Master of Arts (M.A.) in Sustainability

CURRICULUM

A minimum of 33 semester hours is required for an M.A. in Sustainability. There is a thesis or a non-thesis option.

Required Core Courses (15 hours)

The required core courses will bring students together in an integrated learning environment to form a cadre of diverse backgrounds. The core courses are designed to provide students with methods and theory appropriate to the study of sustainability. They will explore the link between concepts of sustainability and systems approaches to knowledge, and will develop the integrative methods needed to work across the disciplines on sustainability problems.

• SOS 510 Perspectives on Sustainability (Required for all students)
• SOS 511 Quantitative Methods in Sustainability (Required for all students)
• SOS 512 Sustainable Resource Allocation
• SOS 513 Science for Sustainability
• SOS 514 Human Dimensions of Sustainability
• SOS 515 Industrial Ecology and Design for Sustainability
• SOS 516 Science, Technology, and Public Affairs or SOS 591 Uncertainty and Decision Making
• SOS 591 Sustainability and Enterprise

Required Challenge Area Seminars (3 hours for thesis option or 6 hours for non-thesis option)

Challenge area seminars are designed to provide students with a strong substantive foundation (content knowledge, big theory, and big studies) of the main themes of the School.

• SOS 530 International Development and Sustainability
• SOS 532 Sustainable Urban Dynamics
• SOS 533 Sustainable Water
• SOS 534 Sustainable Energy and Material Use
• SOS 535 Sustainable Ecosystems
• SOS 598 Food System Sustainability

Required Solutions Workshops (3 hours for thesis option or 6 hours for non-thesis)

Solutions workshops are designed to provide students with experience solving real-world problems that involve multiple sustainability challenges. As such, they will be problem-based, and not specifically attached to one of the main themes. Please check with Advising for a current list of workshops that are being offered.

Elective Courses (6 hours)

Subject to satisfying pre-requisites and co-requisites, students can select a minimum of 6 semester hours from the Graduate Electives List (document). With permission from the student’s supervisory committee, other electives (not included in this list) may be selected.

Download Graduate Electives List, chich is located at the end of the Graduate Handbook (PDF).

Thesis or Non-Thesis Option (6 hours)

- Thesis Option
A thesis is optional. If students elect to do a thesis they will be required to devote six (6) hours to writing a thesis (SOS 599). Once approved by the faculty advisor, students may also register for research hours (SOS 592), but these hours are not necessary for the Program of Study. All Master’s degree candidates must also be enrolled for at least one semester hour of credit within the academic unit (i.e., the School of Sustainability) during the semester or summer session in which the thesis is defended.

• SOS 592 Research
• SOS 599 Thesis

- Non-Thesis Option (6 hours)
If students choose the non-thesis option, they will be required to complete an additional three (3) semester hours of challenge area seminars and an additional three (3) semester hours of solutions workshops described below. The thesis substitute can be an individual applied project/product related to one of the workshops. The student’s supervisory committee must approve the project/product in advance.