Community Sustainability

Michigan State University

The CSUS graduate program is designed for students interested in issues of community sustainability in either a domestic or international context. Broadly speaking, faculty, academic staff, and graduate students working in this graduate program tend to focus their work on community food and agricultural systems, natural resources and the environment, tourism and recreation systems, education and civic engagement, and international development. These themes are very broad and they overlap not only with each other but also with issues around sustainable tourism and protected area management, the focus of the department’s other MS and PhD graduate programs. We apply our work in these areas in both domestic and international settings, with numerous faculty and graduate students working in the context of international development, leadership, and systems thinking.

Department/Institute/Unit: Community Sustainability
Institution: Michigan State University
City: East Lansing
Country: United States
State/Province: Michigan
Program Leader(s): Gail VanderStoep and Robert Richardson
Point(s) of Contact: Rebecca Jordan
Contact Email(s): jordanre@msu.edu
Year Initiated: 2020
Currently Active: Yes
Program Scale: International
Participant Model: Cohort Based
Participant Eligibility: Master’s Student, Ph.D. Student
Time Commiment for Participants: 300+ hours
Requirements for Participation: Admission into the graduate program (though we are working on an external certificate!)
Application Frequency: Yearly
Application Process: Apply via MSU’s graduate admissions pages
Program Recruitment Strategies: Through national conferences, web, and word of mouth
Cost to Participant: Yes
Funding or Support Available to Participants: Yes
Amount or Types of Support Available to Participants (if applicable): Assistantships
Mentorship Model: Faculty mentors assigned to each student
Number of Participants in Program: 10-19
How Program is Funded: Internal, Public Grants, Private Grants, Other
Other Program Partners: Professional organizations and campus sustainability program
Number of Program Staff: 2
Is the Program Credit Bearing or Credentialing: Yes
Is there a Program Evaluation Conducted: Yes
Type(s) of Evaluation(s) Conducted: Student Interview

CSUS 801 – Foundations of Community Sustainability II

Applications of sustainability science and systems thinking for community engagement. Boundary-crossing and organizations. Social change. Sustainability ethics. Facilitation of participatory community processes. Participatory virtues for sustainability. Group dynamics in interdisciplinary