Wichita State introduces sustainability courses for students

With the recent push for class content around sustainability, the College of Innovation and Design at Wichita State University now offers courses focused on sustainable growth.

Some of the new courses offered are:

Sustainable Teams & Organizations (spring): Assess and discuss the long-term sustainability of various philosophies and techniques used in the management of people and teams. This course will look at the impacts of these approaches in individual, team, and organizational settings.

Applied Sustainability in Innovation (fall): Students participate in thoughtful discussion on sustainability of innovative solutions to today’s wicked problems.

The College of Innovation and Design is an interdisciplinary college focused on preparing students for adaptive careers in innovation and product development. They’ve partnered with all of Wichita State’s degree-granting colleges to offer the new courses to give students practical experiences and skills outside of their degree focus.

“It is my goal to help develop cross-functional individuals who can adapt to changing circumstances and business needs,” said Maggie Schoonover, director of sustainable innovation and technical product development. “This is best accomplished by have a generalized knowledge in several areas in addition to areas of deeper expertise.”

While admitting students of various backgrounds, students are put in diverse groups to strengthen their adaptability to the demands of the everchanging workforce. The College of Innovation and Design focuses on sustainable business development, environment and energy, innovation life cycle and more when it comes to sustainability and innovation.

“The sustainability courses that have been added address the growing need among global companies to have a better understanding of how we, as individuals, can work in a sustainable team environment creating tomorrows products and services,” Schoonover said.

The college has been working on developing these courses for the past 12-18 months.

“Sustainability is a passion of mine, so we couldn’t get them on the books soon enough,” she said.

Find more information about the College of Innovation and Design and the new sustainability courses on its web page.