Meaningful Education Around the SDGs

Liberal Arts and Sciences Curriculum

Our Promise: We empower the change makers of tomorrow.

The Liberal Arts and Sciences Curriculum (LASC) will provide you with a number of diverse courses. It is a multi-disciplinary LASC that tells a story and educates the whole person.

The courses offered are linked to the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and capture the spirit of the major problems that our world is facing.
The LASC will help you think about the SDGs and digitization as they relate to our nation, but also to the region and the world.
The LASC will also help you think about yourself by promoting physical and psychological well-being and cultivating ethical development and social engagement.

In other words, the LASC will help you study and think differently, making you more intellectual, more confident and more employable.

Ready to know more? Here’s a first look at the program in detail and the courses offered.

Check the Academic Catalog for specific program requirements.

Liberal Education Courses Map to the UN SDGs

In 2015, the Member States of the United Nations collectively embraced the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which comprises 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDG goals acknowledge that eradicating poverty and addressing various forms of deprivation must be pursued in conjunction with efforts to enhance healthcare and education, mitigate inequality, and promote economic advancement, all while confronting the challenges of climate change and preserving our precious oceans and forests.

LAU was among the first universities in the world to mainstream the SDGs into the liberal arts and sciences curriculum (LASC). The LASC includes several key components:

Introduces all students to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and enables them to explore how science contributes to achieving these goals through a mandatory core, the Change Makers series;
Enhances students’ scientific literacy through a series of Digital Cultures courses.

The LASC engages the students and helps them to establish a sustainable connection between humanity and the planet. The approach is grounded on the premise that every student should possess a foundational understanding of the SDGs and their fundamental principles, which can be applied in their careers and personal lives.

Number of LAS courses that relate to each of the United Nations 17 SDGs

3	3	3	7
5	1	1	5
6	7	8	5
4	1		6

Liberal Arts & Sciences Courses

LAS201 WATER SECURITY

[3–0, 3 cr.]

The course provides a comprehensive examination of water security issues confronting human society with particular focus on the attainment of United Nations Sustainable Goal 6 to ensure access to water and sanitation for all. It is one of the three Water-Energy-Food Nexus courses. Securing a sustainable supply of water, energy, and food is one of the greatest global challenges of our time. Recognizing the interdependencies and interlinkages between these three resources and finding new approaches to manage the nexus could significantly help in attaining the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs).

LAS201H WATER SECURITY

[3–0, 3 cr.]

LAS202 SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS

[3–0, 3 cr.]

Food is the strongest lever to optimize human health and environmental sustainability. Addressing the global imbalance of nutrition, and its causes, is a central aim of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This course uses an interdisciplinary approach to address present and future challenges to a more sustainable food system that can provide healthy, nutritious, safe and affordable foods locally and globally.

LAS202H SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS

[3–0, 3 cr.]

LAS203 SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

[3–0, 3 cr.]

This course explores conventional and renewable energy with a particular focus on the progress towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7: Ensure Access to Affordable, Reliable, Sustainable, and Clean Energy for All. Energy systems are covered from technical, environmental, economic, social, and policy perspectives. An overview of various energy resources and technologies is provided, including fossil fuels, nuclear, biomass, hydropower, geothermal, ocean, wind, and solar energy. The promise and limitation of each technology are examined in the framework of achieving energy sustainability on local, regional, and global scales.

LAS204 TECHNOLOGY, ETHICS, AND THE GLOBAL SOCIETY

[3–0, 3 cr.]

This course covers 3 cr. load from the following 1 cr. modules:

204A Technology: This module examines the impact of social media within global societal contexts. Topics include the impact of social media on individualism, collectivism and culture, and personal identity. Other topics include digital divide across class, gender, countries, and ethnic groups as well as privacy and civil liberties.
204B Ethics, the Internet, and Social Media: This module discusses ethical and decision-making theories, such as consequentialism, duty ethics, virtue ethics, moral assumptions and values.
204C Professional Ethics: This module discusses professionalism, fiduciary responsibility, and mentoring. Topics include accountability, responsibility and liability, software piracy, copyrights, patents, trade secrets, trademarks, legal foundations for intellectual property protection, plagiarism, professional certification, codes of ethics, conduct, and practice. Module includes case studies from various disciplines.

