What Can You Do With A Sustainability Minor?
A review of job postings in www.idealist.org, the leading source for jobs in the not-for-profit realm, revealed over 300 employment opportunities for which graduates with the Minor in Sustainability would be eligible. Of equal importance, students graduating with this Minor will be highly competitive for interdisciplinary graduate programs at several major universities such as Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Wisconsin, Madison, or Arizona State University all widely recognized as major players in the area of sustainability.
The Sustainability Minor Provides:
Sustainability as one of the CLAS Signature Areas has participation from most of the departments in the College and collaborative links with other programs (e.g., UCD Center for Sustainable Infrastructure Systems (CSIS) and Schools (Business, Public Affairs) creating a body of expertise for the interdisciplinary integration of scientific principles, historic trends, philosophic theories and cultural forces that frame the socio-economic, political and ecological issues in the study of sustainability.
What Is Required:
The Sustainability Minor will start with two sequential core courses: SUST I The Non-Sustainable Past assesses the interrelations among the historical, political, cultural, ecological, and economic aspects of contemporary environmental issues.
SUST I focuses on people and the non-sustainable uses of water, land, energy, manufactured goods, and food (Prereq: 1 Natural Science Core and 1 Social Science Core).
SUST II Our Sustainable Future concentrates on some of the key environmental, socio-cultural, economic and political aspects that influence the capability of today’s societies to develop a sustainable future.
After completing the SUST I and SUST II courses, students will choose two electives from the approved list of courses, select a field study, internship, or service learning experience (SUST 3939) in consultation with a Sustainability Minor faculty member or related travel study course.
Students will finish the Minor with the capstone SUST 4960 Practicing Sustainability which focuses on current research practices in sustainability and sustainability-related fields. Students work in teams to complete a sustainability-related research project or paper and poster and present it to the campus community.
The Minor consists of 18 credit hours of study:
SUST 3010 = 3 credits
SUST 3011 = 3 credits
SUST 4960 Capstone = 3 credits
Total Core Credits = 9 credits |
Elective = 3 credits
Elective = 3 credits
SUST 3939 or alternative course = 3 credits
Total Elective Credits = 9 credits |
Twelve hours of course work for the minor must be upper division (3000 or above) approved for the Sustainability Minor (core courses plus one elective). Students must complete a minimum of 9 hours in residence, and average a minimum 2.5 GPA in all courses counted for the Minor. No more than six (6) credits counted for another major or minor program can be counted toward the Sustainability Minor.
Participating Departments
- College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
- Anthropology
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Communication
- Economics
- Geography and Environmental Sciences
- History
- Philosophy
- Political Science
- Physics
- Two courses from the Business School contribute to the Minor in Sustainability.
Contacts
Director: John Brett, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology
Email: John.Brett@ucdenver.edu
Phone: 303-556-8497
Laurel Dodds, MPS, Managing Director, Signature Areas
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Email: Laurel.Dodds@ucdenver.edu
Phone: 303-352-3728