In addition to fulfilling all the basic requirements for a minor at URI (see Minor Fields of Study in the academic online catalog), students declaring a minor in sustainability complete the following four requirements*:
- A “synthesis course” selected from a series of courses* that focus on principles of sustainability
- An internship that includes hands-on sustainability experience on campus or in the community (e.g. ITR 301/302; CSV 301/302/303). The course can include research, service learning, and/or leadership. Minimum of 3 credits. The course can be repeated for up to 6 credits. Students may elect to take an internship offered from within a given major. Some majors have generic internship courses in which students may seek approval for from 3-6 credits (e.g. COM 471/472; ITR 301/302; NRS 487); others would need to use the Center for Career and Experiential Education to arrange for an appropriate internship of from 3-12 credits, only 3 of which would be required for the minor. (For more information, see uri.edu/career/job-internship-search/). Use of the internship activity to fulfill requirements of the minor requires approval by the sustainability minor coordinator(s).
- Elective courses*, with at least one course from each of the three core areas of sustainability (9 credits): ECONOMICS, SOCIAL EQUITY/JUSTICE, ENVIRONMENT
- A capstone course requiring submission of a brief proposal describing the intended work and how it relates to sustainability, the associated course, and the faculty sponsor. The faculty member may well be simply signing off on a course that they teach as part of a regular workload (examples: COM 455/HPR319; MAF 472, 475; NRS 496; NRS/MAF 527; OCG 480/580; PSC 403), or may agree to sponsor the student’s work in a special studies arrangement, which could be an add-on to the internship or could stand alone. The sustainability minor coordinator(s) must approve the proposed capstone course.
The Sustainability Minor Committee is consulted on the appropriateness of capstone courses, internships, and the addition of any new courses to the minor. For more information contact a professor representing your college or department listed below, or the chair of the Sustainability Minor Committee :
- Professor Valerie Maier-Speredlozzi, Chair of the Sustainability Minor Committe, College of Engineering, valerie@uri.edu
- Professor Norbert Mundorf, College of Arts and Sciences, nmundorf@uri.edu
- Professor Emi Uchida, College of the Environment and Life Sciences, euchida@uri.edu
- Professor Saheli Goswami, College of Business, sgoswami@uri.edu
- Professor Will Green, Department of Landscape Architecture, wagre@uri.edu
*The full names of each course and a Sustainability Minor checklist are located here.