CANTON -- St. Lawrence University will launch a Sustainability Semester in the spring of 2013.

The program will build on the success of the university’s Adirondack Semester and its nationally known environmental studies programs.

Similar to the Adirondack Semester, students in the Sustainability Semester will live and take courses together that address themes of human sustainability such as land and water use and food production from a variety of disciplines and perspectives.

“We began exploring this program option as we listened to our students’ passion for community-supported agriculture to provide local foods on campus as well as for creating a model for sustainable living,” said SLU President William Fox.

The program will be located on farm property near the St. Lawrence campus leased from Cornell Cooperative Extension.

Plans call for 15 to 20 students to live there, with an assistant program director always on site, taking four courses together that focus on sustainability from such disciplines as environmental studies, English, philosophy, psychology and geology.

Students will also work on-site to grow food, build and help renovate energy-efficient structures, and create an intense group setting, attempting to live as sustainably as possible. In addition, students will engage with local community organizations and individuals with special experiences in land use and food production.

The semester will also include an urban component, where students spend two weeks in either Boston or New York, to explore issues such as transportation, housing, food access, pollution and environmental justice.

The university will consider the possibility of adding summer internships, a summer institute in sustainability and collaborations with community-based organizations for specific projects.

More info is at http://www.stlawu.edu/academics/experience/adirondack-semester.