SUSTSCI-MA - Sustainability Science and Practice (MA)

The Sustainability Science and Practice program (SUST for short) is an interdisciplinary coterminal master's program hosted by the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. The goal of the program is to prepare leaders to radically accelerate the transition to a sustainable and just society. As the global human population climbs toward 11 billion, consumption demands increase, and disparities in wealth and opportunity persist, society must learn to equitably meet existing human needs in ways that do not forgo possibilities for future generations. These sustainability challenges are marked by extreme complexity, urgency, conflicting demands, and often a paucity of resources or political will to address them. Transforming these challenges into powerful opportunities requires a new kind of leader— one who can both envision a prosperous future for all and who can design practices and cultivate partnerships essential to building that future. The SUST program equips students with the theoretical and conceptual knowledge and the mindsets and practical skills needed to advance sustainability, securing human well-being around the world and across generations.

The curriculum covers three main elements:

Element 1: Understanding complex social-environmental systems

Students develop a “systems perspective”, deepening their awareness of the dynamic and interrelated nature of social-environmental systems. They explore tools to measure, map, and model five capital assets — social, natural, human, manufactured, and knowledge capital — and their complex interactions in order to recognize potential feedbacks, thresholds, and unintended consequences, as well as to identify leverage points and opportunities for interventions that can have a transformative impact.

Element 2: Understanding decision making and developing strategies for change

Students examine the roles of diverse actors who influence change in social-environmental systems and explore strategies to align decision-making and behavior with sustainability. They explore mindsets and approaches of transformative leaders and examine effective strategies for advancing sustainability across sectors. Students develop skills in decision making in complex and uncertain contexts, use metrics and evaluation approaches aligned with sustainability goals, cultivate leadership orientations, and practice effective communications and storytelling approach.

Element 3: Designing innovations with impact at scale

Students develop an understanding of how to intervene in complex systems for transformative impact by exploring frameworks and tools from systems thinking, design thinking, social cognitive theory, behavioral economics, and partnership strategies. They develop practical skills in mapping complex systems and designing creative, high-leverage interventions that realign systems with the goal of intergenerational well-being.

Sustainability Leadership Practicum

To integrate and internalize core lessons from the SUST curriculum, each student completes 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. Students apply the leadership mindsets, knowledge, and skills from the curriculum to this practical experience and present their final analysis and reflections to faculty and peers.

For more information about the program, as well as admissions, please see Sustainability Science and Practice.

Transfer credit may not be counted toward the MA in Sustainability Science and Practice.

In this master’s program, courses taken during or after the first quarter of the sophomore year are eligible for consideration for transfer to the graduate career; the timing of the first graduate quarter is not a factor. No courses taken prior to the first quarter of the sophomore year may be used to meet master’s degree requirements.

The primary purpose of the master's advisor in the Sustainability Science and Practice (SUST) program is to serve as a mentor, helping to guide students in their academic development and support them as they prepare for their careers. Because SUST is an interdisciplinary program and does not have its own faculty, the program relies upon faculty in relevant departments to advise its students. The program greatly appreciates this advising support, and our staff are readily available to answer questions and assist as needed. Advisors are not expected to know the details of program policies or degree requirements; the program staff take the lead on communicating and advising students on these matters and are also available to support students with course selection, practicum guidance, and more.

Confirming an Advisor

Prior to applying to the Sustainability Science and Practice coterminal master’s program, all candidates are required to identify a faculty member who will serve as their master’s advisor. The coterm advisor must be a member of the Academic Council. Faculty on Academic Council typically hold a title of professor, associate professor, or assistant professor, whereas instructors with the title of lecturer, adjunct professor, or professor of practice are generally not on Academic Council. If unsure whether a prospective advisor is on Academic Council, please contact the SUST Student Services Officer to verify. In limited cases, a student may also be permitted to engage a co-advisor who is not on Academic Council. Candidates who would like to explore a co-advising relationship should consult with the SUST Student Services Officer in advance.

In seeking out potential advisors, students are encouraged to research faculty backgrounds to identify those with shared interests and academic focus areas that they would like to emphasize in their own studies. Candidates are welcome to seek out an advisor from any part of the University. As a starting point, students may wish to consult the SUST program website, which includes a list of faculty members who are affiliated with the SUST program (note that not all who are listed are on Academic Council). Once a candidate has developed a short list of carefully considered ideas, the student should contact the faculty member to ask for a meeting to explore whether an advising relationship could be a good fit for both parties.

Advising Expectations

A prospective faculty advisor meets with a student prior to application submission to:

• Discuss the student’s interests and motivation for applying to the program;

• Discuss what the advisor/advisee relationship will look like; and

• Review, discuss and sign the student's SUST Master's Program Proposal. The advisor’s signature on the completed Program Proposal is required at the time of application and serves as confirmation of the faculty member’s willingness to serve in the advising role. The student must also review their Program Proposal with the SUST Student Services Officer to ensure alignment with program requirements.

Once admitted, the student is responsible for scheduling quarterly advising meetings to discuss the following:

• Consider the student’s proposed courses for the upcoming quarter;

• Discuss career goals and practicum ideas;

• Help connect the student with sustainability networks outside of Stanford in support of the student’s practicum and/or career;

• Review the student’s practicum proposal and attend (if possible) the student’s final practicum presentation. The SUST Lecturer is an additional resource for students, specifically for practicum planning, mentoring and completion. Students are expected to talk with their advisor and with the SUST Lecturer about this aspect of the program.

• Engage the student in relevant research opportunities and projects;

• Discuss the student’s well-being and any support they may need.

Addressing Mental Health

Pursuing a master’s degree at Stanford University is one of the many exciting but challenging endeavors students may be taking on. The pressures of academic work, external projects, and family affairs can at times cause students mental, physical, and emotional stress. The program encourages academic advisors to provide resources to students who may show signs of struggling with mental health, including extreme levels of anxiety and depression, or battling issues such as grief.

Resources:

• Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) offers crisis counseling. Walk-in appointments are available, and clinicians are always on call at (650) 723-3785.

• The Graduate Life Office is available during office hours at (650) 736-7078, or 24/7 at (650) 723-8222, pager ID number 25085.

• The Bridge Peer Counseling Center offers counseling by trained students 24/7 at (650) 723-3392

• The Office for Religious Life offers spiritual guidance for students. Call (650) 723-1762 or visit the Round Room at Memorial Church.

• The Faculty and Staff Help Center, located in Kingscote Gardens, offers confidential help for Stanford faculty and staff.

• If you are aware of someone in distress, contact CAPS, the Department of Public Safety or the Office of the Dean of Students.

For a statement of University policy on graduate advising, see the Graduate Advising section of this bulletin.

The Sustainability Science and Practice program integrates theoretical and conceptual knowledge, mindsets, and practical skills to enable students to understand and manage complex systems, understand decision making and develop strategies for change, and cultivate partnerships and design innovations with potential for impact at scale.

The program prepares students to become effective participants and agents of change as individuals and within organizations across all sectors of society, contributing to the advancement of the goal of sustainability, i.e., the well-being of people around the world and across generations. Using a conceptual framework that connects human well-being with key underlying assets, students learn how social-environmental systems work, how decisions can be made to influence system dynamics in a way that supports sustainability goals, and how to engage with others to design new ways of managing these systems.