Reducing waste, saving energy and going “green” is the direction America's heading to protect our planet. Sustainability is at our doorsteps and now, the University of South Florida will take a role in leading co-operative research by opening the the nation's first School of Global Sustainability to students in the fall of 2010.

USF launched the new college on Thursday, February 11^th, with a two-day conference on global sustainability, public health, and climate change. The dedication of the school was open to the public, and people from all over the Tampa bay area attended to listen to the discussions.

Researchers and professors came from across the state and country to talk about the issues of global sustainability and the things that are being done locally and globally to protect our planet. Dr. Lonnie Thompson, a professor at Ohio State University and research scientist in the Byrd Polar Research Center, opened the seminar with a lecture on his research concerning climate change and the retreating of ice glaciers in the South American Andes, Himalayas, and Polar Regions.

Thompson then took part of a six-person panel discussion that consisted of USF geology professors and researchers. Together, they answered questions from students and residents about climate change.

The President of the University of South Florida, Judy Genshaft, celebrated the opening of the school by honoring Dr. Bae-Young Lee with the President’s Global Leader Award. Dr Lee is the president of Ewha Womans University in Korea. She is recognized her for her efforts in launching “Initiative Ewha,” and the pushing forward of the “Global Ewha 2010 Project,” a project to equip Ewha’s Womans University with the best in research and education.

Universities play a major role in providing the public with information and leading the edge in international sustainability movement. USF has taken on the responsibility to create an academic atmosphere where students and professors have the opportunity to explore and understand the concepts of sustainability, while creating new methods to correct humankind’s current mistakes.

Danielle Groenen, a graduate student in atmospheric Science from the University of California, recently moved to Tampa. “I was excited to find out that USF is opening the School of Global Sustainability. Because of Florida’s location there are so many opportunities for research,” Groenen said.

The School of Global Sustainability will unite researchers, students and scholars in the areas of climate change, costal environment, health, and education to work in teams and find solutions on how to create a sustainable environment. The program will offer students the opportunity get a master of arts in global sustainability. This program consists of a curriculum of 33 semester hours. Students will take most of their classes on-line and students and be required to do two residency periods, one at USF and another with one of their global partner universities.

The focus of the school will be on the issues of water, climate change, marine life, urban and city life, transportation, education, cultural diversity, environmental and human health.

This article appears in Feb 10-16, 2010.