We are pleased to announce the new Sustainability Studies Minor Program at IUP!
The Sustainability Studies minor is an interdisciplinary program that draws
from expertise across the university. The program conceptualizes “sustainability”
as an interdisciplinary approach to knowledge production and
action that focuses on “the health and integrity of human societies and the
natural world.”
Sustainability is classically defined as a stool with three
legs—the social, the economic, and the environmental. The purpose of
this program is to address the challenges of sustainability by balancing the
humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.
The minor equips students
to broaden their thinking about the origins of sustainability problems and
possible solutions to include human institutions, ethics, and cultures as well
as technologies and natural sciences.
In so doing, the minor aims to foster
student agency with regard to research on sustainability, responsibility to
both human and non-human life, and civic engagement with local sustainability
projects.