LAS204H TECHNOLOGY, ETHICS, AND THE GLOBAL SOCIETY

[3–0, 3 cr.]

This course covers 3 cr. load from the following 1 cr. modules:

204A Technology: This module examines the impact of social media within global societal contexts. Topics include the impact of social media on individualism, collectivism and culture, and personal identity. Other topics include digital divide across class, gender, countries, and ethnic groups as well as privacy and civil liberties.
204B Ethics, the Internet, and Social Media: This module discusses ethical and decision-making theories, such as consequentialism, duty ethics, virtue ethics, moral assumptions and values.
204C Professional Ethics: This module discusses professionalism, fiduciary responsibility, and mentoring. Topics include accountability, responsibility and liability, software piracy, copyrights, patents, trade secrets, trademarks, legal foundations for intellectual property protection, plagiarism, professional certification, codes of ethics, conduct, and practice. Module includes case studies from various disciplines.

LAS204M ETHICS IN BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

[3–0, 3 cr.]

This course covers the following three modules:

204MA Biomedical Ethics: This module examines the impact of Biomedical ethics within a global societal contexts. The module explores the major ethical issues confronting the practices of medicine and biomedical science. Topics include the doctor-patient relationship, the ethics of medical experimentation, and the ethics of biotechnology.
204MB Ethical Theories: This module discusses ethical and decision-making theories, such as consequentialism, duty ethics, virtue ethics, moral assumptions and values.
204MC Professional Biomedical Ethics: This module discusses professionalism, ethics, and fiduciary responsibility. Topics include unethical medical experiments, gender/race-based discrimination, culturally competent care, and the doctor-patient relationship. The module includes case studies focusing historical and current cases related to biomedical ethics.

Note: The course is restricted for students in pre-medical and biomedical fields (e.g. pre-pharmacy, nursing, biology, nutrition, nutrition dietetics, chemistry-premedical track, and engineering-premedical track). In addition, students cannot take both LAS204 and LAS204M.

LAS205 DIGITAL CULTURES

[3–0, 3 cr.]

This course covers 3 cr. load from the following 1 cr. modules:

205A Future Ready: This module will cover basic types of data and processing methods that will help students in solving problems in an increasingly complex word. Topics include variables, conditional execution, strings, lists, dictionaries, text processing, visualization, and mathematical analysis.
205B: Fundamentals of Deep Learning
This module introduces the fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence using neural networks and deep learning. Students will be introduced to neural networks, training neural networks from scratch, learning tools, and transfer learning. The course uses Tensorflow, Keras, and Pandas.
205C Social Cybersecurity: This module introduces risk, threats, and vulnerabilities in technology with a special focus on their impact in a social context. Topics include computer crimes, social engineering, identity theft, cyber terrorism, and criminal hacking. The module also discusses how groups are manipulated and opinions shaped.

LAS205H DIGITAL CULTURES

[3–0, 3 cr.]

This course covers 3 cr. load from the following 1 cr. modules:

205A Future Ready: This module will cover basic types of data and processing methods that will help students in solving problems in an increasingly complex word. Topics include variables, conditional execution, strings, lists, dictionaries, text processing, visualization, and mathematical analysis.
205B: Fundamentals of Deep Learning
This module introduces the fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence using neural networks and deep learning. Students will be introduced to neural networks, training neural networks from scratch, learning tools, and transfer learning. The course uses Tensorflow, Keras, and Pandas.
205C Social Cybersecurity: This module introduces risk, threats, and vulnerabilities in technology with a special focus on their impact in a social context. Topics include computer crimes, social engineering, identity theft, cyber terrorism, and criminal hacking. The module also discusses how groups are manipulated and opinions shaped.

