state, and local levels impacts teaching and learning, investigate the moral dimensions of the teacher-student relationship, and reflect on the construct of teacher-learners. Students will be introduced to a variety of educational research methods (i.e, ethnography, case study, quasi-experimental, correlational) that will allow for critical analysis of the knowledge base that strives to impact educational policy and practice. Evaluation will be based on participation, reflective writing, service learning, and group projects and presentations.

Students hear a series of conflicting messages when it comes to their education and future. Advice, impulses and pressures to “follow your passion”, “study something that will lead to a job”, “create positive change in the world”, can be overwhelming. This is especially true at a school where students design their own major and pathway through the curriculum.

In this course, students will embark upon a journey to design their lives, while simultaneously learning from others who are seeking to balance work, life, family, education, creating change and the myriad of other quotidian tasks.

Two central questions frame this course: How have people seeking to change the world and pursuing their passion sustained themselves personally and professionally? How should human ecologists think about and plan their future?

To enrich the process of designing their own lives, students will also learn about the challenges and rewards people encounter when dedicating their lives to creating change. Resources include articles, guest lectures, case studies, interviews and other sources. Highlighting the essential links that exist between professional and personal, ideas and implementation, students will examine a range of careers and endeavors united by their desire to create change. Through this process, students should reflect on what it means to create change in the world and how to embark on that journey.

Students will be evaluated based on their performance, participation and the quality of the assignments they produce over the course of the term including: class participation and facilitation; reflection papers; and a final project.

The Hatchery is applied Human Ecology in action; it offers students a bridge from coursework to actively creating their vision of the future. The Hatchery gives students from across the campus the opportunity to move from ideas to action. Hatchery students work either individually or in teams on a wide array of enterprises. Past projects have included: urban farming; international development; policy and planning; photography and film; alternative transportation; biofuel production; renewable energy; food systems; the arts; furniture production; technology development; social enterprise. Ventures have been for-profit and non-profit, encompassing the range from local businesses to scalable start-ups. Students selected for the Hatchery are required to devote an entire term to launching their venture. Each Hatchery enterprise, whether a team or an individual, must take the course for a minimum of three credits. Along with weekly instructional meetings, students receive office space, supplies, professional services, mentors and potential access to seed capital to develop their ventures. After the initial ten weeks of class, if students decide to continue their enterprises, they have access to the Hatchery space and resources for an additional nine months.

The Hatchery takes place in three phases: --Application: Students apply for a position in the Hatchery over winter term. --Rapid Prototype: The ten weeks of the Hatchery course. Students create a rapid prototype to test their ventures in the marketplace. These prototypes vary widely depending on the type of ventures. --Creating an Enterprise Structure: During the ten weeks of the course, students will have weekly assignments that introduce key elements in an organizational structure and highlight operational considerations that are universal amongst enterprises. --Development: The following 9-months. Students have access to the Hatchery space and resources to continue developing their enterprises. Grading is credit/no credit only.