Sustainability Minor

Program Coordinator/Contact

Robert Watrel, Interim Department Head
Department of Geography
109 Wecota Hall
605-688-4511

Program Information

The minor in Sustainability provides an interdisciplinary approach to sustainability, allowing students to explore the challenges of sustainability and to think about how to develop solutions to pressing issues at the local, regional, and global scale. Students will be exposed to information and experiences that increase their knowledge base of the three pillars of sustainability as reflected in the human and scientific dimensions as well as coursework on ethics and policy. The minor complements any major on campus and provides both intellectual breadth and depth in a challenging new area of inquiry that is gaining a high level of interest in businesses, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations. A minor in Sustainability and a major in a discipline will provide excellent thinking and problem-solving skills for students as a citizen, employee, or graduate student.

Student Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the minor in Sustainability, students will be able to:

• Define sustainability and articulate an understanding of the linkages between social, economic, and environmental perspectives.
• Recognize and assess how sustainability impacts the natural environment and human communities.
• Apply measures of sustainability and an evidence-based, interdisciplinary approach to issues of social, environmental and economic justice.

Course Delivery Format

The program includes lecture, discussion, laboratory, field-based experiences, and online coursework.