The undergraduate Certificate in Sustainability requires 24 s.h. of credit. Students must maintain a g.p.a. of at least 2.00 in work for the certificate. The certificate may be earned by any student admitted to the University of Iowa who is not concurrently enrolled in a UI graduate or professional degree program.
Work for the certificate includes four introductory core courses, three courses from preapproved breadth area electives, and one project/integrative systems course. Students may be able to count certificate courses toward requirements for other majors, minors, or other certificates. They may count a maximum of three courses in a single department or program toward the certificate. A maximum of 6 s.h. of approved transfer credit may be counted toward the certificate. Certificate courses may not be taken pass/nonpass. A course may be used to satisfy only one certificate requirement.
Individuals must declare their intent to earn the certificate; see the Certificate in Sustainability website for details.
Sustainability embraces many disciplines, methodologies, and institutional practices. Certificate students must have knowledge of the interdisciplinary nature of the field, which is represented by the program's breadth electives: dynamics of natural systems; dynamics of human systems; and communication, ethics, and interpretation. They also must have experience with analyzing real-life problems in and outside of the classroom and in working collaboratively to solve such problems.
The Certificate in Sustainability requires the following coursework.
Introductory Core
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Both of these: | ||
| GEOG:1070 | Contemporary Environmental Issues | 3 |
| GEOG:2013/BUS:2013/SUST:2013/URP:2013 | Introduction to Sustainability | 3 |
| One of these: | ||
| ENGL:1510 | Introduction to Environmental Literature | 3 |
| JMC:1800 | Twenty-first-Century Science: Environmental Communication in the Digital Age | 3 |
| One of these: | ||
| EES:1080/ENVS:1080 | Introduction to Environmental Science | 3-4 |
| EES:1085/ENVS:1085 | Fundamentals of Environmental Science | 4 |
Breadth Electives
Students complete at least 3 s.h. in each of the following three breadth areas.
Dynamics of Natural Systems
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| At least 3 s.h. from these: | ||
| BIOL:1260 | Plants and Human Affairs | 3 |
| BIOL:2374/GEOG:2374 | Biogeography | 3 |
| BIOL:2673/ENVS:2673 | Ecology | 3 |
| CBE:2040 | Environment, Energy, and Climate Change | 3 |
| CBE:2050/CEE:2050 | Severe and Unusual Weather | 3 |
| CBE:5405 | Green Chemical and Energy Technologies | 3 |
| CBE:5425/CEE:5115 | Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics | 3 |
| CEE:4102 | Groundwater | 3 |
| CEE:4103 | Water Quality | 3 |
| CHEM:4873 | Atmospheric and Environmental Chemistry | 3 |
| EES:1040 | Evolution and the History of Life | 3-4 |
| EES:1290 | Energy and the Environment | 3 |
| EES:1400 | Natural Disasters | 3 |
| EES:2310/GEOG:2310 | Introduction to Climatology | 3 |
| EES:3070 | Marine Ecosystems and Conservation | 3 |
| EES:4630 | Hydrogeology | 4 |
| GEOG:1020 | The Global Environment | 3 |
| GEOG:2950 | Environmental Conservation | 3 |
| GEOG:3310 | Landscape Ecology | 3 |
| GEOG:3340 | Ecosystem Services: Human Dependence on Natural Systems | 3 |
| IALL:3131 | Ecology | 4 |
| Or both of these: | ||
| EES:2010/ENVS:2010/GEOG:2010 | Interdisciplinary Environmental Seminar | 1 |
| EES:3080 | Introduction to Oceanography | 2 |
Dynamics of Human Systems
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| At least 3 s.h. from these: | ||
| AMST:1154 | Food in America | 3 |
| AMST:3047 | American Disasters | 3 |
| ANTH:1046/GEOG:1046/GWSS:1046/SJUS:1046 | Environmental Politics in India | 3 |
| ANTH:2100 | Anthropology and Contemporary World Problems | 3 |
| ANTH:2261 | Human Impacts on the Environment | 3 |
| ANTH:3103 | Environment and Culture | 3 |
| ANTH:3240 | Cultural Resources Management Archaeology: Practice and Practicalities | 3 |
| ANTH:3260 | Pleistocene Peopling of the Americas | 3 |
| ANTH:4130/RELS:4730 | Religion and Environmental Ethics | 3 |
| ARTH:1090 | Earthly Paradises: A Global History of Gardens | 3 |
| ARTH:3090 | Contemporary Architecture | 3 |
| BAIS:3030 | Business Process Analysis | 3 |
| CBE:2030 | Energy and Society | 3 |
| CBE:4459/CEE:4159/IGPI:4159 | Air Pollution Control Technology | 3 |
| CEE:3790 | Resilient Infrastructure and Emergency Response | 3 |
| CEE:4158/OEH:4920 | Solid and Hazardous Wastes | 3 |
| CHEM:1050 | Chemistry of Our World | 3 |
| CPH:2200 | Climageddon: Understanding Climate Change and Associated Impacts on Health | 2 |
| CPH:3500/GHS:3500 | Global Public Health | 3 |
| CPH:4200 | Agriculture, Food Systems, and Sustainability | 3 |
| ECE:5630 | Sustainable Energy Conversion | 3 |
| ECON:3625/URP:3135 | Environmental and Natural Resource Economics | 3 |
