Sustainability along the Yangtze: A Study Abroad Collaboration between Geography and Environmental Science

In 2011, we developed a new study abroad course in China as part of the University of Colorado Denver Global Study program. This program focuses on short-term, intensive, international field study conducted during the three-week break period between the spring and summer semesters. The course, “Sustainability Along the Yangtze,” has been taught a total of five times, most recently in 2019. Typically, it involves twelve students and two instructors. Over the years, the course has undergone several curricular and pedagogical changes that reflect an ever-deepening collaboration between the discipline of Geography (particularly human geography) and the discipline of Environmental Science. This collaboration provides integrated perspectives on processes of development and environmental change occurring on a massive scale in China today that enhance and deepen student learning in the field. In this paper, we present a course design model that focuses on the effects of urbanization on water resources in the Yangtze valley and illustrates the benefits of an interdisciplinary approach to study abroad.