Sustainability Leadership Practicum

The Sustainability Leadership Practicum provides an opportunity for enrolled students in the SUST master's program to practice, integrate and internalize core lessons from the program curriculum. Students will independently complete a 120-hour Practicum project of their own design, collaborating on a complex sustainability challenge with an outside partner and working through the types of constraints often faced by decision makers and leaders. Through the Practicum experience, students reflect on and exercise the knowledge, mindsets and practical skills developed through their SUST coursework, including the foundational program concepts of complex social-environmental systems, change leadership, and systems innovation and transformation. Ultimately, the Practicum is designed to develop each student's identity and capacity as a transformative leader through practice. While the Practicum can be carried out and the units earned at any time during the master's program, students are encouraged to start the planning process early, allowing plenty of time to forge a relationship with a partner organization and develop a thoughtful and feasible proposal (to be approved by program leadership and the student's advisor) prior to carrying out their Practicum fieldwork. Deliverables include an analytical paper and a 15-minute final presentation. This course does not convene in a classroom setting. Instead, students are expected to attend Practicum presentation events hosted throughout the year. Enrollment is limited to students in the SUST coterm master's program. (Cardinal Course certified by the Haas Center)