LAS206 MINDS & MACHINES

[3–0, 3 cr.]

This course covers 3 cr load from the following 1 cr modules:

206A: Mind and its Place in Nature

This module takes a closer look at the mind and the way it fits into nature. We begin the class with the classical framing of the issue, focusing on the definition of the mind, and its relation to the material world, before turning to more recent construals, particularly those emerging in the 20th century. Throughout the class we will also consider how the issue of understanding the mind impacts the world we live in.

206B: The Mind’s Architecture

This module takes a closer look at current ways of thinking about the mind’s architecture, and how we can model the mind. We begin by distinguishing mental attributes from other types of attributes, before turning to different models of the mental in cognitive and computer science today. Throughout the class we will also look at the costs and benefits of AI for human society.

206C: Beyond the Mind

This module takes a closer look at new ways of thinking about the mind. Brains do not work on their own. They are part of a body, that acts, and that is in the world. Moreover humans use their minds alongside tools, which are increasingly sophisticated, and which allow us to do more cognitively. So where does the mind end? In this course we’ll look at ‘the 4Es’, which offer new responses to this question: embedded, embodied, enactive, and extended cognition theories. We’ll also see how they have been applied in contemporary technology for a more sustainable future.

206D: The Ethics of Digital Technology

This module takes a closer look at the ethical issues raised by contemporary digital technology. We begin with a quick overview of different ethical theories before turning to the contemporary applications of AI, robotics, and related technologies to a variety of real-world problems.

LAS207 MIGRATION STUDIES

[3–0, 3 cr.]

This course introduces students to foundational concepts, frameworks and theories within migration studies, and permits them to benefit from a collection of scholarly research that has shaped and expanded our understanding of the drivers, push and pull factors, as well as the management of international migration. Throughout this course, students will explore a different theoretical and practical question relating to international migration each week. Through interactively addressing these questions in lectures and debates, this course explores the role played by social, cultural, political, economic, legal and government actors in shaping migration and displacement processes. Given the interdisciplinary nature of migration studies (as well as that of displacement studies), students will be assigned readings from political science, international law, economics and sociology, to help them form a well-rounded and comprehensive understanding of the different perspectives and lenses that each discipline adopts in the study of migration and displacement. In order to also grasp international migration patterns, the readings will also present case studies from around the world to provide a comprehensive view of different streams of contemporary migration.

LAS208 WELLBEING MATTERS

[3–0, 3 cr.]

This course examines the various dimensions and determinants of health and wellbeing. An emphasis is placed on public health as well as the social and mental health aspects of wellbeing. An interdisciplinary approach is used to address present and future challenges to physical and mental wellbeing of the public. This course will rely on case studies as well as other active learning strategies to enhance students’ problem-solving skills and wellbeing based on applied, day-to-day examples.

LAS209 DOING GENDER: CONTEXTUAL APPROACHES

[3–0, 3 cr.]

This course examines the practice of Doing Gender, defined by West and Zimmerman as involving the everyday performance of “a complex of socially guided perceptual, interactional and micropolitical activities that cast particular pursuits as expressions of masculine and feminine natures.” The course is structured around the 4 pillars of sustainability -Social, Environmental, Economic and Governance- and examines how the act of doing gender can be defined and refined as a result of the personal interaction with each pillar. Students will learn to be discerning about the linguistic turns and media images that they encounter in social settings; they will also understand the impact of particular environmental factors in shaping how people of different genders define themselves; in addition, students will understand the powerful impact of economics on our ability to do gender.

LAS209H DOING GENDER: CONTEXTUAL APPROACHES

[3–0, 3 cr.]

LAS301 DEBATING SUSTAINABILITY

[3–0, 3 cr.]

