University Launches Scholars Program to Tackle Gulf South Challenges
Building the Next Generation of Sustainability Leaders
The challenges to achieving a sustainable Gulf begin with upstream communities that live in the Gulf watershed that includes the University of Mississippi. The overarching goal of the UM Gulf Scholar Program (UM GSP) is the cultivation of critical thinkers and practitioners who can interrogate inequitable and unsustainable social, cultural, and economic structures, ideologies, and policies, while envisioning and implementing sustainable alternatives.
The program’s conceptual framework stresses students’ roles as global citizens working in specific environments to solve complex, multi-faceted issues that resist simple solutions. By integrating perspectives from the humanities, arts, sciences, social sciences, and engineering, the program enables a multidisciplinary education that encourages students to approach problems holistically.
Academics
Coursework & Capstone
Student scholar cohorts will complete a required core course (Environmental Challenges in the Gulf South), a series of additional classes selected from a cross-campus roster, experience an immersive travel experience linking the MS Delta to the Gulf coast, and complete a place-based capstone project impacting the Gulf. At various points throughout these activities UM students will meet with Gulf Coast Community College students remotely and in person to learn from each other's experiences and linking north Mississippi to the coast.
Student Cohort
Students will come from a variety of backgrounds including Biology, Engineering, Environmental Studies, Public Policy, and Southern Studies. Cohort-building activities will facilitate transdisciplinary exchange and build a sense of common purpose, and cross-campus programming, including lectures, book talks, and film screenings, will extend the reach of the GSP into the broader community.
Affiliated Faculty & Staff
The Gulf Scholars Program will have an interdisciplinary curriculum. Faculty from departments across the University of Mississippi campus will participate.
