Global Sustainability Major Requirements
The Global Sustainability major requires 30 credits, plus two prerequisite courses. Among the 30 credits, 15 credits are from 5 required core courses, and 15 credits are from 5 electives. The preferred distribution of electives is three environmental electives (9 hours), one equity elective, and one economic/policy elective. Electives can be selected from a list of more than 240 pre-approved courses taught in Global Studies and across the University, and additional courses may be substituted with the approval of the track director.
Full details are in the GSVS Curriculum Planner, but the prerequisite and core courses are listed here to get you started.
PREREQUISITES (6 CREDITS)
- Global Humanities, History or Culture: one of
- GSGS 2000: Introduction to Global Studies (was GSGS 2559 in Fall 2023)
- ANTH 2160: Culture & the Environment
- ANTH 2250: Nationalism, Racism, Multiculturalism
- ANTH 2285: Anthropology of Development + Humanitarianism
- GDS 3114: Science, Technology, Development
- GSGS 2010: Global Commerce in Culture
- GSGS 2400: Mass Migration & Global Development (was GSGS 2559 in Spring 2024)
- GSGS 2610: Global Systems of Inequality
- GSGS 3030/ENGL 3610: Global Cultural Studies
- GSGS 3100: Critical Conceptions of the Global
- GSGS 3117: Dynamics of Great Powers: View from the South
- GSGS 3118: Space, Place and Global Development (was GSGS 3559 in Fall 2023)
- GSGS 3559 (19730): Order & Disorder in the Contemporary World
- GSGS 3559: Art & Politics in Global Perspective
- Methods/Quantitative Reasoning: one of
- ECON 2010: Microeconomics
- ECON 3430: Economics of Sustainability & Environment
- EVSC 3020: GIS Methods
- GSGS 3330: Ecological Economics
- GSGS 4200: Applied Research in Global Studies
- GSVS 2050: Sustainable Energy Systems
- PLAN 2110: Data Visualization for Planners
- PLAN 2111: GIS for Planners
- STAT 1601 or 1602: Intro to Data Science with R
- STAT 2020: Statistics for Biologists
- STAT 2120: Intro to Statistical Analysis
CORE COURSES (15 CREDITS)
- GSVS 2150 / ARCH 2150 / COMM 3880: Global Sustainability
- GSVS 2210 / RELG 2210: Religion, Ethics & Global Environment
- GSVS 3310: Sustainability Policy at Home & Abroad
- GSVS 3330: Ecological Economics (preferred) ~OR~ ECON 3430: Economics of Sustainability & the Environment
- GSVS 4991: Capstone Research Seminar
ELECTIVES (15 CREDITS)
- See the “Elective Explorer” tab of the GSVS Curriculum Planner spreadsheet for the the current list of courses pre-approved for the major.
(Please make a copy of the Curriculum Planner and follow the steps in the Instructions tab to map out your Global Sustainability journey.)
OF NOTE:
- Students may apply for admission to the major before completing the prerequisites, but the courses must be completed before graduation.
- The prerequisites cannot double count as GSVS core or elective courses, but they may double count for General Education requirements.
- Students may count 4 of their major courses (12 credits) taken in other UVA schools as 'inside' the College (per CEPC approval on 12/8/2015)
- Credits applied toward a major cannot count toward completion of a minor. See rules for College minors here.
- Within allowable UVA limits and in consultation with the track director (Spencer Phillips), students may do the following:
- double-count up to 3 courses toward the interdisciplinary GSVS major and another UVA major
- count UVA Transfer Credit toward coursework required for the major
- count Direct Credits from a UVA Study Abroad program toward the major
- count UVA-approved Transfer Credit from a Study Abroad program toward the major
- create an independent study course in Global Sustainability
- receive 1 credit for an internship (details here).
For questions about the major and/or to share a share a draft of your plans, please email Spencer Phillips at any time. To make an appointment to review your plans (recommended) see his bookings page.)
(Click here for requirements for the Global Sustainability Minor.)