This case features the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor's (Resource A: Institutional Context) interdisciplinary team-taught science course called "Introduction to Global Change I: Physical Processes (UC 110)^a To read a brief overview of the activities of the Global Change I course, see the introduction. This course is the part of the University of Michigan (U of M) "Global Change Program," which consists of three interdisciplinary, team-taught courses that examine the topic of global change from physical and human perspectives. All three Global Change courses are designed for first and second year students who want to understand the historical and modern aspects of Global Change. Global Change I, II, and III also comprise the three required courses in the University of Michigan's recently-approved 17-credit Global Change minor. The GC minor is open to all students except those minoring in Biology or the Residential College's Environmental Studies^b.

The Global Change I, II and III courses evolved through a grass-roots effort involving mostly senior faculty from five U of M schools and colleges (most notably the School of Natural Resources and Environment), some ten departments (most notably, the Department of Biology, Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences, and Department of Geological Sciences), the Space Physics Research Laboratory, and the national network of faculty known as the Earth Systems Science Education (ESSE) program funded by NASA.

A significant recent development for the Global Change Program is that it has recently been institutionalized. Originally, Global Change was designed without any departmental home in the University and, therefore, faced many obstacles to both funding and staffing. Because Global Change had no departmental home, its faculty had to cobble together a course budget each year, drawing heavily on external resources. Moreover, teaching in the courses for many faculty reflected an overload. However, when we last talked to Ben van der Pluijm, he told us that Global Change Program now receives "significant support from the University (line item in provost's budget for an initial 3 years)" and received a 100% match on external funding that the course obtained from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The institutional support also includes some summer salary for long-term faculty recruitment and some teaching compensation.

Since the time we began researching this case study in the winter of 1999 (Resource A: Methods Used to Produce this Case Study), the three-course Global Change sequence was approved as the core of a minor at the U of M. Ben van der Pluijm, geology professor and director of the Global Change Program, calls the minor a "front-loaded" degree program, because it allows students to complete the requirements in the first few years of college. The program substitutes for a portion of the liberal arts requirements using an integrated natural and social sciences approach. As of Spring 2001, over 30 students were enrolled in the Global Change minor.

Dramatis Personae
The Global Change faculty seek to provide a team-taught course that "seamlessly integrates material." To this end, they maintain a high level of interaction with each other, attending weekly meetings with the GSIs, bi-weekly team meetings, and each other's lectures, and participating in summer workshops, among other things. They all have agreed to conform to a single format for presenting material, produce extensive web notes, and design hands-on experiences for the students.

In January 1999, when we studied their efforts, these instructors included:

Ben van der Pluijm, geology professor, College of Literature, Science and the Arts. Ben has been at U of M since 1985, where his research focuses on the deformation of minerals and rocks. His group uses state-of-the-art laboratory facilities to study the deformation of regions around the world. Whereas some projects are of immediate societal relevance, he is a strong proponent of curiosity-driven research. His professional efforts involve significant editorial duties, whereas his educational interests focus on science education to undergraduates.








Tim Killeen, professor of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, College of Literature, Science and the Arts. Dr. Killeen is the director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado and Senior Scientist at NCAR's High Altitude Observatory. Prior to taking on this responsibility in July 2000, Dr. Killeen was a faculty member in the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan (UM), Ann Arbor, where he taught many undergraduate and graduate classes. He also served as UM's Associate Vice-President for Research, with responsibilities for integrating undergraduate research and education across the spectrum of disciplines. Dr. Killeen was the course director for the UM Global Change sequence from 1993 until his departure from the university.


Dave Allan, professor, School of Natural Resources and Environment. Dr. Allan received his B. Sc. (1966) from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, and his Ph.D. (1971) from the University of Michigan. He served on the Zoology faculty of the University of Maryland until 1990, when he moved to the University of Michigan where he currently is Professor in the School of Natural Resources and Environment. Dr. Allan specializes in the ecology and conservation of rivers. In his research he works with colleagues from other disciplines to examine how changes in land use affect the status of rivers and watersheds in both North and South America.


George Kling, biology professor, College of Literature, Science and the Arts. Dr. Kling received his Ph.D. from Duke University in 1988, where he studied the aquatic ecology of lakes in Africa, and worked at the Marine Biological Lab in Woods Hole from 1988-1991 as a postdoctoral researcher, where he studied aquatic ecology in arctic environments. He is interested in how the cycling of elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus underlie our understanding of the broad environmental problems of acid rain, eutrophication, species introductions, and climate change. The general goal of his research and teaching is to better understand what controls important ecosystem functions, to relate this understanding to major environmental problems, and to communicate this knowledge to students and the public at large.


Lisa Curran, Assistant Professor, School of Natural Resources and Environment. Dr. Curran received her BA in Anthropology from Harvard University and her Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University. Her professional experience includes over 15 years of interdisciplinary problem-solving and consultancies in South and Southeast Asia working for US Agency for International Development (AID), World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), UNESCO-MAB and several international and regional non-governmental conservation organizations. Her research and teaching combines ecology, land use, resource economics and forestry policies with conservation of bio-cultural diversity primarily in Indonesia. She held an interdisciplinary faculty position at the University of Michigan (School of Natural Resources & Environment, Department of Biology and Center for Southeast Asian Studies). Currently, Dr. Curran is an Associate Professor at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.


Patrick Livingood, graduate student instructor, School of Natural Resources and Environment. Patrick is a Ph.D. student in anthropological archaeology. He has a B.S. in Computer Science and a B.A. in anthropology. His primary research focus is on the prehistory of southeastern North America. Archaeologists are necessarily interdisciplinary, using physical science techniques to generate information, which they interpret as social scientists. In addition, he utilizes GIS and computer simulation in his own research, so he was familiar with both the tools and the goals of the course.


David Halsing, graduate student instructor, School of Natural Resources and Environment. Dave earned a Bachelor's Degree in Human Biology from Stanford University and is currently completing his Masters of Science degree in Resource Policy and Management at U of M. He is studying integrated approaches--science, economics, risk management, and optimization--to natural resource issues. He also spent several years as an on-site trainer for computerized medical technology systems. The experience he had teaching people how to use computers was a huge help in working with Global Change students.

b. In addition to the GC-I, II, and III courses, the GC minor requires two electives, chosen from some 25 courses offered by Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, Biology, Geology (in the College of Literature Science and Arts) and the School of Natural Resources and Environment.