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.
Featured in the News
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MSU Students Helping Trail Development
Published on January 9, 2025 by All Outdoors Update
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Proposed solar farms on state forestland sparks debate over renewable energy
Published on January 6, 2025 by WILX
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Co-creating a vision for the production system of La Montañita 20 years from now: A territory of food, biodiversity and hope
Published on December 18, 2024 by CGIAR
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DNR collaborating with MSU to help community trail-building
Published on December 12, 2024 by DNR News
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MSU research powers Michigan’s economy and future
Published on November 20, 2024 by WKAR
Events
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Jan 15
2025 CAB Digital Badges Project
January 15, 2025 – February 1, 2025
Submit your CAB Department/unit efforts
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Jan 15
2025 You Belong Here Champion Award Nominations
January 15, 2025 – February 1, 2025
Nominate faculty, staff and students
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Feb 21
CSUS Hamm-Norris Seminar- Lissy Goralnik
February 21, 2025 12:10PM – 1:00PM Natural Resources Building, 338
Join the Department of Community Sustainability in the Hamm-Norris Seminar Series for the latest in sustainability. February 21st features Dr. Lissy Goralnik, presenting "Art, science, place: Integration for creative problem-solving."