Sustainability

Karen L. Eckert, Professor

Nicholas H. Johnson, Assistant Professor

This interdisciplinary degree program provides students the opportunity to focus their intellectual inquiry on issues and problems related to local and global sustainability. The program emphasizes connections between society – including economy, production systems, and governance – and the natural environment. Students prepare for global citizenship by learning how to simultaneously maintain ecological and environmental health, create economic prosperity, and pursue social justice amid the complexities of the 21st century. In so doing, they join a community of peers, faculty and staff committed to seeking solutions to some of the world's most pressing problems in ways that “meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (UN World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987).

Students pursuing a major in Sustainability are required to also major in a second discipline. The impetus behind this requirement is to encourage students to apply the unique “triple bottom line” perspective in the context of their career discipline. With a focus on place-based study and the integration of knowledge across disciplines, the contemporary sustainability lens, interwoven into the tapestry of a liberal arts education, prepares the next generation of thought leaders to communicate effectively, resolve conflict, solve complex problems, and employ effectual, ethical leadership styles. The degree intentionally exposes the student to a diversity of theories, methods, and approaches that are pertinent to comprehending and creating solutions for the evolving social and environmental challenges facing humankind.

The major requires 12 courses, including a capstone project and two electives chosen from one of four content spheres. Electives in the Sociology, Ethics and Leadership sphere look at how human behavior and relations, ethical and theological values, and societal organization function as related to increasing sustainability. Electives in the Economy and Governance sphere deal with business practices and governance systems that lead to sustainable societies. Electives in the Environment and Natural Resources sphere focus on sustainable natural resource use and management, analyze environmental issues, and seek solutions to today’s resource needs while also conserving for future generations. Electives in the Production Systems and the Built Environment sphere examine how agriculture, architecture, industrial ecology, energy, and other systems of everyday life can be designed to reduce resource consumption and environmental damage, promote regenerative processes, encourage innovation, build community, and enhance quality of life.

The minor requires six courses, including an introductory course, one elective chosen from each of four content spheres (described above), and a culminating independent project. To be listed as an elective, a course must address at least one of the sustainability learning outcomes and must include a significant project or assignment looking at sustainability from the perspective of the course discipline. In the case of the minor, no more than two courses may be taken from any single academic department other than sustainability. SUS 280 Topics in Sustainability can be applied to any one of the content spheres, depending on the specific course topic when it is offered. SUS 395 Sustainability Internship must be taken for a minimum of 3 SH in order to count toward the major. SUS 395 Sustainability Internship and SUS 401 Sustainability Project must be taken for a minimum of 3 SH to be included in the six courses required to achieve the minor.