UofL offering new graduate & undergraduate degrees in sustainability

The university made great strides toward meeting sustainability goals and helping curb climate change in 2016, both inside and outside the classroom.

First, the new Master of Interdisciplinary Studies: Concentration in Sustainability began enrolling students in the fall. Then, UofL became the only university in the state to earn a gold STARS ranking for 2016 from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. In addition, The Sierra Club ranked UofL in the Top 50 of its 2016 “Cool Schools” list.

And starting this fall, undergraduate students will have the option of majoring in sustainability.

The board of trustees approved UofL’s new Bachelor of Arts in Sustainability degree in September. Classes will begin in fall 2017.

The degree is the fi rst undergraduate degree housed in the Department of Urban and Public Affairs (UPA), which coordinates several master’s degrees, including the new Master of Interdisciplinary Studies: Concentration in Sustainability.

“We have been working for several years to make this bachelor’s degree a reality,” said David Simpson, PhD, chair of UPA and of the university’s 60-member Sustainability Council. “I know that graduates of this degree will make a difference in their own communities and the world.”

The new bachelor’s degree program will train students to research, identify, implement and monitor sustainable processes and systems, and is designed to prepare students for careers in sustainability-related endeavors.

Source: University of Louisville Magazine, Winter-Spring 2017