Effective Fall 2025, DGS will become the Division of Exploratory Studies. Same mission; new name.

Sustainable Design

Major Description

Sustainable Design calls on a student’s creativity to conceptualize, visualize, analyze, communicate, and build products, buildings, cities, landscapes, and communities that use energy and materials in a more environmentally and socially sustainable manner. You will learn how design can contribute to solving problems of sustainability in a constantly evolving society and building equitable, healthy, and thriving places.

With course work in graphic and industrial design, architecture, landscape architecture and urban and regional planning, the program grounds concrete skills development with opportunities to move between disciplinary barriers and traverse traditional boundaries.

Graduates of this program will be prepared for a future in a sustainable world where ideas from many disciplines will be necessary to solve complex problems.

Courses That Introduce the Major
  • FAA 230—Sustainable Design of the Built Environment
  • LA 101—Introduction to Landscape Architecture
  • UP 136—Urban Sustainability
  • ARCH 171—Concepts of Architectural Design

Students should consult with an academic advisor regarding course selection prior to the advanced registration period.

Possible Career Opportunities:

With expertise across disciplines, students in this program will be prepared to enter jobs in design firms, planning agencies, industry, and public and non-profit agencies, or continue preparation in a variety of graduate or professional programs such as Architecture, Industrial Design, Landscape Architecture, Urban Design and Urban Planning. 

No
  • Creativity
  • Analytical and critical thinking skills
  • Computer skills
  • Oral, written, and graphic communication skills
  • Research skills
  • Teamwork skills
  • Sustainability Coordinator
  • Urban planner
  • Sustainable design specialist
  • Industrial designer
  • Product designer
  • Green Business marketer
  • Architect
  • Landscape Architect
  • Graphic designer
  • Green buildings consultant
  • Climate designer

Some careers may require further training or education beyond an undergraduate degree.

Enhancing Your Academic Experience:
Further Information:

There are several professional organizations dedicated to sustainable design.  Their websites might be able to provide a glimpse of what sustainable designers do.  These organizations include U.S. Green Building Council  www.usgbc.org, American Sustainable Business Council https://www.asbcouncil.org/, Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute www.c2ccertified.org, Environmental Design Research Association  www.edra.org, International Society for Industrial Ecology www.is4ie.org, and Biomimicry Institute www.biomimicry.org