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Sustainability

Coordinator

  • Franklin L. Yoder
Undergraduate nondegree program: Certificate in Sustainability
Web site: http://sustainability.uiowa.edu

For decades, world leaders have defined sustainability as the implementation of policies, processes, and practices that meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Achievement of sustainability requires an understanding of human and environmental systems and the complex interactions between them.

The Certificate in Sustainability provides students with the knowledge and skills they will need in order to contribute to sustainable systems and their interactions, especially those related to energy, society, culture, economics, the built environment, health, and public policy. The program helps students become effective leaders and agents of change for sustainability in a wide range of vocations, such as academic researcher, teacher, corporate officer, technology specialist, farmer, grassroots advocate, or government official.

The certificate program is open to undergraduate students across the University. It is offered by University College.

Certificate

The Certificate in Sustainability requires 24 s.h. of course work. Because sustainability embraces many disciplines, methodologies, and institutional practices, certificate students must have knowledge of the multidisciplinary breadth of the field, which is represented by the program's four areas of breadth electives: changing environments and human health; energy, climate, and built environments; the power of culture and society; and ethics, economics, and public policy. They also must have experience with analyzing real-life problems in and outside of the classroom and with working collaboratively to solve such problems.
 
Students complete three introductory course courses; four breadth electives—one from each of the program's four elective areas; and one project course. They may be able to count some courses taken for the certificate toward requirements for their major or for a minor. No more than three certificate courses may be taken from a single department or program. Students must maintain a g.p.a. of at least 2.00 in all certificate course work. A maximum of 6 s.h. of approved transfer credit may be counted toward the certificate.

The certificate requires the following course work.

Introductory Core

Students complete the following three introductory core courses.

012:008/159:008 Introduction to Environmental Science 3-4 s.h.
044:019 Contemporary Environmental Issues 3 s.h.
057:013 Introduction to Sustainability arr.
Breadth Electives

Students complete one course (at least 3 s.h.) from each of the following four breadth areas.

Changing Environments and Human Health

One of these:

002:100 Plant Diversity and Evolution 4 s.h.
002:103/044:103 Biogeography 3 s.h.
002:108 Vertebrate Zoology 4 s.h.
002:134/159:134 Ecology 4 s.h.
002:140 Systematics: Classifying Biodiversity 3 s.h.
004:173 Atmospheric and Environmental Chemistry 3 s.h.
012:004 Evolution and the History of Life 3-4 s.h.
012:107 Marine Ecosystems and Conservation 3 s.h.
012:108 & 159:100 Introduction to Oceanography - Environmental Sciences Seminar 3 s.h.
012:139 Integrated Watershed Analysis 3 s.h.
012:140 Natural Hazards 3 s.h.
012:166 Hydrogeology 3 s.h.
012:170 Evolution of Ecosystems 3 s.h.
16W:137 History of Public Health 3 s.h.
16W:138 History of International Health 3 s.h.
16W:140 Disease, Politics, and Health in South Asia 3 s.h.
044:003 Introduction to Earth Systems Science 4 s.h.
044:123 Landscape Ecology 3 s.h.
044:126/012:126 Wetlands: Function, Geography, and Management 3 s.h.
044:137 Health and Environment: GIS Applications 3 s.h.
053:050 Natural Environmental Systems 3-4 s.h.
175:101/044:174 Health, Work, and the Environment 3 s.h.
175:111/152:111/173:111 International Health 3 s.h.
175:195 Global Environmental Health 2 s.h.
175:197 Environmental Health 3 s.h.
00L:031 Ecology 4 s.h.
00L:163 Conservation Biology 4 s.h.
Energy, Climate, and Built Environments

One of these:

01H:187 Sustainable Architecture: Past, Present, and Future 3 s.h.
012:114 Energy and the Environment 3 s.h.
012:136/044:186 Soil Genesis and Geomorphology 3 s.h.
012:172 Glacial and Pleistocene Geology 3 s.h.
012:189 Global Change Seminar 1-2 s.h.
044:101/012:104 Climatology 3 s.h.
044:125/102:125 Environmental Impact Analysis 4 s.h.
044:127 Environmental Quality: Science, Technology, and Policy 3 s.h.
044:135 Urban Geography 3 s.h.
052:030 Energy and Society 3 s.h.
053:055/152:162 Principles of Environmental Engineering 4 s.h.
053:102 Groundwater 3 s.h.
053:103 Water Quality 3 s.h.
053:105/012:179 Geology for Engineers 3 s.h.
053:126/046:126 International Perspectives: Xicotepec 3 s.h.
053:157 Environmental Engineering Design 3 s.h.
053:158/175:198 Solid and Hazardous Wastes 3 s.h.
053:159/052:235 Air Pollution Control Technology 3 s.h.
053:192 Environmental Engineering Seminar 0 s.h.
053:195 Contemporary Topics in Civil and Environmental Engineering (when topic is public transit operations and planning) 3 s.h.
056:155 Wind Power Management 3 s.h.
058:048 Energy Systems Design 4 s.h.
102:055/033:056 The Splendor of Cities 3 s.h.
102:101 Planning Livable Cities 3 s.h.
102:243 Healthy Cities and the Environment 3 s.h.
165:841 International Perspectives: Engineering (when topic is international perspectives in water science and management) 3 s.h.
175:197 Environmental Health 3 s.h.
The Power of Culture and Society

