Roosevelt University establishes region’s first undergraduate degree program in sustainability studies

Roosevelt University is creating a unique, new bachelor’s degree major in sustainability studies that will focus on critical resources, including food, water, air, energy and green space, particularly in urban areas.

The new undergraduate program gets underway on Feb. 8, with an online, introductory course, The Sustainable Future: Environment, Economy, Equity, which will provide an overview of sustainability and assess the need to redesign and rethink our way of life in the metropolitan region given the planet’s limited and fragile resources.

The new Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Professional Studies degree in Sustainability Studies will be offered online and at Roosevelt’s Chicago and Schaumburg campuses. Its 10-course curriculum includes classes in:  Water; Energy and Climate Change; Biodiversity; Food; Waste; Sprawl, Transportation and Planning; Policy, Law and Ethics; and Service in Sustainability. Field trips and projects centered on urban/suburban sustainability issues will be integrated throughout students’ coursework.  

“Our new program is the first of its kind to be offered in the Chicago area, providing our students in this age of going green with interdisciplinary training in the sciences, public policy and environmental justice,” said Michael Bryson, associate professor of the humanities who co-developed the program with Carl Zimring, assistant professor of social science..

Zimring, an urban environmental historian, is teaching the program’s introductory course, The Sustainable Future. In addition to the online component, Zimring has scheduled select field trip experiences into the urban environment, including a tour of the Chicago enter for Green Technology on Saturday, March 6, and a walking tour of Millennium Park scheduled for the week of April 19. The combination of online and field experiences provides students with distinctive training in the growing field of sustainability studies.

“Through this program, we will be preparing graduates for many of today’s careers, which more and more often are trending toward having an environmental focus,” Zimring said.

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, which has noted growing numbers of educational programs in sustainability that are focused on issues in cities, lists 11 universities across the country with bachelor of arts programs in sustainability studies. Roosevelt’s program will be the first of its kind in the Chicago region and in the state of Illinois, and one of the few anywhere to blend online and on-campus course offerings.

Roosevelt University, a national leader in educating socially conscious citizens, is a private, student-centered university with 7,300 students studying at comprehensive campuses in the Chicago Loop and Northwest suburban Schaumburg and online. Founded on the principles of inclusion and social justice, Roosevelt offers academic programs in arts and sciences, business, performing arts and education.