This course introduces students to formal, structured debate as a tool in decision-making, leadership and civic engagement. It focuses mainly on case construction, cross-examinations, use of evidence, team debate, and ethics in argumentation. Debate topics will emphasize a sustainable development agenda.

LAS301H DEBATING SUSTAINABILITY

[3–0, 3 cr.]

LAS302 INQUIRY FOR INNOVATION

[3–0, 3 cr.]

The digital and biological revolution is changing the world; it is driving certain organizations to extinction but it is also providing others with fertile ground to innovate and grow. The fourth industrial revolution has greatly impacted humans and their entrepreneurship ecosystem. This course covers the social and economic impact of technology on our society. It sheds light on the main challenges and opportunities of organizations in the third millennium. It also offers an opportunity for students to use research and innovation in order to survey the science, and respond to the market demands with innovative and sustainable solutions.

Co-requisite: ENG102 Academic English II

Camping Around the Sustainable Development Goals

Participants in this year’s School of Arts and Sciences Summer Camps got a taste of university-level education in line with LAU’s SDG-based Liberal Arts and Sciences Curriculum.

This year, 79 high-school students congregated to participate in the School of Arts and Sciences Summer Camps, which were spread out across three individual camps focusing on essential SDG-focused majors: physics, chemistry and nutrition.

Following the immersive summer camps of 2022, the Liberal Arts and Sciences Department designed lectures and activities over five days of learning, from July 3 to July 7.

Campers had the opportunity to experience a university environment and explore multiple programs they might wish to study at LAU. This was facilitated not only by the number of seminars that were given at each camp but also by the chance to earn a 10-to-30-percent scholarship to study at the university upon completing the camp.

Introductory sessions for all the participants were held at the Adnan Kassar School of Business (AKSOB) on the Beirut campus before they dispersed among different schools. AKSOB hosted most of the physics and nutrition sessions, whereas the chemistry sessions took place at the chemistry facility in Sage Hall.

At the physics camp, students participated in interactive lectures on Einstein’s theory of relativity, electromagnetism and the realm of quantum mechanics by discussing their understanding of the theories with the instructors. Associate Professor of Physics Jimmy Romanos and Assistant Professors of Physics Rana Nicolas and Walid Malaeb organized lectures, experiments and documentaries to allow for an engaging learning experience.

“We tried to give the students an overall idea of the different interesting topics in physics,” said Dr. Nicolas, “especially since the subject itself can be intimidating. In all, I think the students were very interested and motivated and posed a lot of questions that were surprisingly good for their age.”

Grade 11 student Jana Abou Hijeily said that “the camp was a great opportunity to discover new aspects of physics that we don’t thoroughly learn at school. The practical experiences, like performing a residential energy audit, enabled us to visualize the pragmatic side of most of the theoretical knowledge we’ve acquired over the years.”

Over at the nutrition camp, discourses were designed by Associate Professor of Nutrition Nadine Zeeni, Associate Professor of Food Science and Technology Hussein F. Hassan, Assistant Professor of Nutrition Rana Rizk as well as Instructors of Nutrition Marwa Fadlallah and Marie Stephan to address emerging issues in nutrition and food science with a focus on the impact of food insecurity and malnutrition on communities worldwide.

Additionally, students got to explore sustainable food practices and how they contribute to both human health and the environment. “Throughout the camp, the intricate connections between nutrition and overall health were investigated,” said Dr. Rizk. “Lectures provided a comprehensive overview of this link, explaining how proper nutrition directly impacts physical and mental wellbeing.”

Youssef Itani, Grade 11, said that having this opportunity was beneficial for him and his peers as they made “new acquaintances in the field on top of learning about the role of nutrition in addressing the sustainable development goals.”

Inspired by videos featuring testimonials from practicing dietitians in diverse nutrition fields, the participants gained insight into real-life experiences and perspectives on the day-to-day responsibilities of a career in nutrition.

