Course Overview

LDRS 2400: Leadership and Sustainability in Belize is a University of Denver course that was developed in 2008 by Paul Kosempel, PhD and Linda Olson, PhD from the Pioneer Leadership Program. The class was created with support from the Daniels Fund and runs each year during the university's winter interterm period. This blog was initially created by Dr. Kosempel to share the experiences of the first year of this course, and those entries are below on this overview page. This year, we are expanding the blog to allow students to share their reactions to the experience as well as summaries of relevant class activities, and these reactions and summaries can be found on the tabs above. 

The overview of the course is as follows: 

Every day, decisions are made by leaders in business, government, and non-profit settings that impact sustainability in its many forms. This course explores the multiple meanings and interpretations of sustainability. The course location of Belize provides a perfect learning laboratory to examine how one country is attempting to balance the often-competing demands of economic, cultural, and environmental sustainability. Course activities include staying at a low-environmental impact conference center in the rainforest, visiting a model environmentally sustainable island community, guest lectures from various country experts, and exploring a Maya site. Through these activities students examine the role that leadership plays in contributing to small and large scale sustainability efforts.