Environmental Policy & Sustainability

Earn an MPA with an Environmental Policy and Sustainability concentration

The Environmental Policy and Sustainability concentration prepares students with the ideas and technical skills needed to address the challenges and opportunities found in handling environmental and sustainability issues in cities, nonprofits, and corporations.

This Environmental Policy and Sustainability concentration leverages the expertise of our faculty and has an above average expected job growth average (11 percent) in the environmental fields between 2014 and 2024. Those projections are based on the heightened interest of the public in hazards caused by the environment and population growth.

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U.S. News and World Report badge for Best Programs in Environmental Policy and Management.

Environmental issues in current events

An oil rig in the ocean

Over the past decades, events such as the Flint water crisis or the Deepwater Horizon oil spill have brought environmental protection to the center of attention.

Environmental issues span jurisdictional boundaries. The list of issues is long and includes matters such as air and water protection at or near industrial sites, mercury and lead exposure, environmental justice, urban green space, and climate change.

Required courses (18 credit hours)

Analysis of concepts, methods, and procedures involved in managing public organizations. Problems of organization, planning, decision making, performance evaluation, and management of human resources are considered. Cases are drawn from a variety of public services found at federal, state, and local levels of government.

An examination of the role of public affairs professionals in policy processes. Focuses on relationships with political actors in various policy areas.

The interrelationships among social, technical, and natural systems. Theories of growth. Causes and implications of environmental problems. Alternative policies and mechanisms for environmental control and bases for choice.

An introduction to urban government and policy issues within the context of sustainability. Specifically, the course introduces social, fiscal, economic, physical, and political aspects of sustainable policy in urban areas.  

The fiscal role of government in a mixed economy; sources of public revenue and credit; administrative, political, and institutional aspects of the budget and the budgetary process; problems and trends in intergovernmental fiscal relations.

Conceptual and technical overview of geographic information systems (GIS). Applications in various fields of public affairs and environmental science.

Environmental Policy and Sustainability students will also take two 3-credit-hour electives to complete the degree requirements.

Solve problems at the crossroads of policy, management, and science.