Bachelor of Arts in Environment and Sustainability
BACHELOR OF ARTS
Environment and Sustainability
The Environment and Sustainability program is based in an awareness that addressing the 21st century’s pressing social and environmental problems requires a holistic, systems approach that considers the complex relationships between humans and their social, technological and ecological environments. This innovative, interdisciplinary degree program draws together the environmental, natural and social sciences; sustainability and resilience planning and politics; and extensive hands-on experience and professional preparation via internships, research design and implementation, sustainability problem solving, student research, experiential and service learning, community engagement, and leadership development. Committed to social change and the need for positive, proactive transformation of human-ecological relations, from beginning to end the Environment and Sustainability program is designed to equip students with the skills they need to become thinkers and practitioners capable of reimagining and reinventing human- environment relations in the age of climate change.
WHAT OUR STUDENTS SAY
“I enjoy being around like-minded people who also care about nature and living a more sustainable lifestyle.”
Kaitlyn Ivey, B.A. Human Ecology (Environment and Sustainability) student
B.A. Environment and Sustainability
CLOSER LOOK
“Environment and Sustainability is the study of the relationship between people and their environments. It’s about learning to understand the world through a complex systems lens and to design solutions to the problems that we face in the world now through that lens. Environment and Sustainability students in our program study the different ways around that world, throughout different points in time people have adapted their environments and created whole worlds out of that.” -Dr. Stephanie Wakefield
What You’ll Learn
#1 – This program is designed to train all majors in the core perspectives and methods of Environment and Sustainability while giving students the freedom to select their own area of focus, from environmental policy and planning, climate adaptation, and food systems sustainability to urban resilience and the ecology of health and wellness.
#2 – Incorporates significant practical and professional experience to prepare students to meet their academic and professional goals after graduation.
#3 – Designed to prepare students for positions in the wide-range of professions in which sustainability, environmental management, and social-ecological systems thinking and design play important roles.
#4 – Equips students with the skills to be a leader in the 21st century. Graduates are agents of positive change who are able to communicate and analyze complex issues, such as global warming, across traditional disciplinary boundaries. They can find practical, transformative solutions to our pressing social and environmental challenges.
Program Design
Through small classes and hands-on research, as well as services and professional experience, Life U’s B.A. in Environment and Sustainability provides you with an understanding of the diverse ways people relate to their environments; the webs of politics, power and ecology that shape contemporary systems; and the latest sustainability, resilience and adaptation approaches for the age of climate change. With a focus on engaged and active learning, which includes team activities, one-on-one interaction with faculty mentors and hands-on experience both on and off campus.
For more information on degree specifics, requirements and curriculum offerings, please see the Academic Catalog.
Career Opportunities
- Environmental Scientist, specializing in health
- Environmental Restoration Planner
- Industrial Ecologist
- Water Resource Specialist
- Compliance Manager
- Regulatory Affairs Manager
- Climate Analyst
Environment and Sustainability CAREER
STATS & FACTS
