UNIVERSITY CATALOG: 2023-2024

Program: Minor in Sustainability

Program Description

The interdisciplinary minor in Sustainability offers a broad education in sustainability from many perspectives. Core courses seek to educate students in the concepts of sustainability, and the best practices in sustainability and to teach them to consider all factors: economic, environmental and social, both in the short term and in the long term in making decisions. Elective courses are chosen from an individual’s field of interest, where the emphasis is on issues relating to sustainability. The minor complements many academic majors, and many of the courses offered within the program satisfy requirements or electives for other degree programs.

Program Requirements

1. Core Requirements (9 units)

SUST 300 Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Sustainability (3)
SUST 310 Best Practices in Sustainability (3)
SUST 401 Applied Sustainability (3)

2. Electives (9-12 units)

AFRS 488 Sustainability and Environmental Justice in African and African Diaspora Communities (3)
ANTH 346 Urban Anthropology (3)
ANTH 430 Environmental Anthropology (3)
ANTH 432 Environmental Justice and Health (3)
ANTH 486 Interrogating Globalization: The Ethnography of Global Problems (3)
BIOL 327 Ecology and People (3)
BIOL 456/BIOL 492O Conservation Biology (3/1)
CAS 355 Environment, Development and Social Exclusion in Central America (3)
CHEM 541/CHEM 541L Environmental Chemistry I/Lab (2/2)
CHEM 542/L Environmental Chemistry II/Lab (1/2)
CM 336/L Fundamentals of Green Buildings and Lab (2/1)
ECON 300 Economic Principles and Problems (3)
ECON 360 Environmental Economics (3)
EOH 454 Environmental Health Law (3)
EOH 468 Air Pollution and Health (3)
FCS 414 Senior Comprehensive Interior Design Studio (3)
FCS 496S Sustainability in Family and Consumer Sciences (3)
FCS 512 Sustainable Building and Interior Design (3)
FCS 516 Interior Design and the Building Process (3)
GEOG 316 Environmental Geography (3)
GEOG 351 Cities, Space, and Power (3)
GEOG 364/L Geography of World Ecosystems (2/1)
GEOG 416 Earth’s Changing Climate (3)
GEOG 444 Conservation (3)
GEOG 459 Environmental Impact Studies (3)
JS 151 Natural Environment in Judaism (1) (Corequisite with RTM 151F)
ME 122 Energy and Society (3)
ME 322 Principles of Recycling and Municipal Solid Waste Management (3)
ME 482 Fundamentals of Alternative Energy and Fuel Cell Technology (3)
ME 483 Solar, Wind and Geothermal Energy (3)
ME 485 Introduction to Environmental Engineering (3)
MGT 466 Strategic Leadership of Sustainability: Organizational Challenges and Opportunities (3)
PHIL 240/SUST 240 Environmental Ethics (3)
POLS 461 Environmental Policy (3)
POLS 464 Comparative Public Policy (3)
RS 370 Religion and Ecology (3)
RTM 151F Survival (2) (Special section linked to JS 151)
RTM 251 Recreation and the Natural Environment (3)
RTM 351 Outdoor and Environmental Education (3)
RTM 481 Principles of Sustainable Tourism (3)
SUST 111/SUST 111L Understanding Climate Change and Lab (3/1)
URBS 150 Discover the City (3)
URBS 300 Planning Theory (3)
URBS 310 Growth and Sustainable Development of Cities (3)
URBS 400 Planning for the Natural and Built Environment (3)
URBS 415 The California Environmental Quality Act for Urban Planners (3)

Total Units in the Minor: 18-21

Contact

Department of Interdisciplinary Studies and Liberal Studies
Chair: Ranita Chatterjee
Education Administration (EA) 100
(818) 677-3300

Program Learning Outcomes

Students receiving a minor in Sustainability will be able to:

  1. Demonstrate knowledge of key concepts related to the study of sustainability, including planetary carrying capacity, climate change and ecological footprint.
  2. Define sustainability and understand how concepts of sustainability are connected to issues of social justice, the environment and the economy at local, regional and global levels.
  3. Explain how sustainability relates to their lives and their values, and how their actions impact issues of sustainability at the individual, local, regional and global levels.