Academic Team:
Sarah Stoeckl (sstoeckl@uoregon.edu)
First-Year Experience Seminar Instructor
Bella Ebner (ebner@uoregon.edu)
FIG Assistant
9 credits
UGST 109 First Year Experience Seminar – 1 Credit
CRN: 16283: R: 4:00 – 4:50 PM, ED 117
PPPM 205 Introduction to City Planning – 4 credits
CRN: 14535: MW: 12:00 – 1:20 PM, LIL 282, +DIS CRN: 14539: F: 11:00 – 11:50 AM, GER 246
ENVS 202 Introduction to Environmental Studies: Natural Sciences – 4 credits
CRN: 11954: MW: 4:00 – 5:20 PM, WIL 100, +DIS CRN: 11958: R: 1:00 – 1:50 PM, FEN 105
Matrix View Schedule
About the FIG:
When it comes to global climate change, we don’t have a data or science problem, we have a storytelling one. In this FIG’s seminar we will read stories of a climate-changed world or “cli-fi” and investigate how those stories impact us and others. However, this will not be your parents’ English class! Instead, the stories will be a launchpad for exploring visions of the future and we will use discussions and activities from human-centered design to dig deeper, explore implications, and envision alternatives. The seminar will also emphasize environmental and climate justice, recognizing the unequal impacts of climate change. Beyond the seminar, Introduction to City Planning will give you a foundation in building equitable, beautiful, and sustainable cities, and Introduction to Environmental Studies in the Natural Sciences will provide a grounding in scientific methodologies and using data. For your final project you will bring it all together to co-create science fictional visions of the future we want to build.
In this FIG you will get to expand your abilities in critical thinking, climate change impacts and solutions, imagination, and creativity. The courses in this FIG will give you information and insight into our changing world and what people are doing about it. While we will be authentic about the very real challenges we face with global warming, including the fear, grief, and anger that come with these challenges, we will ultimately focus on shaping a different story—one of solutions and productive transition to a just and sustainable world.
PPPM 205 Introduction to City Planning - CoreEd or major satisfying course
Introduction to City Planning introduces students to the field of city planning. The field of city planning is an academic discipline that synthesizes ideas and approaches from a diverse set of social science (and sometimes natural science) fields. Planners think about how the world should ideally be and then figure out how to move the world in that direction. Traditional focal areas of city planning will be covered in this course including transportation, housing, economic development, environmental issues, social equity, and more. The purpose of the course is to give students a general context of what planning is, the topics it deals with, and that issues about how cities are designed and function are alive and ever changing. Ultimately, the purpose of this course is to inspire students to see that the field of city planning is a mechanism to make the world a better place.
Students in this course will come to understand the complexities of issues related to human colocation. They will see that solving planning problems requires conceptual tools, as well as the ability to deal with the on the ground specifics and the realities of the policy-making environment.
This course provides an introduction to the academic discipline and the professional practice of planning, with a focus on the city environment. Planning is an applied social science field through which society shapes and manages the spatial and physical environment that is an important piece of our social co-existence. Thus, planning is an important influence on our quality of life, the nature of our social interactions, social equality, and environmental and economic outcomes. In this class, students will be introduced to the history of planning ideas and practice and basic planning principles. We will then focus on specific topics related to transportation, housing, economic development, environmental issues and social equity. The course will provide an overview of each issue area and then turn to debate and discussion of related controversies. Students will come to understand that solving planning problems requires both conceptual tools, as well as the ability to deal with on the ground realities of the policy-making environment.
Justification to Satisfy Social Science Group General Education Requirement: This course provides an overview of and introduction to the academic discipline of and practice of planning, and related issues, policies and social science concepts. It uses city planning as a lens to explore the critical elements that shape where and how people live. Students will learn how social science concepts are applied to both the design and management of public spaces that people share and how planning is a tool for addressing a large number of important social and environmental policy issues. Students will be introduced to the history of planning and basic planning principles and then focus on specific issues related to transportation, housing, economic development, environmental issues and social equity. Course structure will include an overview of each topic area, followed by a debate and discussion of controversies in the area. Students will come to understand the complexities of issues related to human co-location. They will see that solving planning problems requires conceptual tools, as well as the ability to deal with the on the ground specifics and the realities of the policy-making environment.
ENVS 202 Intro to Environmental Studies: Natural Sciences - CoreEd or major satisfying course
This is an introductory course in environmental natural sciences. It is part of the core sequence in Environmental Studies and is required for the Environmental Studies and Environmental Science majors. It is an introductory course, designed for freshmen and sophomores, and satisfies University general education breadth requirements for natural sciences. The only prerequisite is Math 95 or equivalent. Course goals include to promote understanding of the value and limitations of science in understanding environmental issues; to increase familiarity with scientific concepts underlying selected environmental issues and quantitative techniques that scientists use to evaluate them; to promote an understanding of how science is used to manage natural resources to promote a sustainable economy; to enhance ability to think creatively, analytically, and without bias (i.e. to think critically); and to understand how environmental science issues pervade our lives and gain confidence to understand these issues and make decisions based on your understanding and values. Four environmental issues are examined in some depth: human population growth, loss of biodiversity, climate change, and energy use.