Sustainability Minor

Location(s): Brookings Main Campus

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Green graphic for sustainability.

Program Coordinator/Contact

George White, Professor
Department of Geography and Geospatial Sciences
109 Wecota Hall
605-688-4840

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.

Course Delivery Format

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

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.

Requirements for Sustainability Minor: 18-19 Credits

Human Dimensions

Select three credits from the following list. Credits: 3

ABS 203 - Global Food Systems [SGR #3, HSDC] Credits: 3
AGEC / ECON 472 - Resource and Environmental Economics (COM) Credits: 3
GEOG 415 - Environmental Geography and Sustainability Credits: 3
HIST 409 - Environmental History of the U.S. (COM) Credits: 3
PSYC 244 - Environmental Psychology Credits: 3
SOC 462 - Population Studies Credits: 3
WL 430 - Human Dimensions in Natural Resource Management Credits: 3

Scientific Dimensions

Select three to four credits from the following list. Credits: 3-4

CEE 225 - Principles of Environmental Science and Engineering Credits: 3
CM 460 - Sustainable Building Systems Concepts and Analysis Credits: 3
EES 275 - Introduction to Environmental Science Credits: 3
GEOG 425 - Population Geography Credits: 3
NRM 221 - Introduction to Conservation Planning and Management Credits: 3
NRM 311 - Principles of Ecology (COM) Credits: 3
PRAG 310 - Sustainable Agriculture Credits: 3
PS 447 - Organic Plant Production Credits: 3
RANG 205 - Introduction to Range Management [SGR #6, HSDC] Credits: 2
RANG 205L - Introduction to Range Management Lab [SGR #6, HSDC] Credits: 1
RANG 374 - Habitat Conservation and Management Credits: 3
RANG 374L - Habitat Conservation and Management Lab Credits: 1
WL 220 - Introduction to Wildlife and Fisheries Management Credits: 3

Ethics, Law, Policy and Planning