Fall 2011: Special Topics in International Sustainability

July 30-August 5 (as an extension of the Fall semester)

Instructor: Dr. Andy Gillespie

Assistant Provost for International Programs

Office of International Programs

Auburn University

334-844-5009

334-44-4055 Emergency

arg0014@auburn.edu

Course Logistics

ProWorld Services Corps

600 California St., Floor 10

San Francisco, CA 94108

415-434-5613

Readings: Provided by Dr. Gillespie

Research articles, Thesis excerpts, Historical documents

Learning Outcomes:

1) Students will be able to negotiate international travel.

2) Students will understand monetary exchange, and be able to calculate costs of common

items in foreign and US currency.

3) Students will understand and be able to practice common interpersonal interaction within

a different culture.

4) Students will be able to describe the critical physical and social components of

sustainability of an historical society and how these components failed to maintain the

historical culture with internal and external influences.

5) Students will be able to describe the social, physical, and economic components of a

modern non-US culture and how its development impacts components of social, physical,

and economic sustainability.

6) Students will understand how economic development can positively and negatively

impact a society and its culture.

7) Students will be able to describe the shift or evolution of civilizations found in a

particular geographic region and relate that to a western civilization timeline.

8) Students will be able to describe the history and governmental structure of a foreign

country and compare it to the US.

Course Travel and Lecture Itinerary:

Day 1: Travel to Belize. Move to course site.

Explore and observe local communities and peoples.

Day 2: Local orientation – Belize history, geography, and people

Field excursion to Mayan ruins

Local archaeological guide

Lectures - Historical Sustainability

Previous civilizations of the Yucatecan peninsular shelf

Technologies and Societies – pre- and post-Columbian

Maya Sustainability

Water resources

Cenotes, Chultuns, Caves, Aguadas, Canals as reservoirs

Food resources

Maize from 8000 B.C.

Production systems of the Maya - subsistence

The Milpa

Huertos familiares

Secondary forest

Fishing and animal rearing

Multi-cropping

Production techniques unique to Belize – enhanced production and export

Gender roles in Maya production

Writings of the Conquistadors (reflections)

Mayan society and governing structures

Day 3: Visit businesses and NGOs dealing with national sustainability issues.

Lectures - Current-Day Belize and Land Use and Sustainability

Modern-day Belize and its economy and government – comparative civics

Rural communities and development

The economic development and cultural development paradox

The market economy – today and yesterday

Day 4: Visit with the Tourism businesses.

Lectures - Current-Day Belize and Land Use and Sustainability

Tourism and its impacts – environmental and social issues

Immigration and urban migration

Urban growth and community development

Natural resource use

Day 5: Field excursion to local markets.

Lectures - Historical Sustainability

Soils

Classification and productivity

From Lu’ums to Kancab – fine definition of Entisols and Histosols

Bishop Diego de Landa – the “living rock” in Relación de las cosas de Yucatán

Folklore and indigenous knowledge

The evolution of civilization

The concept of Carrying Capacity

Trade in commodities and salt – outward influences on sustainability

Internal and external war

Introduction of non-native species

Day 6: Field excursion to Caye Caulker

Lectures - Current-Day Belize and Land Use and Sustainability

Island ecosystems

Impacts of tourism

Climatic change and weather events

Day 7: Transport to airport and return flight.

Assignments: Each student will be given a journal in which all assignments will be written.

1) Students on this program will potentially be from origins all over the US. Most may fly

from Atlanta, but each will have unique needs for travel. As a first assignment, students

are to schedule their travel to Belize and back, in cooperation with Auburn’s Office of

Study Abroad. A listserve will be established for participating students to allow

networking and sharing of information before the program takes place. Use this network

and your own research to find the best travel solution for your needs. Before any tickets

or fares are purchased, the travel itinerary must be approved by the Office of Study

Abroad.

2) Once in-country, calculate the price of gasoline. Compare to US prices. Repeat this

exercise with other common commodities, e.g., fast food snacks and soda, during the

week.

3) Once the program starts, students will be responsible for journaling and entering their

other assignments into the journal on a daily basis. Time will be allocated each afternoon

and evening for students to note observations, make comparisons, and to write narratives

that pertain to the days’ lectures and excursions. The journals will provide a means to

collate, analyze, and reflect on the information gained during the day.

For learning outcomes #4, 5, and 6, journaling is required and will

a) Make comparisons to the US.

b) Describe where the US is heading relative to Belize on specific issues.

c) Define the social and market trends in the US that address the issues

described.

d) Describe what other issues or sustainability components must be considered

that were not covered in the day’s lectures or excursions.

4) For learning outcomes #7 and 8, work with guest speakers to solicit information as

background. If the speakers do not speak to a particular Belizean point or event of

interest, ask questions. If certain dates are important to you (e.g., the year you were

born), solicit input on the state of Belize and its people in those timeframes. In your

journals, record this information and provide comparisons (in narrative or graphic form)

to important dates in the history of western civilization.

5) Navigate the markets that we visit. Interact with people and with merchants. Try

bargaining on prices. In your journal entries, compare purchasing in markets with similar

experiences in the US. Belize is a rich mix of several cultures with their own language,

plus many tourists. Record the languages you hear, and if you don’t know the language,

record it as unknown, or politely ask the language being spoken and learn a bit about the

speakers.

