The Anthropocene and the Curriculum of the American Land-Grant University

• In Event: 68.061 - Roundtable Session 30
  In Roundtable Session: 68.061-9 - Curriculum Parts in the Context of the Whole: Past, Present, and Future

Abstract

The potential impact of climate change and anthropogenic global warming on postsecondary curricula has not yet been addressed in the higher education literature. In our paper, given the challenges posed by the Anthropocene, we discuss how the undergraduate curriculum at land-grant universities will need to reconcile the tension between the traditional mission of supporting agriculture, engineering and the mechanic arts while also adhering to the more recent “democratic mandate for openness, accessibility, and service to people.” We frame our discussion by using the work of Dipesh Chakrabarty to appreciate the magnitude of changes likely to be required in land-grant curricula. We then propose principles to guide the review and reconstruction of land-grant curricula.

Authors

• Clifford P. Harbour, University of North Texas

• Joshua M. Cohen, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University