The Resilience and Adaptation Program begins with an intensive year of coursework that provides students with the background, concepts, and tools to address sustainability issues from ecological, cultural, political and economic perspectives.

Global-local Sustainability - (3 credits; offered in the fall; team taught) This course provides understanding and critique of resilience theory, vulnerability analysis, and sustainability science literatures. Click here for syllabus.

Integrated Assessment & Adaptive Management - (3 credits; offered in the spring; team taught)  This course trains students in the use of methods and practices of using integrated assessment for decision making; students work in teams to complete an integrated assessment that contributes to the policy process. Click here for syllabus.

Resilience Seminars I and II  - (1 credit each; offered in the fall and spring semesters)  The Seminar facilitates discussion among students of each new cohort about special topics not covered in other classes. It also supports students in the planning of their internships and preparation of thesis prospectus. Click here for syllabus for Seminar I. 

Resilience Internship  - (2 credits; generally taken in the first summer of study)  The internship is self designed by students to build skills and experience outside each student’s home discipline.  For PhD students, support is provided for an international internship that situates each student’s research problem in a global context.  Duration: Four weeks for masters students and eight weeks for PhD students.   Funding support provided. Click here for syllabus.

Module Courses in Ecological, Economic, and Anthropological Background in Resilience and Adaptation  - (1 credit each; each student’s enrollment in courses depends on his or her background training)  These three background courses provide fundamental disciplinary perspectives; make students conversant in a discipline in which they have little-to-no experience; build a common vocabulary and frameworks for interdisciplinary sustainability science. Click here for Anthro syllabus.   Click here for Econ. syllabus.

Interdisciplinary Modeling of High Latitude Global Change  - Optional ( 4 credits, includes lab; team taught every other year)  This course introduces students to approaches to modeling how regional and global environmental change influences biological and social systems in high latitudes and how the responses of these systems influence the regional and global functioning of the earth system.

Other special topics courses offered depending on interest of students and visitation of special instructors

Email: uaf-rap@alaska.edu      Phone:  907-474-7987          PO Box 757000, Fairbanks, AK  99775-7000