Sustainable Development in Small Island States: St. Lucia
CDAE 195: An International Field-Course in Consumer Affairs,
Ecological Economics and Sustainable Development

Fall semester: Course meets one day per week ~5-6:30 from September-December
Field Component: 2 weeks in January



Syllabus

2004-5 website   2004-5 papers & ppts

2005-6 website   2005-6 papers & ppts

2006-7 website    2006-7 papers & ppts

2007-8 website    2007-8 papers & ppts

2008-9 schedule   2008-9 papers & ppts

2009-10 schedule  2009-10 papers & ppts

2010-11 Schedule  2010-11 papers & ppts

This course is a general introduction to the problems of sustainable development on small island developing states utilizing a case study of St. Lucia, West Indies. In many ways, small island states are microcosms of larger nations and even the planct, and are superb laboraties for learning about sustainable development. 

The course culminates in a two-week field component in St. Lucia, working with local partners to solve pressing problems which they have identified.  During weekly meetings during the semester, we will go over critical background information about the island, and do preparatory work for our field projects. 

Field projects will follow two different tracks. 
One track will work with the Ministry of Commerce, Investment, and Consumer Affairs on issues they identify related to consumer affairs and small enterprise development. The second track will focus on ecological economics-- the integration of ecological sustainability, social justice and economic efficiency. This track will collaborate with the Ministry of Social Transformation, the Department of Heritage Tourism, and/or community organizations. We will stress complementarities between these two tracks more than differences. In both cases, our goal will be to help solve pressing problems identified by our local partners.  Previous projects include "buy local campaign", watershed management, energy efficiency, alternative energy, ethnobotany, etc. 
 
Problem solving courses are different from traditional courses for several reasons.  While academics in universities study disciplines, people in the real worldstudy problems.  That is, problems do not respect the artificial boundaries of disciplines, and complex problems can rarely be understood from within the narrow framework of a single discipline.  In addition to the skills of disciplinary analysis, this course will focus on the skills of interdisciplinary synthesis, and the communication of research results to decision makers who can use them. 

 Course details:
Travel period: Jan. 1-15 (approx.)
Student fee: $1,800 (approx.)
Fee includes
Transportation from Burlington to St. Lucia and return
Hotel
Travel in St. Lucia
Admissions in St. Lucia
Does not include lunch, or dinner weekends

Application Procedure: Submit answers to the following questions:

1. Major, minor, career interest
2. UVM year and GPA
3. International experience, what you did (tourist, work, study, etc)
4. Explain your Intercultural experiences
5. Service learning or service experience
6. What you hope to gain from the course.
7. What you can bring to the course

One page minimum

For more information, please contact :




Kevin Michael Stapleton
Department Com Dev & Applied Economics
802/656-8289