Western officials hope to open up sustainability studies to more Western students with a proposed new minor.

The Board of Regents’ Academic Affairs Committee approved a new minor in sustainability at its meeting on Friday.

Committee approval is a recommendation to the full board, according the board’s bylaws. The board meets on April 24.

If approved, the minor would take effect in fall 2009, according to the committee agenda. It would be offered through the department of geography and geology.

John All, an associate geography and geology professor, said the minor will deal with environmental planning and will help students find jobs in related fields.

“There is already a major in sustainability, so we wanted students to have a way to take some of these classes without having to major in it,” All said. “Some students are majoring in economics, which is great, and a minor in sustainability just makes it look even better and provides more job options for students,” he said.

There’s already a large interest in the minor and a waiting list to participate, he said.

The minor might also help attract new students.

Sustainability coordinator Christian Ryan-Downing said many students are making their college choices based on whether or not sustainability is offered by the university. So adding the minor would attract students who are interested in the field.

A sustainability minor would also help efforts to integrate sustainability across the curriculum, she said.

Daniel Reader, a geography and geology instructor, said in an e-mail that he’s not entirely convinced that people want to understand sustainability.

“Many seem to be content with the practice of ‘green friendliness,’ thinking that that is what is being referred to when the buzzword ’sustainability’ is used,” he said in the e-mail.

Louisville sophomore Chris Wilson, a geography major, said a minor in sustainability would be helpful for students in his major.

“It helps people majoring in geography to get introduced to sustainability,” he said. “It helps get their feet wet into what it is.”

Sustainability courses already offered at Western will make up the minor, according the agenda.

Some of the courses in the new minor program would be Environmental Science, Principles of Global Sustainability and Environmental and Resource Economics, according to the agenda.

The program also allows students to do international projects in places such as China, All said.