Overall Rating Silver
Overall Score 58.58
Liaison Margaret Lo
Submission Date July 14, 2022

STARS v2.2

Ball State University
AC-3: Undergraduate Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 3.00 Tarek Mahfouz
Associate Dean of the College of Architecture and Planning
Construction Management
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Does the institution offer at least one ​sustainability-focused​ major, degree, or certificate program for undergraduate students?:
Yes

Name of the sustainability-focused undergraduate degree program:
Major in Natural Resources and Environmental Management (BA/BS)

A brief description of the undergraduate degree program:

The major in natural resources and environmental management prepares students for careers in preserving natural resources, improving environmental quality and global sustainability. Learning outcomes include applying the scientific method, using public participation projects to collect water and soil samples as well as social data, understanding the laws and regulations that govern environmental issues, and critical thinking for effective problem solving.


Website URL for the undergraduate degree program:
Name of the sustainability-focused, undergraduate degree program (2nd program):
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A brief description of the undergraduate degree program (2nd program):
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Website URL for the undergraduate degree program (2nd program):
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Name of the sustainability-focused, undergraduate degree program (3rd program):
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A brief description of the undergraduate degree program (3rd program):
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The name and website URLs of all other sustainability-focused, undergraduate degree program(s):
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Does the institution offer one or more sustainability-focused minors or concentrations for undergraduate students?:
Yes

Name of the sustainability-focused undergraduate minor or concentration:
Minor in Sustainability

A brief description of the undergraduate minor or concentration:

To prepare students for leadership in the 21st century, Ball State offers an undergraduate minor in sustainability.

Participating students will be provided a breadth of exposure to issues including systems theory, values and ethics, atmosphere and climate, population, energy, water, land, food (land-based and freshwater/marine-based), health (disease and nutrition), materials (including resource harvesting, resource limitations, resource recycling), natural biological systems (including ecosystem services), economies and poverty.

Upon completion of the minor, students will be able to:

Explain the meaning of sustainability.
1. Describe social, environmental, and economic elements of sustainable human communities.
2. Understand the systemic nature of the interrelationships among those social, environmental, and economic elements of civilization.
3. Articulate their personal values as related to this complexity.

Apply concepts of sustainability in decision making.
1. Articulate within a systems context the role of disciplinary knowledge and skills in achieving long-term human prosperity.
2. Analyze problems within current social, environmental, and economic practices.
3. Identify the strategic interventions needed to achieve a thriving civilization.


Website URL for the undergraduate minor or concentration:
Name of the sustainability-focused undergraduate minor or concentration (2nd program):
Minor in Sustainable Land Systems

A brief description of the undergraduate minor or concentration (2nd program):

Sustainable use and development of the land base and its natural resources has become an integral part of fitting human uses to the land in the planning professions.
From such roots within the Department of Landscape Architecture there has emerged a new interdepartmental minor in Sustainable Land Systems to provide a cross- disciplinary forum for integration of ideas in sustainable, or regenerative, land resource use and development.

Sustainable Land Systems (LA 471) serves as the anchoring course within the program. This is complemented by the three core courses (Ecology, Environmental Economics, and Environmental Ethics), a carefully chosen set of electives from which students select three courses, and the closing course within the clustered minors program, Creating a Sustainable Future (SUST 400).


Website URL for the undergraduate minor, concentration or certificate (2nd program):
Name of the sustainability-focused undergraduate minor or concentration (3rd program):
Minor in Energy

A brief description of the undergraduate minor or concentration (3rd program):

This minor gives students an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the development, use, and conservation of energy. Students may focus on solar and alternative energy systems, energy policy, economics, or planning. The minor complements majors in planning, business, industrial technology, and the life, physical, and earth sciences.


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The name and website URLs of all other sustainability-focused undergraduate minors and concentrations:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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