Sustainability Minor

Sustainability Minor Declaration Form

The Foundations of Sustainability minor is an 18-credit program open to all undergraduate students at the University of Arkansas. The sustainability minor provides foundational knowledge and skills related to the emerging discipline of sustainability and prepares students to become innovators within diverse fields. The program is organized around the four interdisciplinary systems areas. If you would like to declare the Foundations of Sustainability minor, meet with your major advisor to ensure an understanding of how it will fit into your degree plan, then meet with the Coordinator of Academic Sustainability Programs, Ken McCown, to ensure you understand the requirements.

 

If you are in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, you must also visit the Dean's Office in Old Main 525 to fill out a college-specific Change of Major/Minor form.

Learning Goals

Students who complete the minor in sustainability will be expected to:

• Articulate commonly accepted definitions of sustainability and discuss various nuances among those definitions
• Have an understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of sustainability issues, particularly as they pertain to the thematic areas of knowledge addressed by the minor (sustainability of natural systems, sustainability of managed systems, sustainability of built systems, and sustainability of human social systems)
• Be conversant regarding acquisition and analysis of data pertinent to sustainability issues
• Communicate orally and in writing organized thoughts defining sustainability issues
• Identify appropriate potential strategies to address sustainability issues using data and provide results of rudimentary analyses of data using novel metrics or statistics
• Make recommendations, based on data analysis and interpretation, to advance sustainability of individuals or institutions

Requirements

The course requirements for the sustainability minor are listed in the table below. All courses must be passed with a grade of 'C' or better in order to fulfill these requirements.

Course Descriptions

Required Courses

 SUST 1103. Foundations of Sustainability (Sp). 3 Hours.

Foundations of Sustainability is an interdisciplinary course to introduce concepts and theories of sustainability at global, regional, and local levels. Emphasis is on four thematic areas of sustainability; social, natural, built and managed systems. The aim is to increase environmental literacy for engagement of sustainability into students' own disciplines.

 SUST 2103. Applications of Sustainability (Fa). 3 Hours.

Applications of Sustainability is an interdisciplinary course introducing data gathering, data analysis or interpretation, and synthesis of data applied to problems in sustainability. Students engage in hands-on, inquiry-based investigation of sustainability issues across four thematic areas: social systems, natural systems, built systems (Architecture and Engineering), and managed systems (Agriculture and Business).

 SUST 4103. Capstone Experience in Sustainability (Sp, Su, Fa). 3 Hours.

A capstone experience focused on service learning, research learning, or internship in sustainability. Student engagement in community service, research, or relevant work on sustainability through a summer internship or equivalent experience provides opportunities for students to apply sustainability theories and principles learned from prior course work toward advancing sustainability across society. Prerequisite: SUST 1103 and SUST 2103.