DU will be offering an interdisciplinary minor in sustainability. The minor has been in the planning stage for nearly a year.

The minor will offer courses from eight different areas of study. DU joins just a handful of schools across the country to offer a program like this one, said Michael Keables, associate professor of geography. 

“It’s not going to be a traditional minor,” said Keables, who helped with the development of the minor.

Instead of having a list of around five courses that everyone has to take, the sustainability major has 50 different classes to choose from.  These draw from biology, geography, business, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, history and political science.

The approved courses were narrowed down from a list of more than 400 existing DU courses that had at least some portion of the class tied to sustainability.

In order to develop the approved list of courses a committee worked to select those that focused most clearly on the three fundamentals of sustainability: environment, economics and social equity.

Keables said the goal of the sustainability minor is to allow students to take courses that focus on issues pertaining to their major, while tying in the ideas of sustainability.

Students starting the minor will take a gateway course. After completing this course students will be able to select from the approved course list to fill the four-course requirement.

In order to complete the program, students will take a seminar class that brings together the three fundamentals of sustainability through service learning or a research project that focuses on sustainability.

 

Areas of study incorporated

• Biology
• Geography
• Business
• Anthropology
• Sociology
• Philosophy
• History
• Political Science