Sustainability Dual Major

• All majors can combine their primary major with the Sustainability Dual Major.  
• You must have a primary major declared before enrolling. (Not sure what your major will be? Everyone is invited to explore the first course in the Sustainability Dual Major: SUST 401.) 
• You need a GPA of 2.5 or above. Therefore, you must be in at least your second semester to enroll so that you can fulfill the GPA requirement.  
• You should have a desire to learn more about sustainability and solutions for a better world! 

Be a part of a vibrant, committed, and diverse community that will help you:

• Build your UNH community and professional networks 
• Explore the complexity of sustainability in small, engaging courses 
• Learn how to collaborate with peers and faculty across majors 
• Develop career skills needed to create sustainability solutions in any profession 
• Hone your leadership skills to help create a better world 

As an interdisciplinary field of study and practice, you’ll make connections across issues of science and ethics, policy and technology, and culture and history to better understand and take action on the pressing issues of our time. You might explore:

• How can we transition to resilient and socially just coastal communities as sea levels rise? 
• How do we transform regional food systems, so they are sustainable, just, and resilient? 
• How can corporations drive sustainability solutions? 
• How can communities and businesses come together to expand renewable energy production, reduce pollution, create living-wage jobs, and alleviate energy deserts? 
• How can we transition to a zero-waste society? 
• How can we develop new models of sustainability education? 

Before you enroll, you need to have a primary major declared and a minimum GPA of 2.5.   

When you’re ready to enroll, sign into WebCat and go to:  

 > Student Records 
> Change of Major 
> 2nd major 
> Liberal Arts 
> Sustainability / BS 

* Note that it may take one to two weeks to get final approval from the Dean's office and show up on your records.  

Students enrolled in the Sustainability Dual Major may be eligible to receive a tuition discount equal to about $8000/year through the New England Tuition Break program. If you are from a New England state that does not have a sustainability undergraduate major (currently CT, MA, ME, and RI), you will automatically qualify for this discount when you enroll in the SDM.

Please note that you must first:
1) declare a primary major; and
2) demonstrate a 2.5 GPA to declare a dual major which means you cannot enroll in the SDM until your second semester. 

Learn more information about the program.

STUDENTS

• Students who have taken or will take courses that are NOT on the pre-approved electives list for the SDM may petition to have other sustainability-related courses count towards the 20 credits of required electives for the SDM. Students may petition for elective approval prior to or after taking a course, although we recommend discussing your plans and getting approval beforehand. 
• To submit a petition, reach out to the SDM Program Coordinator (Erin.Hale@unh.edu) to request a copy of the PDF variance form. Complete the student sections and send back to the SDM Program Coordinator for approval. If approved, the petition will be forwarded to the COLSA Dean’s Office for a final review. 
• Petitioned courses may be offered through UNH or by other Institutions, either on or off-campus. We will use the same process for reviewing any of these scenarios.  
• A non-UNH course will only be considered if UNH has already approved that course for UNH credit. Note that a course taken for 3 credit hours at another Institution will be worth 3 credits at UNH. 
• Similarly, a grade of “C” or better is required for each course accepted, including University System Institutions. 

Please note: This process is for students who want to petition for an elective course to be counted toward the SDM. If a student wants to petition for a course to substitute for one of the core courses, it must be approved by the entire University Committee for the Sustainability Dual Major (UCSDM) and will undergo much greater scrutiny. 

FACULTY

Faculty who would like to have a course pre-approved as an SDM elective, please:  

• Fill out the online form and upload a syllabus of your course.
• Courses will be reviewed by the University Committee for the Sustainability Dual Major twice per semester. Courses that incorporate explicit discussion of sustainability frameworks and topics throughout their course (rather than a single unit on climate change, for example) are more likely to be approved. 
• Faculty will be informed of the committee decision. If approved, the course will be listed in the course catalog as an approved elective.