Sustainable Organizations & Policy, MS

Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and Whitman School of Management offer a Master of Science in Sustainable Organizations & Policy, providing the skills and knowledge to become competent in economic, social, and environmental sustainability and their interdependencies from public and private perspectives.

Through completing courses from both Maxwell and Whitman, students apply critical thinking and problem-solving skills through systems thinking perspectives applied to sustainability challenges, and learn to effectively communicate sustainability solutions. Students conclude their one-year program with an experiential learning project in partnership with external organizations. They apply classroom learning, evaluate theorganization’s current sustainability practices and policies, and generate value-added solutionsto the organization’s sustainability challenges.

Students successfully completing the program are classified as STEM-designated. This allows international students on an F-1 visa to extend their time in OPT (Optional Practical Training) to 36 months in the U.S. This makes graduates from STEM-designated programs better positioned for hiring and they gain valuable experience in this growing and in-demand area of the marketplace.

Maxwell Contacts: maxenroll@syr.edu

Whitman Contact: busgrad@syr.edu

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Display competence in economic, social, and environmental sustainability and their interdependencies from private and public perspectives

2. Demonstrate critical thinking and problem solving regarding sustainability challenges

3. Demonstrate skills in systems thinking regarding sustainability challenges

4. Communicate and interact with others effectively

Required core (9 credits)

Students should take each of the courses below.

BUA 650 - Managing Sustainability: Purpose, Principles, and Practice 3 credit(s)
BUA 759 - Sustainability-Driven Enterprise 3 credit(s)
PAI 600 - Selected Topics 1-6 credit(s)

Statistics/Analytics core (3 credits)

Students should take one of the statistics/analytics courses below

MBC 638 - Data Analysis and Decision Making 3 credit(s)
PAI 721 - Introduction to Statistics 3 credit(s)
PSC 693 - Introduction to Quantitative Political Analysis 3 credit(s)
SOC 606 - Quantitative Research Design 3 credit(s)

Sustainability core (6 credits)

Students should take two of the courses below.

BUA 651 - Strategic Management and the Natural Environment 3 credit(s)
PAI 723 - Economics for Public Decisions 3 credit(s)
PAI 730 - Problems in Public Administration 1-3 credit(s)
PAI 770 - Climate Change: Law, Science, Perception, and Policy 3 credit(s)
PAI 775 - Energy, Environment and Resources Policy 3 credit(s)
PAI 777 - Economics of Environmental Policy 3 credit(s)
SCM 740 - Green Supply Chain Management 3 credit(s)

Elective courses (12 credits)

Students should select courses from the courses below to total 12 credits. Any of the other courses from the list from the Sustainability core will also count as elective courses.

Additional SUNY-ESF courses from the list below will also count for elective credit:

- EST608 Environmental advocay campaigns and conflict resolution

- EST612 Environmental policy and governance

- EST613 Urbanization and the environment

- EST615 Environmental justice: Policy, tools & society

- EST617 Measuring environmental inequality

- EST640 Environmental thought and ethics

- EST645 Mass media and environmental affairs

- EST650 Environmental perception and human behavior

- EST705 Environmental policy analysis

- EST708 Social theory and the environment

- EST770 Regenerative approaches to sustainable futures

ACC 601 - Intermediate Financial Accounting I 3 credit(s)
ACC 786 - Government and Not-for-Profit Accounting 3 credit(s)
ANT 639 - Climate Change and Human Origins 3 credit(s)
ECN 601 - Survey Microeconomic Theory 3 credit(s)
EEE 620 - Foundations of Entrepreneurship 3 credit(s)
EEE 640 - Social Entrepreneurship 3 credit(s)
GEO 606 - Development and Sustainability 3 credit(s)
GEO 659 - Pyrogeography: Wildfire in a Changing World 3 credit(s)
GEO 687 - Environmental Geostatistics 3 credit(s)
GEO 730 - Political Economy of Nature 3 credit(s)
GEO 752 - Climate Change: History, Geography, Politics 3 credit(s)
GEO 754 - Seminar in Environmental History 3 credit(s)
MBC 601 - Economic Foundations of Business 1.5 credit(s)
MBC 602 - Economics for International Business 1.5 credit(s)
MBC 606 - Information Technology for Decision Support 1.5 credit(s)
MBC 609 - Accounting for Managerial Decisions 1.5 credit(s)
MBC 610 - Opportunity Recognition and Ideation 1.5 credit(s)
MBC 629 - Legal and Ethical Aspects of Management 1.5 credit(s)
MBC 630 - Behavior in Organizations 1.5 credit(s)
MBC 631 - Financial Accounting 3 credit(s)
MBC 635 - Operations and Supply Chain Management 3 credit(s)
MBC 636 - Marketing Management 3 credit(s)
MBC 645 - Strategic Management 3 credit(s)
PAI 600 - Selected Topics 1-6 credit(s)
PAI 705 - Research Design for IR Practitioners 3 credit(s)
PAI 712 - Public Organizations and Management 3 credit(s)
PAI 720 - Economic Principles for International Affairs 3 credit(s)
PAI 722 - Quantitative Analysis 3 credit(s)
PAI 723 - Economics for Public Decisions 3 credit(s)
PAI 724 - Data Driven Decision Making 3 credit(s)
PAI 730 - Problems in Public Administration 1-3 credit(s)
PAI 731 - Financial Management in State and Local Governments 3 credit(s)
PAI 734 - Public Budgeting 3 credit(s)
PAI 748 - Seminar on Nonprofit Management 3 credit(s)
PAI 757 - Economics of Development 3 credit(s)
PAI 762 - Challenges of International Management and Leadership 3 credit(s)
PAI 763 - NGO Management in Developing and Transitioning Countries 3 credit(s)
PAI 770 - Climate Change: Law, Science, Perception, and Policy 3 credit(s)
PAI 772 - Science, Technology, and Public Policy 3 credit(s)
PSC 602 - Public Policy Analysis: Theory and Practice 3 credit(s)
PSC 700 - Selected Topics 1-6 credit(s)
PSC 718 - Politics and the Environment 3 credit(s)
SCM 755 - Lean Six Sigma 3 credit(s)
SOC 513 - Statistics for Social Science 3 credit(s)
SOC 606 - Quantitative Research Design 3 credit(s)
SOC 618 - Introduction to Field Research and Interviewing 3 credit(s)
SOC 714 - Intermediate Social Statistics 3 credit(s)
At least 12 credits total must be taken from Whitman courses and at least 12 credits total must be taken from Maxwell courses in order to satisfy graduation requirements of this joint program.