Achievements in Sustainability at Rochester

The Sustainability Minor

The College of Arts, Sciences & Engineering introduces a minor in sustain-ability

In Fall 2010, Dean of the College Richard Feldman convened a multidisciplinary committee of College faculty from the sciences, social sciences and humanities, and charged them with developing a sustainability minor, an addition to the undergraduate curriculum eagerly anticipated by students seeking to pursue studies and careers in environmental science and policy. By graduation 2011, the group had completed its charge and secured approval from the College Curriculum Committee for an interdisciplinary minor including courses from nine different departments.

Set to enroll its first students in Fall 2011, the Minor in Sustainability will prepare students to explore, communicate, and solve problems in sustainability and global change that span disciplinary boundaries and carry far-reaching implications for society. The structure of the program roots the minor in environmental science, provides philosophical and historical context from which to view the interrelationships of environment and society and explores the mechanisms of economics and politics that impact environmental policy.

The core course of study begins in the department of Earth & Environmental Sciences

• EES 103:  Introduction to Environmental Science

Two additional courses selected from the following four complete the core requirement:

• Philosophy 230:           Environmental Justice
• Economics 238:           Environmental Economics
• Political Science 247:   Green Markets
• Anthropology 224:      Anthropology of Development

To complete the minor students will chose three further courses from the core list fourteen elective courses, with a minimum of one required to be taken from science or engineering:

Biology

• Ecosystem Conservation and Human Society
• Ecology

Chemistry

• Green Energy
•  Solar Cells
•  Biofuels

Electrical & Computer Engineering

•  Energy for the 21st Century

Earth & Environmental Sciences

•  Introduction to Climate Change
•  Geohazards and Mitigation: Living on an Active Planet
•  Environmental and Applied Geophysics
•  Energy and Society
•  Sustainable Systems

History

•  Environmental History
•  Politics of Energy and the Environment

Political Science

•  Environmental Politics

More information on the sustainability minor, including prerequisites and course restrictions, can be found at: www.rochester.edu/college/msc/sustainability.html.