| ECON:3650 | Policy Analysis | 3 |
| ECON:3770/URP:3360 | Urban Transportation | 3 |
| EES:1115/ENVS:1115/GEOG:1115/HIST:1115 | The History and Science of Oil | 3 |
| EES:4790 | Applied Environmental Geology | 3 |
| GEOG:1090 | Globalization and Geographic Diversity | 3 |
| GEOG:2110/GHS:2110 | Seven Billion and Counting: Introduction to Population Dynamics | 3 |
| GEOG:2410 | Environment and Development | 3 |
| GEOG:2910 | The Global Economy | 3 |
| GEOG:3070/GHS:3070 | Hungry Planet: Global Geographies of Food | 3 |
| GEOG:3210/CPH:3400 | Health, Work, and the Environment | 3 |
| GEOG:3300/GHS:3300 | Envisioning Future Worlds: Sustainable Development and Its Alternatives | 3 |
| GEOG:3420 | Sustainable and Green Building Concepts | 3 |
| GEOG:3780/GHS:3780/HIST:3240 | U.S. Energy Policy in Global Context | 3 |
| GEOG:3800 | Environmental Economics and Policy | 3 |
| GEOG:3920/URP:3001 | Planning Livable Cities | 3 |
| GEOG:4150/GHS:4150/IGPI:4150 | Health and Environment: GIS Applications | 3 |
| GEOG:4750/URP:4750 | Environmental Impact Analysis | 3 |
| GHS:3560 | Global Garbage and Global Health | 3 |
| GHS:4162/HIST:4162 | History of Global Health | 3 |
| HIST:3263 | American Ruins | 3 |
| IS:3200 | Sustainable Development | 3 |
| ISE:4550 | Wind Power Management | 3 |
| ME:4048 | Energy Systems Design | 4 |
| NAIS:1290/AMST:1290/GHS:1290/HIST:1290 | Native American Foods and Foodways | 3 |
| NAIS:3276/RELS:3976 | American Indian Environmentalism | 3 |
| POLI:1400 | Introduction to Comparative Politics | 3 |
| POLI:1500 | Introduction to International Relations | 3 |
| POLI:2417 | Comparative Environmental Policy | 3 |
| POLI:3424 | Global Development | 3 |
| TDSN:3200 | Product Design | 4 |
| TDSN:4010 | Furniture Design I | 4 |
| URP:6253/PBAF:6253 | Designing Sustainable and Healthy Cities | 1-3 |
Communication, Ethics, and Interpretation
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| At least 3 s.h. from these: | ||
| ANTH:4130/RELS:4730 | Religion and Environmental Ethics | 3 |
| CNW:2740 | The Art and Craft of Writing about the Environment | 3 |
| CW:3210/INTD:3210 | Creative Writing and the Natural World | 3 |
| ENGL:2329 | Topics in Modern British Literature Before 1900 (when topic is British literature and environmental history) | 3 |
| ENGL:3105 | Topics in Popular Culture (when topic is food studies) | 3 |
| ENGL:3510 | Topics in Transnational Literature (when topic is rivers and rivals) | 3 |
| ENGL:3570/GWSS:3570 | Transnational and Postcolonial Writing by Women (when topic is women gone wild) | 3 |
| ENGL:4003 | Honors Seminar: Literary Theory and Interdisciplinary Studies, 20th/21st Century (when topic is becoming human: literature, culture, environment) | 3 |
| ENGL:4195 | Interdisciplinary Studies (when topic is animal stories) | 3 |
| ENTR:3500 | Social Entrepreneurship | 3 |
| FREN:1007 | Nature/Ecology French Philosophy and Fiction | 3 |
| GEOG:4770/GHS:4770 | Environmental Justice | 3 |
| HIST:3230 | American Environmental History | 3 |
| JMC:3185 | Topics in Understanding Media (when topic is risk communication) | 3 |
| LAW:8622 | International Environmental Law | 3 |
| MGMT:2000 | Introduction to Law | 3 |
| RHET:3700 | Advocacy and Sustainability: Crafting Stories of People, Place, and Resilience | 3 |
| SCLP:3895 | Topics in Sculpture (when topic is art at the edge of the landfill) | 4 |
| URP:6273/PBAF:6273 | Community Development in the Upper Midwest | 3 |
Project/Integrative Systems
All students complete coursework from the following.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| At least 3 s.h. from these: | ||
| ABRD:3445 | India Winterim (with consent of advisor) | 3 |
| ANTH:2261 | Human Impacts on the Environment | 3 |
| CBE:4410/CEE:4107 | Sustainable Systems | 3 |
| CNW:3660 | Multimedia Writing (when topic is environmental writing and filmmaking) | 3 |
| EES:3150 | Sustainability Project | 2 |
| ENGL:4000 | English Honors Seminar (when topic is becoming human: literature, culture, environment) | 3 |
| ENGL:4195 | Interdisciplinary Studies (when topic is animal stories) | 3 |
| ENTR:3700 | Sustainable Product Innovation and Management | 3 |
| ENVS:3230 | Special Topics (when topic is prairie restoration) | 0-4 |
| GEOG:2930 | Water Resources | 3 |
| GEOG:3001 | Special Topics (when topic is sustainability) | 3 |
| GEOG:3400 | Iowa Environmental Policy in Practice | 3 |
| GEOG:3760/GHS:3760 | Hazards and Society | 3 |
| GHS:4100 | Topics in Global Health (when topic is sustainability) | 3 |
| GHS:4180 | Climate Change and Health | 3 |
| MKTG:4250 | Marketing and Sustainability | 3 |
| TDSN:3260 | Design for Production (when topic is special issues and topics in design) | 4 |
| URP:4170 | Megacities Seminar | 3 |
| URP:4752 | Eight Generational Planning: Envisioning Cities for Year 2228 | 3 |
| URP:6256/PBAF:6256 | Environmental Policy | 3 |
| URP:6273/PBAF:6273 | Community Development in the Upper Midwest | 3 |