Queen’s Global Summer furthers Sustainable Development Goals

The University Global Coalition has declared this week UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Action and Awareness Week. The week helps promote awareness of the SDGs among students in higher education and inspire them to work towards understanding and addressing issues of global significance in their local community.

FAS recently announced the creation of the Queen’s Global Summer (QGS) program, a multi-disciplinary project that will offer valuable academic experiences to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty, staff, and community members during the July/August term in 2022. The QGS contributes to the goals of SDG Action and Awareness Week, as well as the Faculty’s transition to offering undergraduate courses on Queen’s campus this summer.

QGS is also the first interdisciplinary on-campus summer program involving community members as well as students and faculty and staff members in the Faculty of Arts and Science and across Queen’s.

“The Queen’s Global Summer will perform the very important role of raising the awareness of issues of global relevance and advance our understanding of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Students will delve deeper into the foundational skills of interdisciplinary problem-solving and engage in experiential learning opportunities based in the Kingston community,” says Dr. Amitava Chowdhury (History), the Special Advisor to the Dean on Global and Decolonization Initiatives and QGS project leader. “We are extremely excited to launch QGS this summer and cannot wait to meet with students who are interested in signing up for the program.”

To learn more about the program, join us for an information session on Wednesday, March 9 at 4 pm. 

While students have always had the opportunity to take distance courses through Arts and Science Online year-round, this is the first time in 10 years that FAS has offered summer courses to undergraduate students on the Queen’s campus.  The QGS courses range from the flagship elective course on Global Goals (QGSP 200/3.0) to courses offered by the departments of English, Global Development Studies, Employment Relations, Environmental Science, Film, Geology, History, Philosophy, and Languages, Literatures and Cultures.

In addition to the QGS courses, approximately 40 undergraduate courses will be held in May-June and July-August, or over the course of the summer, and are now available for registration in SOLUS. They range from courses in climate change, gender and politics, oceanography, and life, death and meaning, to courses about design thinking, photography, and Hollywood.

“It is important for FAS to have a vibrant campus community all year round,” says Lynda Jessup, Vice-Dean, Faculty of Arts and Science. “The summer courses offered will give students opportunities to earn credits that will allow them to advance in their degree plans and to engage with members of the Queen’s community.”