Academic Programs

The University has developed an internal system to identify sustainability-focused and related courses throughout our catalog. This system has identified hundreds of courses across all disciplines which we are using in the development of interdisciplinary undergraduate and masters programs in Sustainability. These programs are currently going through the approval process and UofL hopes to begin enrolling students in Sustainability degree programs in the near future.
In the meantime, UofL students have a variety of options for studying sustainability at UofL including:

Undergraduate Degree Programs

• Undergraduates at UofL may also purse a new Certificate in Peace, Nonviolence & Conflict Transformation Studies. Contact: Director Russell Vandenbroucke, 502-852-8444, r.vandenbroucke (at) louisville.edu.
• Major or Minor in Environmental Analysis (Geography & Geosciences)
• Through the Liberal Studies Program, undergraduates interested in crafting a coherent, interdisciplinary course of study can major in topics such as Environmental Studies and Activism, Green Studies and Earth Ethics, Eco Literacy and Sustainability, Environmental Change, Peace Studies, Pre-Environmental Law, and many more.
• The Social Change Minor is a great complement to any major for UofL students interested in gaining valuable experience for careers in social movements or for a lifetime of engaged citizenship. Core and elective courses help students to pursue their particular interests—for example, the environment, civil rights, politics, deindustrialization, labor, or war & peace—from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.

• Dual master’s degree in Urban Planning and Public Health
  An innovative new dual degree program that gives students the opportunity to explore the connection between the health and the built environment (i.e., streets, parks, homes, buildings, shopping centers and public spaces.) Participants study how healthy places can be built and unhealthy neighborhoods can be reformed to improve the health of their residents. Graduates of the program receive two degrees: Master of Urban Planning (MUP) and Master of Public Health (MPH). The MUP-MPH program prepares students for careers in urban design and health, urban public health planning and development, urban sustainability and health planning and policy. The dual degree, which was created in 2011 as part of a Louisville Putting Prevention to Work grant from the Centers for Disease Control, requires a total of 95 hours study. Read the story. Complete information is available here. For more information on the application process, call Tammi Thomas, 502-852-3289 or Yani Vozos, 502-852-8002.
• Masters Degree in Curriculum and Instruction with an Emphasis in Environmental Education
  This degree is offered through the College of Education & Human Development to those individuals who hold a current teaching license. An Environmental Education Endorsement Program is also coming soon. The following courses below can be applied to either of these options, and to the Rank 1 requirements for area of emphasis credits:
  EDAP 673-75: Introduction of Environmental Education (3 credits)
  EDAP 604-96: Environmental Education Teaching Methods (3 credits)
  For more details, visit our Center for Environmental Education.
• Graduate Certificate in Environmental Engineering
• Through the School of Interdisciplinary and Graduate Studies, students interested in exploring advanced studies in a field like sustainability which transcends established academic/institutional boundaries may design a graduate program of study in consultation with faculty and the Assistant Dean for Interdisciplinary Studies. A program for this degree must involve at least two academic departments/units and it must cross traditional disciplinary organizational structures and programmatic lines of study.

• See a sampling of some of the Sustainability Courses offered at UofL in 2012.
  
• See a sampling of some of the Sustainability Courses offered at UofL in 2011.
  
• UofL Sustainability Courses offered 2009 (pdf)
• New Spring 2013: PSYC414: Environmental Psychology (Dr. Daniel DeCaro)
  
• The Department of Urban & Public Affairs will be offering these NEW graduate-level courses:
  Fall 2012
       PLAN680/PADM680/UPA 683: Planning and Sustainability (will be offered on-line)
  Spring 2013
       PLAN625: Historic Preservation and Sustainability
       PLAN 680/PADM680/UPA683: Urban Sustainability
  Fall 2013 (proposed)
       Legal Aspects of Sustainability
  
• The Honors program has offered a variety of sustainability courses such as:
  

  - Summer 2011: Global Issues and Sustainability: Focusing on Biodiversity, Water Quality and Energy
  - Spring 2011: Designing Greener; Smart Solutions For A Sustainable Society
  - Fall 2010: Environmental Communications; Following The Fork

• PHIL 328/SCHG 300-01 Environmental Ethics
  PHIL 305/SCHG 300-02 Environment & Global Justice