MASTER OF ARTS IN NATURE-CULTURE-SUSTAINABILITY STUDIES

NOTE: The Nature-Culture-Sustainability Studies Program is on pause. Please contact the Liberal Arts Office for additional information.

2023-2024 | Curriculum | 1.5-year program

In probing the interconnections between the natural and built environments, NCSS students come to see nature and culture as inextricably bound together, and to recognize that environmental and ecological issues can best be understood through multifaceted critical lenses.

The program invites a close-knit community of students whose diverse knowledge of environmental issues opens up opportunities for inspiring dialogue, research and collaboration. Ongoing conversations with both faculty and fellow graduate students in the Global Arts and Cultures program encourage NCSS students to situate their research within multiple global and historical contexts. Valuable insight into leading-edge practices in environmental arts and sustainable design emerges through exposure to and interaction with students in RISD’s 19 graduate programs.

The curriculum culminates in the creation of a unique, written master’s thesis. Working under the supervision of liberal arts faculty with expertise in a variety of disciplines, students pursue rigorous interdisciplinary research about a topic of their choosing related to their studies.

In generating radical new forms of intellectual idea sharing, students demonstrate the value of advanced research across disciplines to address complex problems.

Notes:

[a] All required courses for the Master of Nature-Culture-Sustainability Studies will have the preface NCSS. NCSS-703G is restricted to Master of Nature-Culture-Sustainability Studies students.

[b] NCSS-798G and NCSS-799G are restricted to Master of Nature-Culture-Sustainability Studies students.