The University of California San Diego has made climate change education a mandatory part of every student’s curriculum, regardless of their major. The new program, called “Climate Change Education,” was rolled out this fall and requires all new students to take a one-quarter course focused on the subject to graduate.
The initiative was inspired by the university’s long history of climate research and education, and is aimed at equipping students from all disciplines with a deep understanding of climate change and its solutions. The program is named after Jane Teranes, a professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography who died in 2022 and was a key figure in developing the idea.
The requirement applies to over 7,000 first-year students, who will need to choose from a list of more than 40 approved courses to fulfill the mandate. The courses, which are designed to be interdisciplinary, cover a range of topics including climate justice, indigenous approaches to climate change, and water management. Many of the courses are being taught by faculty from departments other than environmental science, including arts, political science, and gender studies.
University officials say that the program was designed to be flexible and not to add to students’ overall workload. Transfer students are exempt but encouraged to enroll in one of the approved courses. The program is seen as a way to build on the university’s existing diversity, equity and inclusion requirement, which was introduced in 2011.
The idea for the climate change courses was first floated in 2022, and was inspired by the success of the DEI requirement. Muir College Provost Wayne Yang said that the administration drew on the lessons learned from the DEI requirement, which had shown that students could be equipped with the knowledge and skills to address social issues without adding to their overall workload.
“We took the best learnings from the DEI requirement and applied them to the climate requirement,” Yang said. “We wanted to make sure that the climate requirement didn’t add additional time to degree for students, but rather incentivized and encouraged faculty to integrate climate change education into their upper division courses.”
The program is seen as a way to honor Teranes’ legacy and to continue her work in climate education. Teranes was a key figure in developing the proposal for the climate change courses and was deeply involved in the workgroup that implemented the program. She passed away suddenly in July 2022, and the program was named in her honor.
Scripps professor Sarah Gille said that Teranes had a deep understanding of how to teach climate to students and that her absence has left a significant void. However, she sees the program as a way to pay tribute to Teranes’ lasting impact on the campus. “We set up the new requirement with the best intentions to make sure that UC San Diego produces graduates who are ready to meet the challenges of a changing climate, regardless of their field of study,” Gille said. “We need everyone engaged in this work, and we hope the JTCCER program will inspire others to follow suit.”
Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla said that the program marks a new path forward for the university and will equip students with a strong understanding of climate change and its solutions. “Whether undergraduates are majoring in STEM, the humanities, arts, social sciences or any other field, this requirement will equip them with a strong understanding of climate change and how they can contribute to meaningful solutions,” Khosla said.
