The Leadership for Social Good Study Abroad Program offers students the opportunity to gain insight into global civil society, learn about the challenges of creating and leading effective and sustainable social enterprises, and make a positive impact by working closely with a non-profit organization in Budapest, Hungary. This program also fulfills the Learn and Engage components of SLS's new Innovating for Social Impact program.
Below read Hannah Schafer's reflection from the program, which focuses on her experiences with "parks and recreation" while abroad. Hannah…
Happy New Semester to All! We are excited to announce our Fall Event Series. This year at SLS, we’re embracing -- and exploring -- the call to “Think Global, Act Local.” Within that broad theme, SLS’s focus this semester is Community Health. It is both our Linked Courses theme, as well as the guiding concept for the Event Series, so you’ll see several health-related events in our calendar. In the list, we have included our own SLS events as well as those sponsored by our partners on and off campus. Along with Community Health, the Event Series engages SLS’s six other Priority Issue Areas: Social Innovation; Climate Change and Energy; Equitable Development; Water, Green Infrastructure, and Citizen Science; Civic Data; and the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals.
We have a compelling line-up and can’t wait to see you, share ideas, and build momentum to Create Sustainable Communities…
By: Madeline Smerchansky
It was 4 AM the day after the last day of Spring semester and I was headed to the airport with a group of complete strangers. We were a diverse group of students from all majors and years. After a few sleepy flights and a crowded layover, we had made it to Belize. It was almost the beginning of the rainy season, so the humidity was off the charts and it rained off and on for days. We met our hosts and started on the 4 hour van ride to the EcoLodge, where we were staying.
The organization we were working with in country is called 7 Elements, a service learning organization that emphasizes sustainability and education. 7e worked with a family from a nearby Mayan community to build…
In the program Sustainable Development and Climate Change in Italy, Georgia Tech students spend five weeks living and studying in Venice. While there, students take two SLS affiliated courses and participate in multiple field trips to locations across the country. Students explore how and why climate change is going to affect people, the economy, and the environment all over the world, and experience first-hand the challenges for vulnerable cities like Venice and vulnerable mountain ecosystems in the Italian Alps.
Below, read Mira Kaufman's reflection on her experiences participating in the program.
Tag: XCPERSP
Since SLS opened its doors in Spring 2015, students have been asking us – “How can we get involved in SLS?” We have guided them to our extensive list of Affiliated Courses and to our Events & Workshops series, which together reach over 6,000 students/year. These initiatives are continuing – but now, we are excited to announce a new slate of Signature Programs that will allow students to delve deeper into sustainable communities education and experiences, and stay involved over multiple years. The Events & Workshops series is our first program – intended to complement what students are learning in their SLS Affiliated Courses. Here’s more information about the other five programs. We encourage you to check them out!
- The Sustainable Cities Minor,…
This summer, first-year students in the iGniTe Summer Program Sustainability Track who took Dr. Lauren Neefe's ENGL 1102 Architecture, Sound, Sustainability course recorded the sounds of traveling to and walking on the newly completed Proctor Creek Greenway on Atlanta's Westside. The latest portion of the city's renowned infrastructure project, the BeltLine, opened to the public in May 2018 and now confronts the challenge of developing without displacing some of Atlanta's most critically underserved neighborhoods. After studying the Equity Petal of the Living Building Challenge, the students documented the "aural architecture" of their new neighbors' own "living laboratory."
Click…
Professor Stiftel presented at the UN last month as part of the Higher Education Sustainability Initiative (HESI) Global Event that was scheduled as part of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. In a panel entitled, “Highlighting innovative collaborations between Higher Education Institutions and the United Nations,” he described the RCE Greater Atlanta as well as Georgia Tech’s Serve-Learn-Sustain program.
Watch a video of his presentation here:
- HESI session (full) is available online at the UN Web TV website here
- This is a 3 hour session. The panel begins about 19:50 into the video and lasts about 75 minutes. Professor Stiftel’s remarks with discussion of SLS and RCE begins at 33:50.
More info about the HESI Global Event is online…
In the Leadership for Social Good Study Abroad Program, students spend eight weeks abroad while learning about social entrepreneurship and the leadership it takes to develop strong civil societies. Students also have the opportunity to work with a nonprofit to help develop sustainable solutions to environmental and social problems.
Below, read Isabelle Musmanno's reflection from the program where she discusses the sustainable practices employed in Budapest, Hungary.
Learn More About the Program >
Tag: XCPERSP
Adam Borsch, an SLS Global Student Ambassador, shares moments from his experience in the Netherlands with the Sustainable Transportation Abroad program. Each year, Dr. Kari Watkins teaches a course and takes students on a week long trip to the Netherlands to learn about sustainable transportation. During their week abroad, students bike across the country, experiencing the Dutch transportation system.
Learn more about the Sustainable Transportation Abroad Program >
Tag: XCPERSP
The Serve-Learn-Sustain Internship Program’s inaugural summer is well underway! The 17 participating interns are dynamic Georgia Tech students--spanning years and majors-- who are working at a broad variety of organizations and offices, as well as participating in a bi-weekly seminar program run by SLS staff. Below they describe their work and offer some insight into the myriad ways they enact SLS’s mission-- “creating sustainable communities”-- in collaboration with 15 fantastic SLS partners!
Beginning this fall, the internship program will be offered every semester (Fall/Spring/Summer). Interested students should contact Catherine Muse, Community Engagement Specialist, or visit our Internship page for more information.
…