Sustainability
https://sustainableunh.unh.edu/
Sustainability is about balancing environmental stewardship, social well-being, and economic vitality to meet our present needs while ensuring the ability of future generations to meet their needs. At its core, sustainability is a collective commitment to valuing human dignity for all people and ensuring ecological integrity of places that support us.
Students from any UNH college or major can pair the Sustainability Dual Major with their primary major. You'll learn to analyze, evaluate, and create new ideas and models around sustainability. As an interdisciplinary and applied field of study and practice, you'll make connections across issues of science and ethics, policy and technology, and culture and history to better understand and take action on pressing issues of our time. Solving real-life problems requires the skills and perspectives of people from multiple disciplines and backgrounds. The Sustainability Dual Major provides the skills and knowledge needed to understand these systems, identify relevant environmental and social issues, and become agents of change in a complex world.
Sustainability Dual Major (SDM) students will:
Comprehend grand challenges
Students will gain knowledge of the fundamental aspects of sustainability challenges, such that they understand the problems and develop solutions to complex issues.
Think in systems
Students will have an ability to analyze and synthesize the interconnections among environmental, social, and economic aspects of complex systems, as well as how problems manifest at different scales (local to global) and at different times (connections between past, present, and future).
Advocate for values
Students will be able to identify, assess, respect, and navigate the diverse values, interests, and types of knowledge inherent in sustainability challenges, while simultaneously addressing power imbalances and promoting social justice.
Apply knowledge to a lifetime of action
Personal practice: Students will understand how sustainability impacts their lives and can assess how their actions impact sustainability at personal, institutional, and societal levels.
Professional practice: All students will, regardless of major, understand how their professional work contributes to sustainable communities, and can apply disciplinary and other forms of knowledge to contribute to sustainable solutions.
Interpersonal practice: Students will learn how to collaborate across disciplines and across stakeholder groups to jointly determine project goals, create knowledge, and develop solutions to sustainability challenges.
Sustainability (SUST)
SUST 401 - Exploring Sustainability
Credits: 4
This interdisciplinary course is focused on discovering what sustainability means, understanding the challenges, and exploring transformative solutions. We explore the concept of sustainability and the three intersecting dimensions of environmental, social, and economic well-being. We learn about systems and explore specific sustainability challenges. Learning in this course is active and participatory. We also explore the role of personal and collective action and how we each can play a role in building a more sustainable society.
Attributes: Environment,TechSociety(Disc)
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
SUST #401A - Surveying Sustainability
Credits: 2
This course explores the history of sustainability and the varied and changing meanings of the concept. It focuses on the principles of sustainability in support of the long-term welfare of humans and the earth system. Students discuss and debate a set of global grand challenges, their local and national ramifications, and how to connect knowledge to action. To count towards the SDM, it must be followed by SUST #401B at Shoals Marine Lab.
Co-requisite: SUST #401B
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
Special Fee: Yes
SUST #401B - Surveying Sustainability Lab
Credits: 2
This week long intensive course takes place at the Shoals Marine Laboratory, and must be preceded by SUST #401A. This course is focused on using the Isles of Shoals archipelago as a case study of the ecological, economic, and social aspects of sustainability, as explored through a systems framework.
Co-requisite: SUST #401A
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
Special Fee: Yes
SUST 501 - Sustainability in Action
Credits: 4
This course explores what sustainability action entails from academic and practitioner perspectives. We begin by understanding the cross-cutting perspectives and methods of sustainability science including transdisciplinarity, systems thinking, stakeholder driven research, and solutions-based projects. We build on this knowledge to explore sustainability challenges using case studies to provide current and local context for the material we cover. Students are expected to apply the theoretical concepts to these practical examples of sustainability science in practice.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): SUST 401 with a minimum grade of D-.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
SUST 600 - Sustainability Independent Study
Credits: 1-4
SUST 600 will provide an independent study to students who are interested in studying of a topic in sustainability in depth. Due to the highly personalized nature of SUST 600, the specific readings, activities and assignments will vary based on student interests and disciplinary backgrounds. At a minimum, students will be guided in how to prepare a project proposal, place their work within the current literature on the topic, and complete a final project.
Prerequisite(s): SUST 401 with a minimum grade of D-.
Repeat Rule: May be repeated for a maximum of 8 credits.
Grade Mode: Credit/Fail Grading
SUST 605 - Sustainability Internship
Credits: 1-4
SUST 605 will provide credit for practical work or a project experience in sustainability. The purpose of SUST 605 is to gain practical experience working in a sustainability field while simultaneously achieving specific learning goals pre-identified by the student and faculty mentor.
Prerequisite(s): SUST 401 with a minimum grade of D-.
Repeat Rule: May be repeated for a maximum of 8 credits.
Grade Mode: Credit/Fail Grading
SUST 750 - Sustainability Capstone
Credits: 4
This course is the culminating experience for the Sustainability Dual Major. The overall format is to: 1) synthesize the knowledge obtained in other core courses and elective courses taken for the Sustainability Dual Major; and 2) work in groups to apply that knowledge to a specific project. As sustainability science is focused on developing solutions to place-based sustainability challenges, students will delve into a specific sustainability issue, applying their disciplinary expertise within interdisciplinary teams.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): SUST 401 with a minimum grade of C- and SUST 501 with a minimum grade of C-.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading