The UT Global Sustainability Leadership Institute, a collaboration between the Moody College of Communications and McCombs School of Business, will launch a leadership in global sustainability minor in fall 2022.

After two years of development, the minor will teach students to understand sustainability and apply sustainable practices to their future careers. Applications are open now through April 15 to students across all colleges.

Madison Gove, senior program manager at the GSLI, said the minor ties together the science, business and communication aspects of sustainability to give students a holistic view on how nonprofits and corporations play a role in sustainability.

“We want them to be thinking about sustainability issues no matter what career they go into — whether it’s marketing, finance, communications, whatever it may be,” Gove said. “They can be change-makers within their organization, or if they’re entrepreneurs, they can be creating the new solutions, the new products and services that will solve some of our challenges in the future.”

Twenty students will be selected for fall 2022 to participate in the minor, which includes 17 hours of coursework. The minor also includes a speaker-based course and a capstone course at the end of the program. GSLI plans to accept 20 students each fall and spring semester for the next two years, Gove said.

Lindsey Black, a business honors and finance sophomore, said she plans to apply for the minor to gain expertise in sustainability and help positively impact the future within the business sector.

“I knew that I wanted to pursue business and I also wanted to find a way to kind of incorporate sustainability into it because it’s something that I’m passionate about,” Black said. “Looking at my degree when I first came in, I just wasn’t sure how necessarily I would do that. But with the GSLI coming out with this new minor, I think that it honestly really aligned with what I’m trying to do.”

Sandi Ruddick, senior administrative associate at GSLI, said the institute hopes to grow the program in order to help as many students as possible increase their understanding of sustainability in their careers.

“You don’t have to devote your whole area of study to (sustainability) to get value out of (the program),” Ruddick said. “Offering the minor to as many students as we can gives them the opportunity and then that takes it out into the world.”