Feting a first Dalhousie class

The Environment, Sustainability and Society (ESS) programreached a milestone this spring when 33 students became the first graduating class. The College of Sustainability celebrated on Tuesday, May 22 with an informal convocation reception to honour students and faculty.

“We have been on an adventure,” said Steve Mannell, director of the College of Sustainability. “Our first grads helped to create something that will be carried on by the next generation.”

The College of Sustainability came from brainstorming among faculty and students about how to promote sustainability education on campus, culminating in the 2009 launch of the Environment, Sustainability and Society (ESS) program, which students complete as part of a double major.

Renee Cossit decided to join the program to get different viewpoints on animal rights. The biology and ESS graduate hopes to work with animals in her career. “You get a great mix of different people,” she says of the program. “I really liked getting advice from people in different faculties.”

Students were honored for their support of the program with a congratulatory video and individual, custom-made pins. Daniel Brown, the first student to enroll in the program, received the ESS SUST Star Prize for academic achievement.

At the forefront

Angelica Ciurlia received the ESS Thesis Prize for her thesis paper on waste management in laboratories. She stumbled upon the topic during a group project.

“Our biochemistry labs in Canada are not really good in recycling,” says Ms. Ciurlia, who also majored in international development studies (IDS). “Dal is on the forefront in this field. You have to consider the risks in sorting medical waste and try to implement new practices like rinsing a beaker three times before throwing it in the recycling bin. I’m working on changing the behaviuor and policy in the labs.”

While most of the grads were arts and science students, the selection of majors ranged from management, to planning, to journalism.

Likewise, the grads plan to set out on various career paths. Ms. Gurila will be working with the Dalhousie Office of Sustainability to implement new recycling programs in Dal labs. Laura MacFadyen, who paired her ESS degree with theatre, will begin studying for physiotherapy in September and hopes to someday be a teacher.

She particularly enjoyed the community focus in the program’s second-year problem-based learning class.

“I’m glad I got the chance to work in the community,” says Ms. MacFadyen. “No matter what I do I know this degree with be useful.”