Course Listings
Sustainability
The major in sustainability includes two distinctive Goshen College offerings: the Sustainability Core sequence and the Sustainability Semester at Merry Lea. The minor includes the Sustainability Semester plus one additional course.
Major in sustainability
44-45 credit hours
Sustainability Core
(17 credit hours)
Sustainability Semester
(15 credit hours)
Remaining requirements in the major
(12-13 credits)
- Four of the following courses:12-13
- BIOL 115 Ecology and Evolution
- BIOL 235 Geographic Information Systems
- BUS 121 Entrepreneurship
- HIST 375 Topics
- POSC 210 Introduction to Public Policy
- SOC 320 Environmental Sociology
- SUST 298 Ecology & Sustainability in India
- SUST 335 Climate Ethics & Climate Policy
- SUST 345 Ecol Ethics & Environ Movements
- SUST 350 Sustainability & the Built Environ
Student learning outcomes
Graduates with a major in sustainability will:
- Apply systems thinking to describe complex socio-environmental-economic issues across a landscape, and to generate solutions to them.
- Articulate hope for the future in our growing adoption of sound land management solutions that store carbon in soils and contribute to the regeneration of our lands, waters, and societies.
- Cultivate a dynamic personal and communal “sustainability ethic,” based on tangible experiences within socio-ecological systems.
- Experience and reflect on practices that invigorate mind, body, and spirit through connections with food, landscapes, and people.
- Communicate, collaborate, and empathize with people holding multiple perspectives of sustainability toward the common good.
- Practice skills of critical questioning and interpretation to facilitate multi-disciplinary problem-solving.
- Envision bringing about a more just, regenerative, and equitable world through career, innovation, advocacy, and lifestyle.
Planning guide
| First Year | Goshen Core Introduction to Sustainability Roots of Environmental Crisis |
| Second Year | Goshen Core SST language Sustainability Seminar Sustainability elective(s) |
| Third Year | Sustainability Semester (fall) SST (spring) |
| Fourth Year | Balance of Goshen Core Environmental Economics Sustainability Seminar Sustainability Capstone Internship |
Planning and advising notes
The sustainability major can be tailored to individual career goals, in consultation with the student’s academic advisor. Past students have found it valuable to pair sustainability with another major or minor(s). This program is very interdisciplinary, and another major with specific disciplinary skills is an excellent complement to its strengths.
Minor in sustainability
18 credit hours
Planning and advising notes
Courses other than SUST 201 may be counted for credit to complete the minor pending approval by the Biology Chair.
Sustainability Semester Program description
The fall Sustainability Semester is a residential, interdisciplinary program focused on experiencing, understanding, and building sustainable, resilient and regenerative communities. A cohort of students spends the fall semester in full-time residence at Merry Lea’s Rieth Village, where they study the structures and functions of both societal and ecological systems in the surrounding watershed. The semester includes frequent opportunities to travel around the watershed and learn from professionals and others; a special highlight is an 8-day journey by canoe along the Elkhart and St. Joseph Rivers to Lake Michigan. At Reith Village, the cohort works together to evaluate their shared lifestyle decisions, try out new patterns of sustainable living, and simply have fun learning from each others’ experiences. Learning from the life of the Merry Lea teaching farm is also a central part of this experience, both through course work and enjoying the fruits of their work on the farm. Our interactions with a wide range of people and institutions across the region also help students engage in sustainability issues in new ways. The learning community provides an opportunity for students and faculty from diverse backgrounds and expertise from the arts and humanities, social sciences, sciences, and other backgrounds, to contribute to the process of understanding these problems and looking for points of involvement together. Students interact with people from the local watershed who are faced with real sustainability issues and grapple with the complexity of and interdisciplinary nature of possible solutions.
For more information about the Sustainability Semester, see www.goshen.edu/academics/sustainability-semester.
BIOL 207 Roots of Environmental Crisis
What are the roots of the current climate crisis? Can religious, economic, cultural, political, and/or biological worldviews help us understand the challenges? The course will introduce concepts in systems thinking, which emphasize an interdisciplinary approach to addressing climate change. The...
BUS 325 Bus Strategies for Sustainability
Students will examine how businesses develop a competitive advantage through the integration of sustainability and strategy, insulating themselves from risks in an ever changing global environment. Prerequisite: 9 credit hours of ACC, BUS, ECON and/or SUST courses.
ECON 309 Environmental Economics
In this course we consider how economic activity affects the environment and how environmental destruction can, in turn, harm the economy. We apply the concepts of externalities, public goods and open-access resources to topics such as air pollution, climate change...
SUST 155 Topics: Sustainability Seminar
This course is designed to provide space for discussion and synthesis among interested students, whether their majors are sustainability or another field altogether. This will allow students to integrate learning in their various courses, and gain perspective from their peers...
SUST 201 Intro to Sustainability
Students will explore the nature of complex socio-ecological systems and patterns of problems and dynamics within those systems. The “triple bottom line” (people – planet – profit) will be a primary framework through which sustainability solutions will be explored. An...
SUST 309 Sustainability, Spirituality Ethics
In this course, we immerse ourselves in the stories and ideas of people who have made a positive contribution to the sustainability of the planet. What kind of faith or worldview contributed to action? How does our understanding of right...
SUST 313 Freshwater Resources
This course examines the physical, chemical and biological variables of freshwater lakes, streams and wetlands, as well as groundwaters, all of which influence living organisms in these aquatic ecosystems. Emphasis on how their interactions contribute to the environmental, economic and...
SUST 318 Agroecology
In this time of climate crisis and environmental degradation agriculture stands out as a major global force that can work towards further harm or usher in a regenerative future. This course focuses on the ecological approach to producing food and the...
SUST 323 Regenerative Agricultural Practices
This course develops an understanding of the potential for human management of ecosystems to rebuild rather than degrade health, through a focus on agroecosystems. Students practice skills and learn theory within organic, permaculture, biodynamic, and systems-based frameworks while participating in...
SUST 328 Organizing Communities for Change
This course explores ways in which communities work together to achieve common sustainability goals. Working from an applied perspective, students will learn about many factors that can drive positive change, from political organizing and policy-making, to grassroots organizing and community...
SUST 409 Sustainability Internship
Work experience in, or student observation of, a sustainability enterprise or problem. Each student’s project is individually arranged with the instructor and must be approved prior to enrolling in this course. The course is designed to integrate and apply theoretical...
SUST 410 Sustainability Capstone
A seminar course intended for a student’s final year of study. Will combine culminating reflection on the nature and role of sustainability in socio-ecological systems, as well as individual thesis project work (either topical analysis or applied community project). As...