University of California, Riverside
IN-4: Innovation 4

In the Fall of 2015, UCR established the first Sustainability Studies major within a Gender and Sexuality Studies Department in the USA. The major approaches environmental and climate change as social and economic equity issues, as much as physical environmental ones. Gender and Sexuality Studies sees sustainability as an inherently gendered issue in many parts of the world because of how environmental changes affect men and women differently based on their division of labor and social statuses. Gender is also a critical element in devising and implementing sustainable practices around the world. Gender and Sexuality Studies, as a discipline, has a long tradition of developing research methods aligned with social justice that can be applied to studies of sustainability issues. Courses within the major focus on environmental violence, food justice and climate impacts on underrepresented populations. An interdisciplinary cohort of faculty work with the students in traditional classroom settings as well as outdoors in Living Learning Laboratories and off-site within the community.

The initial enrollment in the major was three undergraduates, after two academic quarters, enrollment has reached 15. The first tenure track line for a Sustainability scholar was filled in support of this major at UCR.