Sustainability is about choices made within specific environmental, economic, social, and cultural contexts. Sustainability scholarship involves creating, integrating and harnessing new knowledge to protect and improve social and natural systems and their interactions. The Department of Community Sustainability (CSUS) is an interdisciplinary department that addresses contemporary issues of sustainability in agriculture, recreation, natural resources, and the environment. The Department of Community Sustainability (CSUS) was formerly called the Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation, and Resource Studies (CARRS).
Consistent with its mission to assist in the development of sustainable communities, the department offers three undergraduate majors linked by a common core in community sustainability. These three majors - Environmental Studies and Sustainability (ESS); Sustainable Parks, Recreation and Tourism (SPRT); and Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources Education (AFNRE) – share a set of courses centered on community sustainability. The CSUS graduate program offers two graduate majors: Community Sustainability (MS and PhD) and Sustainable Tourism and Protected Areas Management (MS and PhD). In both undergraduate and graduate programs, CSUS embraces international as well as domestic applications, engagement, and opportunities.
Undergraduate
CSUS undergraduate programs are designed to educate scholars and practitioners who are able to create, integrate and harness new knowledge to protect and improve both social and natural systems.
Graduate
CSUS offers three graduate degree programs to prepare scholar-activists interested in sustainability, recreation and tourism, food systems, agriculture education and international development for research, community engagement and knowledge production.
Featured in the News
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CLACS Core Faculty Win $3.2 million NSF Convergence Grant for Innovative Project in Brazil
Published on December 14, 2020 by MSU Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies
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Students, professor explain importance of climate change for upcoming election
Published on October 30, 2020 by State News
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'The Earth has a deadline': The value of sustainability and how to incorporate it into your daily life
Published on October 29, 2020 by The State News
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Interdisciplinary Researchers Team Up to Eradicate Guinea Worm Disease in Chad
Published on October 19, 2020 by MSU College of Communication Arts and Sciences
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Proposal 1 ballot measure would change rules on Michigan parks fund
Published on October 15, 2020 by Bridge Michigan
Events
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Jan 26
MSU Diversity Career Fair 2021
January 26, 2021 4:00PM – 7:00PM Online
The MSU Diversity Career Fair will be held virtually on Jan. 26. Students can register through MSU Handshake.
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Feb 4
CANR Major Spotlight: Sustainable Parks, Recreation, and Tourism
February 4, 2021 4:00PM – 4:30PM Online
This CANR Major Spotlight runs for 30 minutes and will cover the Sustainable Parks, Recreation, and Tourism major. The event starts at 4:00 p.m. EST.
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Feb 16
MSU Virtual Environment, Energy, Natural Resources and Sustainability Career Fair 2021
February 16, 2021 3:00PM – 6:00PM Online
The MSU Virtual Environment, Energy, Natural Resources and Sustainability Career Fair 2021 will be held on Feb. 16. Students can register through MSU Handshake.