One of these:

01D:022 Problems in Design II: Form and Function 3 s.h.
01D:137/049:158 Environmental Design I 3 s.h.
01H:187 Sustainable Architecture: Past, Present, and Future 3 s.h.
002:095 Plants and Human Affairs 2-3 s.h.
004:005 Technology and Society 3 s.h.
008:136 Topics in Popular Culture (when topic is food studies and popular culture) 3 s.h.
008:175 Topics in Film and Literature (when topic is U.S. environmental literature) 3 s.h.
008:179 Literature and Society (when topic is capturing animals) 3 s.h.
08C:110/145:110 Creative Writing for the Ecologically Aware: Stories in the Land 3 s.h.
010:170 Rhetoric of Sustainability 3 s.h.
16W:122 History and Environment in Africa 3 s.h.
032:076/149:076 American Indian Environmentalism 3 s.h.
044:001 Introduction to Human Geography 4 s.h.
044:010 The Contemporary Global System 4 s.h.
044:011 Population Geography 3 s.h.
044:104 Environment and Development 3 s.h.
045:147 American Disasters 3 s.h.
045:150 Topics in American Cultural Studies (when topic is nature and the American mind: environment and sustainability in U.S. history) 3 s.h.
045:154 Food in America 3 s.h.
045:163 American Ruins 3 s.h.
052:030 Energy and Society 3 s.h.
102:055/033:056 The Splendor of Cities 3 s.h.
102:244 Global Perspectives on Environmental Planning 3 s.h.
113:010 Anthropology and Contemporary World Problems 3 s.h.
113:113 Human Impacts on the Environment 3 s.h.
113:114 Environmentalism Cross-Culturally 3 s.h.
113:126 Animals, Culture, and Food 3 s.h.
113:139/032:130/033:139 Religion and Environmental Ethics 3 s.h.
113:143 Environment and Culture 3 s.h.
113:179 Pleistocene Peopling of the Americas 3 s.h.
169:040/033:040 The Good Society 3 s.h.
169:080/033:080 Introduction to Place Studies 3 s.h.
213:152 Primate Conservation Biology 3 s.h.
410:068 Wilderness Appreciation 1 s.h.
Ethics, Economics, and Public Policy

One of these:

06E:133 Environmental and Natural Resource Economics 3 s.h.
06E:183 Natural Resource Economics 3 s.h.
030:045 Introduction to Comparative Politics 3 s.h.
030:060 Introduction to International Relations 3 s.h.
036:043 Rhetoric, Science, and Technology 3 s.h.
044:030 The Global Economy 3 s.h.
044:112 Mapping American Cities and Regions 3 s.h.
044:125/102:125 Environmental Impact Analysis 4 s.h.
044:127 Environmental Quality: Science, Technology, and Policy 3 s.h.
044:177 Environmental Justice 3 s.h.
044:194 Geographic Perspectives on Development 3 s.h.
044:197 Special Topics (when topic is international environmental policy or globalization in the developing world) 3 s.h.
091:291 International Environmental Law 3 s.h.
102:247 Environmental Management 3 s.h.
113:139/032:130/033:139 Religion and Environmental Ethics 3 s.h.
129:029 First-Year Seminar (when topic is Black New Orleans before and after Hurricane Katrina) 1 s.h.
175:252/053:204/152:252 Environmental Health Policy 3 s.h.
Project Courses

Students complete one of the following project courses.

01D:249 Advanced Problems in Design (when topic is special issues and topics in design) 3 s.h.
08N:145 Multimedia Writing (when topic is the green economy: environmental writing and filmmaking) 3 s.h.
012:193 Sustainability Project arr.
044:197 Special Topics (when topic is international development) 3 s.h.
045:150 Topics in American Cultural Studies (when topic is living locally: history and culture of Iowa landforms and waterways) 3 s.h.
053:107/052:107 Sustainable Systems 3 s.h.
053:141 Design for the Developing World 3 s.h.

 

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Updated September 2009