Sustainability & Environmental Stewardship Minor

Overview

The Sustainability & Environmental Stewardship Minor is designed to encourage undergraduate students from any discipline to explore the three pillars of sustainability (economic, environmental and social) beyond course work in their major. The Sustainability Minor will be administered by the Liberal Studies Program at MSU. Liberal Studies works across departments and across the university. The Liberal Studies degree values a broad, integrated and interdisciplinary approach to higher education. Interdisciplinary studies foster connections among disciplines and draw upon multiple areas of knowledge. Students choose one of three program options: Environmental Studies, Global and Multicultural, or Quaternity (on campus or online degree completion).

With support from Liberal Studies, MSU is uniquely positioned to prepare students to understand and address sustainability challenges. An interdisciplinary undergraduate Sustainability Minor will enhance the value of undergraduate degrees by identifying students who have taken initiative to learn and experience the integration of economic, social and environmental sustainability within their disciplines. The Sustainability Minor (on campus or online option) is supported by the Institute on Ecosystems (loE), Campus Sustainability Advisory Council (CSAC) and the Office of Sustainability.

Description of the program

The Sustainability & Environmental Stewardship Minor is designed to encourage undergraduate students from any discipline to explore the three pillars of sustainability (economic, environmental and social) beyond course work in their major. As a result, the minor includes courses from the College of Agriculture, the College of Engineering, the College of Education, Health and Human Development, the College of Letters and Science and the Honors College. The Minor is administered by Liberal Studies and complements their existing Liberal Studies, Environmental Studies degree Option.

The Minor requires a minimum of 21 credits, with at least 9 credits unique to the minor. The student's major advisor must certify that the coursework is complete. Course substitutions are allowed by approval of Liberal Studies and the student's major advisor.

Students are expected to create a diverse program, with the guidance of their faculty advisor, using courses from all three areas. No more than 12 credits may be used to simultaneously fulfill the Sustainability Minor requirements, University Core and the student's major. At least 9 credits must be unique to the minor. The student's minor advisor must certify that the 12-credit restriction is not exceeded.

*At least 9 credits overall MUST be upper division, 300 & 400 level