A SUSTAINABLE PROGRAM Research on students’ attitudes and knowledge about the environment will shape Howard’s and other HBCUs’ environmental studies curricula. What are some attitudes and awareness about the environment and sustainability among university students? This is what Ayana Albertini-Fleurant, research assistant in the department of sociology and anthropology, is looking to find out. Concerned about the growth and engagement rate of the Environmental Studies program among Howard University undergraduate students, she sought to understand what Generation Z students at Howard and among HBCUs knew when it came to the environment. Powered with this information, she would be able to better model a curriculum for the HBCU student body. “Knowing the disparities in inclusion within the mainstream environmental field and the disproportionate access to comprehensive environmental education in secondary school, I wanted to know the extent, if any, that those factors have impacted HU’s current undergraduate student population,” she says.
Ayana Albertini-Fleurant
Howard is one of the first HBCUs to establish an environmental studies program. The interdisciplinary program engages faculty and research across the arts, social sciences, humanities, natural sciences, engineering, law and medicine, among others. It was developed in response to the growing demand by students for training in the environmental area. Students follow one of four concentrations: conservation, health and culture, policy and pollution. Students can pursue a capstone experience, which allows for internship and research opportunities.
Albertini-Fleurant developed a survey to assess the factors that shaped the current curriculum. The targeted survey respondents, currently, are Howard students. The purpose, overall, was to help Howard and other HBCUs tailor curriculum content that would be more intersectional and engaging to fit the interests of the student populations. Some of the questions include awareness about the campus Office of Sustainability; the environmental studies programs; and the student-run Sustainability Council. It also asks about students’ level of knowledge with climate change and environmental issues, and whether they feel that conservation and environmental justice represents them well.
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