It's the beginning of another new academic year at the Pratt Institute, and the Department of Social Science and Cultural Studies is pleased to announce that the Minor in Sustainability Studies is growing. The minor deepens the understanding of the interdisciplinary approach to sustainable environmental, economic, and social practices, providing students with a broad understanding of the complex interrelationships between humans and ecosystems and the best practices for protecting environmental quality and fostering social equity.

The minor can be combined with any undergraduate major and requires the completion of 15 credits approved in Sustainability Studies. This fall, students may take the required SUST 201 The Sustainable Core either Monday afternoons 2-4:50 with Carl Zimring or Wednesday evenings 5-7:50pm with Jen Telesca. Bowing to demand, this is the first term in which we offer two sections of the core course. (Jen Telesca also offers a SS 490 Special Topics seminar entitled The Global Ocean this term. Students may petition to count it for credit in the minor.)

We are also offering a larger range of elective options within the minor. Effective immediately, students may count CM 446 Sustainable Construction Management, HMS 493 Ecopoetics, and SS 411 Concepts of Materiality as electives for the minor. The list of courses students may now use for the minor now includes:

SUST 201 The Sustainable Core (3 credits, required)
MSCI 270 Ecology (3 credits, required. May substitute MSCI 271 or MSCI 280)
CM 446 Sustainable Construction Management (3 credits, elective)
SUST 401 Power, Pollution, and Profit (3 credits, elective)
SUST 405 Production, Consumption, and Waste (3 credits, elective)
PHIL 356 Environmental Ethics (3 credits, elective)
HMS 493 Ecopoetics (3 credits, elective)
INT 332 Environmental Theory (2 credits, elective)
IND 487 Sustainability and Production (2 credits, elective)
SS 411 Concepts of Materiality (3 credits, elective)
MSCI 426 Toxics in the Environment (1 credit, elective)
MSCI 438 Chemistry of Modern Polymeric Materials (3 credits, elective)

We intend to add more elective options to the minor later this year. To register for the minor, or for any questions on these courses, please contact the coordinator Carl Zimring at czimring@pratt.edu or your academic advisor.