Sustainable Practices

Planning Your Courses: 

Students in this program have access to a dedicated academic advisor. Your advisor will help you develop the skills to make academic and career pathway decisions. Through advising, your advisor will support you to make connections between academic interests, long term goals, and career opportunities. The advisor will assist with education planning, internship and career planning, and graduation processes. Contact Stephan Classen sclassen@cascadia.edu for more information.

The Annual Course Planning Guide shows Cascadia’s tentative plan for classes and the quarters in which they are offered. It is intended for planning purposes only and should not be considered a guarantee of class offerings. Actual quarterly sections may be changed, added, or removed. Students should use the Searchable Quarterly Class Schedule to see up to date class offerings.

Courses:

Career Possibilities: 

Project Management positions, Transportation Manager, Waste Zero Education Specialists, Store Managers, Operations Manager at a Solar Company, Lab Technicians, Survey Technicians, Green Building Rating System Project Assistant, Field Ecologist, Program Coordinator

You can learn more about career possibilities related to your interests in this pathway through O*Net Online. O*Net Online shares information about related careers, salary, skills related to the industry, and more.

Connect with Cascadia’s Career and Transfer Center for assistance as you go through the process of planning career and future educational goals.

Some job opportunities may also exist in business corporations, non-profits, and Tribal Enterprises.

The Bachelor of Applied Science Degree in Sustainable Practices is intentionally designed to prepare students as sustainability professionals who can build resilience and implement meaningful change in response to complex environmental, economic and social problems. The program seeks to develop five competencies:

• Systems Thinking - the ability to collectively analyze complex systems across different domains (society, environment, economy, etc.) and across different scales (local to global)
• Interpersonal - the ability to motivate, enable, and facilitate collaborative and participatory sustainability research and problem solving
• Anticipatory - the ability to collectively analyze, evaluate, and craft rich "pictures" of the future related to sustainability issues and sustainability problem-solving frameworks
• Strategic - the ability to collectively design and implement interventions, transitions, and transformative governance strategies toward sustainability
• Normative - the ability to collectively map, specify, apply, reconcile, and negotiate sustainability values, principles, goals, and targets

Prerequisites

In order to consider your application, you must meet one set of the following conditions:

• An Applied Science Associate degree from a regionally accredited college or university in the area of sustainability, environmental technology, or equivalent, consisting of at least 90 credits, with a minimum 2.5 cumulative grade point average and a 2.0 grade in each of the following courses:
• English 101 (5 credits) or equivalent
• Any Math course that required Intermediate Algebra (MATH 085) as a prerequisite (5 credits)
• Natural Science course with lab in either Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, Environmental Science, or Geology (5 credits)

Or

• A transfer Associate degree from a regionally accredited college consisting of at least 90 credits or a bachelor’s degree; with a minimum 2.5 cumulative grade point average and a 2.0 grade in each of the following courses:
• English 101 (5 credits) or equivalent
• Any Math course that required Intermediate Algebra (MATH 085) as a prerequisite (5 credits)
• Natural Science course in either Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, Environmental Science, Natural Science, or Geology (10 credits with at least 5 credits in a lab science)
• Social Science course (5 credits)

Students with relevant work or volunteer experience and some college credit but without degrees are encouraged to meet with the Assistant Director of Sustainable Practices, sclassen@cascadia.edu, to discuss enrollment options.

International Students are welcome to apply for the BASSP program and will need to have foreign transcripts evaluated by a Cascadia approved evaluator and English language placement with Cascadia's international department. Please contact the Assistant Director of Sustainable Practices, sclassen@cascadia.edu, with questions.

Students who wish to take courses without being admitted to the program (non-matriculated) may be considered on a space-available basis, following state policies for students at bachelor's level courses.

Apply

Please select Bachelors of Applied Science Degrees from Get Started for step-by-step application instructions.

Put your passion to work

We teach it and we live it. Put your passion to work on a campus that is nationally recognized for its achievements in sustainability. #1 Sustainable grounds campus in the nation. Nationally awarded Cascadia Food Forest. Campus garden. Vermicomposting. Pollinator plantings. LEED buildings. 58-acre restored wetland.

Why study sustainability at Cascadia?

Sustainability is a concept, a discipline, an ideal. It is the recognition that the prosperity of our planet, our people, and our economy are inextricably linked. By blending coursework in natural sciences, environmental studies, social sciences, management, and technology. There is no other degree like this in Washington state.

Careers that keep the earth in balance

Cascadia College's Bachelor of Applied Science in Sustainable Practices provides a pathway to careers in the green industry. Graduates will learn the skills necessary to plan and implement sustainability approaches to how we live and work by managing complex projects for government agencies, private and non-profit organizations, environmental water, energy, and agriculture industries, construction management firms, and educational institutions. Read some of the stories and journies of our alumni!

Our graduates have gone on to work for organizations including:

• Alderwood Water and Wastewater District
• Artisan Electric
• Barn2Door
• Carlsbad Parks and Recreation
• Cascade Ecology
• Department of Ecology
• Esalan Institute
• Friends of North Creek Forest
• Green Kirkland Partnership
• King County
• O’Brien360
• Recology
• Ruta Verde
• Sphere Solar Energy
• Swedish Medical Center
• Waste Management