Meanwhile, the chemistry camp addressed the challenges related to soil quality deterioration in Mediterranean countries and introduced experimental procedures to the participants to sharpen their understanding of soil parameters and environmental contaminants.

Assistant Professor of Chemistry Elias Akoury, who was responsible for delivering all the lectures, was determined to ensure a learning experience for the students different from the methodology used in schools. And in fact, the campers felt enlightened as they discovered the multidisciplinary approaches used to address environmental issues.

All of this was made possible by the experiments they got to conduct in the chemistry labs, such as spectroscopic techniques, thermogravimetric analysis (observing the mass variation of materials with temperature changes) and X-ray fluorescence.

“I am glad I took part in the program because we were introduced to the different disciplines and experiments of science,” stated 11-grader Karim Kassem. “Tackling soil chemistry, its chemical composition and properties with Dr. Akoury was very enriching. I was able to form solid bonds with chemistry enthusiasts and obtain a rigid chemistry background knowledge.”

On the final day, in an awards ceremony held on the Beirut campus, scholarships covering up to 30 percent of the tuition were granted to the 17 participants who scored high on their final examination to kick off their university education at LAU.

Teaching Sustainable Development Goals through Virtual Exchange in Design Thinking Courses

F. Jordan SrourLebanese American University https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7623-723X
Christy SuciuBoise State University
Seth WoodyBoise State University

DOI: https://doi.org/10.34190/ecie.18.2.1696

Keywords: Design thinking, virtual exchange, sustainable development goals

Abstract

The stated objective of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are to serve as a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity around the planet. If this blueprint is to become a reality, the inclusion of the SDGs in university curricula is essential. Yet how can we be sure that we teach a unified and shared view of these goals? This paper examines the value of using virtual exchange in teaching the UN SDGs in Business School Design Thinking courses. Specifically, the experience of a partnered course run at both the Boise State University’s College of Business and Economics and the Lebanese American University’s Adnan Kassar School of Business serves as a case-study. Results from a survey of both student groups indicate that the experience of working with students from outside their home culture did improve their cross-cultural communication skills. Furthermore, learning about the SDGs was a valued experience. However, learning about the SDGs in collaboration with “foreign” team members was eclipsed by the broader experience of engaging with students outside their home culture.

Dr. Suad Joseph Distinguished Lecture Series

As part of AiW’s continuing dedication to promoting rigorous intellectual and academic work on the issues of gender equality and women’s rights, the Institute launched its annual Dr. Suad Joseph Distinguished Lecture Series. The aim of the series is twofold, first, to bring speakers that highlight important topics or themes in the field of gender and women’s studies globally, with the aim to contextualize this to the Arab Region and second, to provide graduate students from across the Lebanese American University and specifically, from the MA in Interdisciplinary Gender Studies the opportunity to liaise directly with such high-level academics and researchers.

Dr. Suad Joseph is a Distinguished Research Professor of Anthropology and Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at the University of California, Davis. She founded and is a former president of the Middle East Research Group in Anthropology precursor to the Middle East Section of the American Anthropological Association, the Association for Middle East Women’s Studies, the Arab Families Working Group, the University of California Davis Arab Region Consortium and the Middle East/South Asia Studies Program at UC Davis. She co-founded the Arab American Studies Association, the Association for Middle East Anthropology, the Women and Gender Studies Program, UC Davis and was the president of the Middle East Studies Association of North America.

She is General Editor of the Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures and has edited and co-edited 9 books, including, most recently Arab Family Studies: Critical Reviews (2018 Syracuse UP). She also published over 100 articles. Her awards include the University of California, Davis Prize for Undergraduate Teaching and Research (the largest such award in the USA) and life time achievement awards from the Association for Middle East Women’s Studies and the Middle East Section of the American Anthropological Association. Her research focuses on Arab families, gender, citizenship and the state, child socialization and cultural constructions of selfhood, and community formation in the Middle East. She has numerous research grants, including grants for training early career scholars in proposal writing and research design. Dr. Joseph completed her Ph.D. in Anthropology from Columbia University in 1975 and joined the faculty at University of California, Davis in 1976.

