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US-Brazil Sustainability Consortium
(UBSC) |
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The USBSC promotes sustainability by sharing
knowledge among universities, university- and community-based
research centers and institutes, public agencies, not-for-profit
entities, and communities. It implements the SFTA’s innovative
consortia model that integrates diverse sectors (international
experts, sustainably-committed universities, and local experts and
community leaders), overlays local and international immersion
sustainability experiences, and applies sustainability knowledge in
local and international service learning projects. It also
implements the SFTA model’s parallel academic and project funding
streams; and its nested sustainability curriculum. The USBSC uses
Ball State’s global media network and digital media classroom
teleconferencing to provide introductory international experiences,
teach sustainability course content to help acculturate students for
upcoming international exchanges, and prepare Ball State students
and students in partner institutions to participate effectively in
USBSC international collaborative local-global partnerships
Its institution partners
include Ball State University (BSU) and the University of Texas at
Austin (UT) in the United States; and the Federal Center of
Technological Education – Parana (CEFET-PR), the Pontifical Catholic
University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUC-RS). Non-institutional partners
include the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems (CMPBS) in
the U.S. and the Technology Institute of Parana (Tecpar) in Brazil.
In 2004-2005, the USBSC (in its second year)
provided exchange scholarships for four Ball State students
exchanging in Brazil (approximately $4000 each). This included
landscape architecture students Sara Wendelin (MLA), Thomas Fettig (BLA)
and Joshua Smith (BLA), and Natural Resources student Chelsea Cohen.
A parallel Brazilian Department of Education program funded CEFET
student Rafael Lopez’s study in CAP in Spring 2005. In Spring 2006
(third year of FIPSE funding) five Brazilian students are expected
to exchange at Ball State and two Ball State students are
anticipated to exchange in Brazil.
Students at USBSC institutions who are
interested in an international student exchange through the
consortium are invited to apply to the program.
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Project Overview |
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- Project Director: John L. Motloch, Professor and
Director, BSU Land Design Institute
- Department/Faculty: Department of Landscape Architecture,
Ball State University , College of Architecture and Planning,
Muncie, IN 47306, Tel: (765) 285-7561, Fax: (765) 285-1983, E-mail:
jmotloch@bsu.edu
- Title: US-Brazil Sustainability Consortium
- Partners: Ball State University, IN; University of Texas
at Austin, TX; Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems, TX;
Federal Center of Technological Education, PR; Catholic University
of Rio Grande do Sul, RS; Technology Institute of Parana, PR.
- Grant No.: P116M030006
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Total Funding Estimate: 4 Years, $203,948
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Project Details |
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A major challenge exists to produce (cities, communities, buildings,
food, products) in ways that are sustainable (environmentally
responsible, socially equitable, and economically viable). As
societies embrace sustainability, those in developed regions focus
most on environmental responsibility, while those in developing
regions focus more on social and economic aspects. Sustainability
requires that all three be addressed; and addressing all three becomes
more challenging as physical planners and designers increasingly
produce solutions for environments, people, and economies (within
their country and globally) that are profoundly different than those
in which they live. This program increases student abilities to make
sustainable decisions in diverse contexts within their own country and
in other countries. Through a hierarchically structured curriculum and
project-based learning the US-Brazil Sustainability Consortium builds
upon the education that students receive in their professional degree
programs. It provides classroom content and community-based
sustainability application experiences in the host country very
different from their previous experiences. These include international
experiences that prepare students for later work in diverse (physical,
cultural, economic) environments in their own country, host country,
or other countries. Students participating in the project will include
advanced undergraduate planning, design, and engineering students
(most in their last two years of study) and graduate students (most in
their final year of study). Goals of the program include 1) improving
the ability of academic programs to educate students to lead their
professions and broader communities to sustainable and regenerative
planning, design, and engineering solutions, 2) overcoming barriers to
student accessibility, and 3) leveraging FIPSE-CAPES funding with
project funding (by others) to recruit students, prepare them
academically and with language skills, provide supervision, facilitate
student and teacher exchanges, and extend existing inter-institutional
relationships and exchange programs. This project includes assessment
of student mobility, language learning, cultural engagement and the
three levels of the program's sustainability curriculum. |
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Project Contacts |
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John L. Motloch (US Lead)
Professor and Director, BSU Land Design Institute
Department/Faculty: Department of Landscape Architecture
Ball State University
College of Architecture and Planning
Muncie, IN 47306
Tel: (765) 285-7561
Fax: (765) 285-1983
E-mail: jmotloch@bsu.edu
David Gibson
Program Director for Fellows, Publications, and Conferences and
The Nadya Kozmetsky Scott Centennial Fellow
IC² Institute
The University of Texas at Austin
2815 San Gabriel
Austin, TX 78705
Tel: (512) 475-8900
Fax: (512) 475-8901
E-mail: dgibson@utexas.edu
Eloy Fassi Casagrande Jr.
Postgraduate Program in Technology (PPGTE - Master degree) and Civil
Construction Department (DACOC)
Federal Center of Technological Education of Parana
Av. Sete de Setembro, 3165
Curitiba, Parana 80230-901
Tel: +55 (41) 310-4719
Fax: +55 (41) 310-4712
E-mail:
fassi@ppgte.ainfo.cefetpr.br
Ivan Gilberto Borges Mizoguchi, Architect
Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism
Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio Grande do Sul - PUC-RS
Av. Ipiranga 6681, Predio 09
Porto Alegre, RS 90619-900
Tel: +55 (51) 3320-3547
Fax: +55 (51) 3320-3564
E-mail: arquitectura@pucrs.br
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