RIT’s Golisano Institute for Sustainability Forms Partnership Agreement with Wells College
A partnership agreement between Rochester Institute of Technology’s Golisano Institute for Sustainability (GIS) and Wells College will enable students from the Aurora, N.Y., school to enrol in RIT’s sustainable systems MS degree programme.
Amit Batabyal, the interim head of the sustainability department at GIS, says that the partnership is between the sustainability department at GIS and the sustainability, business, and environmental science departments at Wells College.
Once accepted, juniors at Wells College who meet the requirements can sign up for GIS. There, they will have to keep a certain GPA and take required courses.
Batabyal, Distinguished Professor and the Arthur J. Gosnell Professor of Economics in RIT's College of Liberal Arts, said, "RIT is pleased to form this partnership agreement that will allow qualified Wells College students to build on their undergraduate education and transition into a distinguished MS programme at the university that addresses some of the key sustainability challenges facing our world today."
The agreement came together under the leadership of Nabil Nasr, associate provost and GIS director; Batabyal; and before him, Eric Williams, professor of sustainability. It also marks a new collaboration between Callie Babbitt, sustainability professor, and her first Ph.D. advisee and GIS alumna Erinn Ryen, ’14 Ph.D. (sustainability)—associate professor of business at Wells College—who continue to actively work together on sustainability research.
“Students will have an opportunity to build upon the foundations they gain at Wells College, further developing their competencies at RIT to prepare themselves for careers in renewable energy, urban design, food systems, and more,” according to a college statement from Jen Myers, visiting assistant professor and chair of the sustainability programme at Wells. "Both of our programmes take a whole-systems approach to solving local and global sustainability problems by teaching students how to navigate complex environmental, economic, and social systems."
GIS's MS in sustainable systems is open to students from any academic background and includes a wide range of studies in sustainability science from different fields. Students learn and try out all of the methods that lead to environmental, social, technological, and business success. They do this by working one-on-one with a faculty advisor to tailor their degree to their specific interests in sustainability.
Source: Rochester Institute of Technology
