Signature Courses
Sustainability Education and Transformational Change
Sustainability Theory and Practice
Modes of Scholarly Inquiry I and II
Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Pedagogy
Climate Change
As the first doctoral program in sustainability education in North America (started in 2005) Prescott College offers a unique model of a cohort-based and collaborative learning environment for its doctoral students. The primary goal of the Ph.D. Program in Sustainability Education is to help prepare a new generation of sustainability educators and leaders who possess the necessary knowledge, skills, and dispositions to effectively serve in those roles in their own respective communities. Most uniquely, the program focuses on economic and ecological sustainability as well as social equity, bio-cultural and linguistic diversities. Building on Prescott College’s over five decades of reputation on experiential, adventure, and ecological education, the Ph.D. program’s learning environment is hands-on, engaged, collaborative, and participatory. Achieving sustainability in all dimensions depends on adopting an educational paradigm that manifests and supports change toward sustainable, equitable, and secure society. The Ph.D. Program strives to contribute to equitable educational change and building a more just future: through a socially and environmentally oriented lens.
The Ph.D. program in Sustainability Education, provides an opportunity for advanced, interdisciplinary, applied, and student-centered learning that addresses important global and local issues. It is based on the traditions, values, and educational and ecological as well as social justice philosophies that have differentiated Prescott College from other educational institutions since the 1960s. This Ph.D. Program emphasizes rigorous scholarship, critical thinking, and experiential, action-oriented, and community-based research. Based on a cohort-model of learning and scholarship, the program fosters open discourse and design of an ecologically sustainable and socially just and diverse world in the 21st century. Through respect for diverse perspectives and scholarly collaboration, integrated, applied and interdisciplinary thinking, the Ph.D. program promotes the evolution of ecological understanding, psychological/philosophical consciousness, and equitable learning for a humane and sustainable future.
Students gravitate to and leverage this program from myriad scholarly and professional angles. It supports a transdisciplinary group of scholar-practitioners focused on sustainability in their fields, which often manifests professionally into careers in teaching, research, and leadership.
Graduation Requirements Summary:
The PhD Program consists of 72 credits (at a minimum). The program is limited residency, primarily conducted online with annual optional residential offerings, with two total mandatory on-campus residencies. There is a recommended annual Spring Sustainability Education Symposium in Prescott Arizona, on the Prescott College campus, for student scholars to present their work, to network with students and faculty, and required for graduating doctoral students. The degree must be completed in ten or fewer years
Required on Campus Residencies: First-year Orientation (Fall semester), and one’s last term Spring Sustainability Education Symposium/graduation. All other residencies are optional to attend, but recommended.
