Interdisciplinary Studies: Concentration in Sustainability (MA/MS)
Admission Requirements
Applicants must have a bachelor's degree (any major is acceptable), and provide a completed application form, a transcript of all undergraduate course work, and letters of recommendation.
Admission is competitive. The minimum requirements for unconditional admission are the baccalaureate degree or its equivalent from an accredited institution, an undergraduate grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.
Those applicants whose native language is not English and who do not hold a degree from a university where the language of instruction is English, must complete the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) with a score of at least 79 on the internet-based test, the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), with a minimum score of 6.5 or Duolingo score of 105.
Application Deadlines
The program maintains a rolling admissions policy. Target dates include:
Fall semester: July 15
Spring semester: November 15
Summer semester: April 15
Application Materials
The following materials must be submitted via the Graduate School website:
- Graduate Application
- Application Fee
- Transcript(s): Transcripts of your college records from all of the schools you have attended must be submitted to the Graduate School, Graduate Admissions. Students must have earned an undergraduate degree from an accredited college or university.*
- Those for whom English is not their native language must also submit TOEFL scores,
International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or Duolingo.*
- Three Recommendation Letters: Three letters of recommendation from academic sources are required and must be submitted online to the Graduate School, Graduate Admissions.
The committee for reviewing student applications will consist of faculty currently serving on the Sustainability Council's Education Committee.
For answers to commonly asked questions by applicants, please review the Frequently Asked Questions page of the Graduate School website.
*There are additional requirements for international students. These requirements are listed at louisville.edu/graduate/futurestudents/international-applicants/international-students.
Accelerated Degree Admissions Process
Students should apply to these programs in their junior year. Advising to ensure the requirements are met without extraneous credit hours is imperative and strongly recommended for timely degree completion and financial considerations for the accelerated degrees. Please be sure to consult with advisors and the director of the master’s program.
Special Requirements for Accelerated Master's Degree Program Admission
- An undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or better
- Completion of SUST 101, 201, 202, 301, 302 and 303 with a minimum GPA of 3.0
The accelerated degree program allows a student to complete the Bachelor of Arts in Sustainability and the Master of Arts or Master of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies: Concentration in Sustainability over a five year period. The first four years consist of undergraduate studies, including three core sustainability graduate level courses taken during the senior year, culminating in the award of the Bachelors of Arts in Sustainability degree. Core courses should include PLAN 675, SUST 602, and research methods.
The fifth year consists of graduate coursework leading to completion of the Master of Arts or Master of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies: Concentration in Sustainability. The accelerated curriculum allows students to apply 9 credit hours of graduate core course work taken during their undergraduate studies towards the completion of both the BA and Master’s degrees. An additional semester of research may be required to complete a thesis for the Master of Science degree.
Program Requirements for a Master of Arts Degree
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Required Course | 3 | |
| Introduction to Sustainability | ||
| Core Courses | ||
| Students are required to take one course in each Core Area: | ||
| Sustainability and the Built Environment | 3 | |
| Sustainable Development & Planning | ||
| Environmental Policy | ||
| Sustainability and the Natural Environment | 3 | |
| Sustainability and the Natural Environment | ||
| Sustainability and the Social Environment | 3 | |
| Ecology, Politics and Culture | ||
| Research Design | ||
| Research Methods or Statistics course in the student's selected Core Area | 3 | |
| Seminar | 3 | |
| Capstone | 3 | |
| Guided Electives within Core Areas (see below) | 9 | |
| Minimum Total Hours | 30 | |
Program Requirements for a Master of Science Degree
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Required Course | 3 | |
| Introduction to Sustainability | ||
| Core Courses | ||
| Students are required to take one course in each Core Area: | ||
| Sustainability and the Built Environment | 3 | |
| Sustainable Development & Planning | ||
| Environmental Policy | ||
| Sustainability and the Natural Environment | 3 | |
| Sustainability and the Natural Environment | ||
| Sustainability and the Social Environment | 3 | |
| Ecology, Politics and Culture | ||
| Research Design | ||
| Research Methods or Statistics course in the student's selected Core Area | 3 | |
| Seminar | 3 | |
| Thesis | 6 | |
| Guided Electives within Core Areas (see below) | 9 | |
| Minimum Total Hours | 33 | |
Students will work with their academic committees to select the core and elective courses needed. It is strongly recommended that a student's committee distribute elective courses such that at least three (3) or four (4) credit hours are in an area other than that of the student's home department. Other courses may be acceptable with the program director's approval.
Built Environment
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| CEE 660 | Transportation Planning and Urban Development | 3 |
| CEE 661 | Environmental Analysis of Transportation Systems | 3 |
| CEE 681 | Green Engineering & Sustainable Design | 3 |
| GEOG 536 | Sustainable Transportation | 3 |
| LAW 902 | Real Estate Transactions | 2-3 |
| URBS 633 | Sustainable Development & Planning | 3 |
| URBS 614 | Transportation and Land Use Planning | 3 |
| URBS 618 | Urban Design | 3 |
| URBS 622 | Historic Preservation & Sustainable Practice | 3 |
| URBS 606 | Site Planning | 3 |
| URBS 620 | Capstone Studio | 6 |
| URBS 621 | Housing and Community Development | 3 |
| URBS 661 | Public Management | 3 |
| URBS 615 | Environmental Policy | 3 |
| URBS 690 | Special Topics | 1-3 |
Natural Environment
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| ANTH 528 | Animals and Humans | 3 |
| ANTH 531 | Anthropology of Water | 3 |
| ANTH 535 | Nutritional Anthropology | 3 |
| BIOL 567 | Conservation Biology | 3 |
| BIOL 644 | Global Change Ecology | 4 |
| BIOL 660 | Advanced Ecology of Urban and Suburban Landscapes | 4 |
| BIOL 663 | Advanced Population and Community Ecology | 4 |
| BIOL 667 | Advanced Conservation Biology | 4 |
| ENVS 663 | Climate and Environmental Change | 3 |
| SUST 703 | Land and Ecosystem Conservation | 1-3 |
Social Environment
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| ANTH 530 | Human Impacts on Past Environments | 3 |
| ANTH 540 | Health and Civilization | 3 |
| ANTH 626 | Food Justice | 3 |
| ART 692 | Art, Thinking & Social Change | 3 |
| GEOG 500 | Globalization Seminar | 3 |
| HIST 610 | Introduction to Historic Preservation | 3 |
| HIST 611 | Studies in American History | 3 |
| HSS 675 | Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at the Individual Level | 3 |
| HSS 676 | Community Health Promotion and Disease Prevention | 3 |
| HSS 697 | Special Topics in Health and Sport Sciences | 1-3 |
| LAW 931 | Environmental Law | 2-3 |
| LAW 939 | First Amendment Law | 2 |
| PHEH 620 | Global Issues in Environmental and Occupational Health | 3 |
| PHEH 651 | Advanced Environmental Health Services | 3 |
| PHPB 612 | Health Communication: Theory and Practice | 3 |
| PHPB 722 | Health Risk Communication | 3 |
| URBS 632 | Sustainable Social-Ecological Systems | 3 |
| POLS 639 | Seminar in International Relations | 3 |
| SOC 710 | Statistics II | 3 |
