Sustainability

OFFICES: Arts and Letters 417
TELEPHONE: 619-594-5066 / 619-594-0978
E-MAIL: dcarruth@sdsu.edu / mlauer@sdsu.edu

Faculty

Faculty assigned to teach sustainability courses are drawn from the colleges at San Diego State University. The program is housed in the College of Arts and Letters.

Program Co-Directors and Undergraduate Advisers: David V. Carruthers (Political Science), Matthew T. Lauer (Anthropology)
Committee: Alcosser (English and Comparative Literature), Atterton (Philosophy), Biggs (Geography), Elkind (History)

The Major

The major in sustainability focuses on the interface of human and natural systems. Students gain an understanding of sociopolitical, historical, philosophical, moral, and scientific aspects of environmental problems. Students take courses in the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences, and have the flexibility to concentrate their studies in one or more of these areas. Emphasis is placed on strong writing, research, quantitative skills, and broad liberal arts perspective. The curriculum emphasizes the study of cultural, historic, social, economic, political values and forces that shape resource use and constrain responses to sustainable development. Students are engaged to define sustainability in its various uses, evaluate international debates about the meaning of this term, and the goals of sustainability movements. The program takes an interdisciplinary approach to local, regional, and global environmental issues. This approach fosters systems-thinking skills, written and verbal communication skills, quantitative and qualitative skills, analytic and problem-solving skills. These skills combined with knowledge of foundational scientific principles, an understanding of the human and social contexts of environmental problems, and the policy and decision making contexts within which these problems are reckoned are consistent with careers focused on sustainability; the improvement of the human quality of life through balanced and adaptive stewardship of resources that lie at the human nature interface. The primary objective of the major is to aid in the development of strategies, practices and policies for sustainable societies based on respect and care for the community of life, human cultures, ecological integrity, social and economic justice, and the result of scientific research.

Graduates majoring in sustainability are well prepared for positions in local and state government, particularly in the areas of public lands, parks, natural resource management, environmental conservation and restoration, environmental education, and environmental planning. The major is good preparation for a career of further education in environmental advocacy, energy, private consulting, law, natural resource management, social sciences, and the humanities. Graduates may also work in nonprofit organizations such as the Nature Conservancy, Audubon Society, Green Peace, and Sierra Club, or become teachers in primary, secondary education, or universities.

Advising

Students are required to meet with an undergraduate adviser in order to declare the major. All students admitted to the university with a declared major in sustainability are urged to meet with an undergraduate adviser either prior to or during their first semester.

Impacted Program

The sustainability major is an impacted program. To be admitted to the sustainability major, students must meet the following criteria:

Complete preparation for the major;
Complete a minimum of 60 transferable semester units;
Have a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0.

To complete the major, students must fulfill the degree requirements for the major described in the catalog in effect at the time they are accepted into the premajor at SDSU (assuming continuous enrollment).

Major Academic Plans (MAPs)