Texas State University, San Marcos
AC-4: Graduate Program

This degree is specifically designed to prepare committed leaders to address emerging sustainability issues. Students completing the program will have the technical skills to formulate and solve problems at the appropriate scale, as well as the breadth of vision to recognize the interconnectedness and complexity of human-environment systems. Graduates will be prepared for admission into strong doctoral programs or professional schools, and important positions in the growing field of sustainability-related careers within local, state, or federal government, regulatory agencies, non-governmental organizations, and consulting firms within relevant industries. The program is available to graduate students seeking a more diversified program of study than is generally available for students specializing in a single discipline. The program is open to any qualified graduate student, and is particularly relevant for those wishing to improve their subject matter competence in more than one discipline. The M.S. in Sustainability Studies is designed for students inclined toward social sciences, natural sciences, economics, policy, ethics, or related fields.  The program is tailored to accommodate both full-time and part-time graduate students.

Master of Science in Population and Conservation Biology: The M.S. with a major in Population and Conservation Biology is a research degree that requires a minimum of two years full-time coursework and research leading to a thesis. The program is envisioned as an interdisciplinary course of study that combines principles of population biology with strong training in measurement and analysis of biological systems, augmented with the student’s choice of study in particular specialties. Students are required to complete a two-semester series in statistics and experimental design in the first year. The course of study in the second year of the program includes a two-semester seminar sequence in population biology as well as elective courses. The Population Biology seminar courses pair small groups of students with faculty who conduct research in population and/or conservation biology. These seminars explore current topics in the field, including theoretical advances, contemporary research and methodological issues. Elective courses in the second year allow students to specialize in particular sub-disciplines of the field, including: ecology of populations, population management, conservation biology or evolutionary ecology and genetics.

The Master of Geography Resource and Environmental Studies degree program is designed to prepare geographers to use their skills and background knowledge to solve real-world problems with geographic dimensions. Geography Resource and Environmental Studies includes such sub-fields as environmental management, geographic education, geographic information systems (GIS), cartography, land use planning, location analysis, land management, transportation systems planning, applied physical geography, geographic aspects of environmental law, and spatial modeling.

The graduate minor in Anthropology requires nine semester credit hours of Anthropology graduate advisor-approved master's level Anthropology courses.
Anthropology minors must take: Diversity Studies, Theories and Issues, and Global Issues in Diversity. Diversity plays a role in sustainability by providing an outlook perspective on an outside world.
Anthropology must take one of several electives. Those relating to sustainability - Language Problems in a Multicultural Environment, Society and Culture in Brazil, Literacy as Sociocultural Practice, Seminar in Globalization and Development, etc.

The graduate minor in Geography requires nine semester credit hours of advisor-approved Geography courses.
Geography minors must take the following courses that relate to sustainability; Managing Urbanization, Environmental Management, Environment Problems of the U.S.-Mexico Border, Geography of Natural Hazards, Applied Water Resources, Regional Waste Management, Air Quality Management, etc.

Students in the Aquatic Systems concentration will focus on an understanding of the structure and functioning of aquatic systems as integrated physical, biological, and socioeconomic entities and will emphasize practices aimed at protecting, maintaining, and restoring the health and sustainable use of these resources. This area of concentration encourages investigation of aquatic systems at the level of the watershed, as influenced by atmospheric and terrestrial processes.