Lecture on: “Creative Archives: Gender, Memory and Affect” (24/02/2023)

Food 4 Thought Series

Webinar: “Gender and the Environment” (24/02/2023)
Webinar: “Call to Action: Women’s Leadership in Lebanon’s Crisis and Recovery” (07/12/2022)
Webinar: Personal Status Laws: Amending the Codes (05/07/2022)
Webinar: Stand Up Against Street Harassment (05/07/2022)
Why Gender Justice Matters (09/11/2021)
Sexuality Matters (09/06/2021)
Work That Breaks Gender Barriers (29/04/2021)
Gender Discrimination: Legal, Political and Economic Implications (05/01/2021)
The Pandemic, The Blast and Their Effects on Gender Rights (02/12/2020)
Women in Decision Making (01/10/2019)
Taking Up Space! (01/05/2019)
Women’s Empowerment Challenges (14/02/2019)
Safety is Bold, Guard Yourself! (04/02/2019)
Fighting Stigma and Discrimination (30/11/2018)
From Spring to Autumn (01/10/2018)

16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence

Marked annually from 25 November to 10 December, “16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence” is a campaign to raise awareness of and increase momentum towards ending violence against women and girls worldwide. Initiated in 1991, the campaign aimed to draw attention to violence against women as a human rights violation at a time when such violence was considered a private matter. Since this time, the campaign has gained international attention and observance, with several commemorative events occurring globally. The dates of the campaign are significant; 25 November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, while 10 December is International Human Rights Days and the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Sustainability at the Academy of Continuing Education

The LAU Academy of Continuing Education (ACE) contributes to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the content and outcomes of its diverse programs. It offers more than 65 courses in various modalities: remote, in-person, hybrid and asynchronous. Through these offerings, the academy contributes to SDG 4: Quality Education as they are presented to the public and the community beyond the university’s student body. They also address SDG 17; Partnership for the Goals as they tackle and promote the SDGs.

Two of the academy’s offerings stand out as having demonstrated a far-reaching impact in Lebanon. The Crafts, Arts and Vocational programs have, for two years now, encouraged women to develop their own enterprises in partnership with artisans and entrepreneurs. A similar program, the Women Entrepreneurship Diploma Program, advocates for gender inclusivity in the Lebanese labor market, by offering women in rural and peri-urban areas the opportunity to build their skills and identify their business niche. Each of these programs has reached more than 200 women across the country, contributing to SDG4: Quality Education and SDG5: Gender Equality.

Increased power cuts in Lebanon over recent years due to the economic and financial crises have led to a demand for alternative power sources, particularly solar power. In the context of an unorganized market and a shortage of trained professionals, ACE developed a training program to build the capacities of photovoltaic (PV) technicians in the solar energy market. The program encompasses around 100 hours of training on design and engineering, installation and safety, commercial and legal aspects, and work ethics, addressing SDG7: Affordable and Clean Energy.

On the inclusivity front, ACE has established a number of programs to help build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions across the board. A couple of programs stand out.

The second is a specially designed teacher-training program for every cohort of Teach for Lebanon fellows, namely fresh graduates who go on to teach in underserved schools across the country. Through this, the academy serves SDG1: No Poverty and SDG10: Reduced Inequalities as the program seeks to improve access to basic services for all. Both programs also attest to the academy’s contribution to SDG16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.

A wide array of other courses, certificates, diplomas and training programs at ACE also attest to SDG3: Good Health and Well-Being, such as the Food Safety Program, offered to industry professionals in collaboration with the ministries of Industry and Agriculture. Other programs promote fitness, mental health and risk management, and are offered to healthcare professionals, health coaches and psychologists.