Sustainability Studies Minor
One of the defining challenges of the twenty-first century is how to transform human societies to meet everyone's needs while preserving the natural environment upon which we rely. The minor in sustainability studies provides students with an understanding of the complex, interconnected systems that affect ecological health, economic welfare, and social justice; the ability to recognize and analyze challenges to human and environmental health and well-being; and the skills to help transform local and global communities into sustainable ones. Our program emphasizes the integration of knowledge from a variety of disciplines, ranging from the sciences to the arts, and values experiential learning.
Learning Outcomes
Students who earn the minor in sustainability studies will be able to:
- Explain and analyze the complex local and global systems that provide the foundation for environmental and human health and well-being.
- Integrate knowledge of ecological, economic, and social systems in order to frame challenges to sustainability and produce potential solutions.
- Communicate to explain and influence how individual and collective actions affect the environmental and social sustainability of interrelated systems.
- Evaluate policies, practices, and belief systems for their environmental, economic, and social sustainability.
- Apply principles of sustainability to transform their own lives, workplaces, and local and global communities.
Requirements for the Minor
A minimum of 18 credit hours distributed as follows:
| SUST 1000 Introduction to Sustainability Studies | 3 hours |
| SUST 4000 Sustainability in Action | 3 hours |
Research and Communications (choose one):
| JOUR 3750 Environmental Journalism and Communication | 3 hours |
| SUST 1100 Enhancing Campus Sustainability | 3 hours |
| WRIT 2072 Writing for Change | 3 hours |
Science and Sustainability (choose one):
| BIOL 1318/ISTL 2600 Natural Systems & Sustainable Ecologies | 3 hours |
| SCIN 1010 Topics in Physical Science: When Rivers Run Wild | 3 hours |
| SCIN 1520 and 1521 Environment and Environment Lab | 4 hours |
Social Science and Sustainability (choose one):
| ANTH 3490 Environmental Anthropology | 3 hours |
| or SOCI 3575 Human Ecology | 3 hours |
| EDUC 4250 Economics and Geography for Global Sustainability | 4 hours |
| INTL 3500 Environmental and Energy Security | 3 hours |
| POLT 2500 Interdisciplinary Approaches to Politics: Sex, Drugs, and Garbage | 3 hours |
Arts and Humanities and Sustainability (choose one):
| HRTS 3400 Human Rights and the Environment | 3 hours |
| PHIL 2360 Environmental Ethics | 3 hours |
| RELG 2430 Environment and Religion | 3 hours |
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