Grades:

Grades will be based on participation in classes and excursions, including interaction with

speakers. Discussion sessions will be held to help us process the information we gather. (10%).

Journaling will be the major component of grades, and journals will be collected at the end of the

week, evaluated, and returned to students once back on campus. Quality and critical thought

with regard to comparisons and calculations are the desired outcomes. (90%).

As a grading rubric, quality is most important, and grades will be assigned by the content and

sophistication of journal entries looking at comparisons between international and US conditions.

Multiple examples across sectors will be useful in scoring, but only if the examples demonstrate

thoughtful analysis. Calculations of exchange rates and costs must be correct, but comparisons

on cost and means of living between two nations with different economies is the desired product

of this course. For sustainability learning outcomes, students should demonstrate through written

narrative their knowledge of what they have learned, but also show an understanding that there

are many ways of examining sustainability.

From: Andrew Gillespie

To: Kevin Snyder

Date: 05/22/2011 7:45 PM

Subject: Re: checking in

Attachments: Historical and modern sustainability issues - Belize.docx; INTL course_prop

osal_form.pdf

Kevin,

I've attached the modified syllabus and course request form. Not much was changed although I indicated this

would be Fall term and I removed mention of this being co-taught with the University of Alabama as that seemed to

confuse issues as discussed below in response to your questions.

Please let me know if there are additional questions. Many thanks.

Andy Gillespie

Responses to your questions:

1) This course is being established to service our best incoming students, students that will be offered entry into

Honors. These are presidential scholars. It is a targeted student group of the very best prospects, identified by

Admissions and recruited by Admissions in a new program (the VIT program). As such, I used the course number

shown. I have been in conversation with both Admissions and with Honors, and I believe that Jin Hansen of

Honors has provided a letter of support for this offering.

2) Essentially, the AU part of the course will be stand-alone. I will be the instructor of record for instruction and

for assessment. I was just down in Belize working with different indigenous, business, and sustainability NGO

groups to arrange for class instructional sites. If UA joins us (and it's not clear they will), they will do the same for

their students. We will simply share the logistics and, of course, student interaction and learning. Ideally, their

instructor would complement my own expertise, but I'm not planning on this. I'm sorry if this was confusing.

3) As for registration, this is a front-end of the Fall semester and students would be registered for this course in the

Fall as part of their regular course load, and this would be facilitated by Admissions and Honors. I have changed

the course form to indicate the Fall term, and the syllabus provides the specific dates to clarify when the course runs

relative to the semester.

>>> Kevin Snyder 05/18/11 3:07 PM >>>

Dr. Gillespie:

Your proposed course (INTL 1977) was reviewed by the UCC at its April 21st meeting, and it was tabled, pending

the resolution of three issues (as follows):

1) The course number ends in a seven, which is used to denote Honors courses

(http://www.auburn.edu/academic/provost/undergrad_studies/univcc/coursenumbering.html). While the committee

had no direct objection to the course being offered to incoming Honors students, it was unclear whether or not that

was the intent, given there is no reference to the Honors program in the proposal (including title, course name, and

all associated course content); and

2) The oversight of the entire course experience will need to be clarified. Some questions that have come up

included: Who will be teaching the course (one instructor each from AU and UAT, or only one, period)? How will

the assessment be handled? Is it clear to interested students that they will need to be admitted for Summer session as

part of their enrollment process? While these were specific questions, and the request for clarification was

admittedly very general, the UCC would simply like to see a more detailed accounting for the logistics of the

academic (read: instruction and assessment) aspects of this course.

If you can address these two areas of concern, providing me with whatever revisions you may have, the course can

be scheduled for review by the UCC (via electronic ballot) as part of their June 2nd agenda.

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns regarding the above, or if I can be of further assistance.

Kevin T. Snyder

Coordinator II, Curriculum Management

Office of Undergraduate Studies

Auburn University

209F Samford Hall

Phone: 334-844-4974

Cater Hall, Room 200, Auburn, AL 36849-5360; Telephone: 334-844-5862; Fax: 334-844-5885

w w w . a u b u r n . e d u / h o n o r s / c o l l e g e

Date: May 19, 2011

To: Patricia Duffy, Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Studies Members, University Curriculum Committee From: Jim Hansen Director, Honors College Subject: Proposal for INTL 1977 I am writing in support of Dr. Andy Gillespie’s proposal for a new course INTL 1977. As I understand it, this is a course that will take a small group of incoming freshman Honors students on an international trip just prior to their fall semester matriculation at Auburn University. In the view of the Honors College, it is a great idea to get students thinking internationally as soon as possible during their undergraduate education. The Honors College is very much in favor of globalizing the student experience at Auburn University and believes that this new course will be an important addition to a growing number of foreign travel and study abroad courses administered on this campus. The Honors College is prepared to help in the administration of this new course, including the recruitment, enrollment, and registration of the students for the course. If non-Honors students wish to take the class and qualify for enrollment in it, the Honors College is prepared, on a case-by-case basis, to waive the requirements on Honors College membership so that the non-Honors student may also participate in the course. If there are questions about the Honors College support for and involvement with this course, please contact me.

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