NCSS Concentration

NCSS housed-in and administered-by the Division of Liberal Arts, the NCSS is an all-college interdisciplinary undergraduate concentration. The concentration allows students to create their own pathway of study drawn from the fields of: sustainable design, the environmental social sciences, the environmental humanities, social and environmental justice studies, the environment, and the fine arts. Courses that can earn NCSS credit and are open to NCSS concentrators are identified as such in the NCSS Course Catalog. Students will also complete a 3-credit core course in Nature-Culture-Sustainability Studies – The NCSS Core Seminar.

The NCSS is a capped program. All RISD BFA students can apply to join the NCSS Concentration. However, concentration numbers are limited to 30 students per academic year. Students are selected by the NCSS Advisory Board in the Spring semester of the academic year. Interested students should complete the concentration declaration form at the bottom of this page.

Typically, concentrators meet or communicate with the concentration coordinator once or twice a year to discuss course options and to update their records. NCSS concentrators may pre-register for a select range of Liberal Arts courses that are identified in the NCSS catalog as NCSS credit-worthy courses. The concentration coordinator will contact all concentrators with the relevant instructions shortly before the official registration period. This pre-registration option is available in fall and spring only.

The learning and making objectives of this concentration are to enable students to:

• Study the historical and contemporary causes and consequences of environmental challenges.
• Advance a sophisticated, critical understanding of the ways aesthetics, objects, and language interact with culture, power relations, and institutions to shape our perceptions of the natural and built world.
• Identify the connections among cultural, social, political, philosophical, and scientific perspectives that shape human-environment interaction.
• Reflect on the contours of their own socio-ecological identity and its potential impact in the world.
• Refine the intellectual, conceptual, and technical skills they need to generate art and design-based responses, critiques, and solutions to contemporary and future environmental challenges.
• Expose and expand the connections between the environmental social sciences, nature-culture studies, design, and the fine arts through the lens of sustainability.
• Develop the leadership skills they need to become critical voices, innovators, and actors, extending our understanding of nature, culture, and sustainability through art and design.

To satisfy the requirements of this interdisciplinary undergraduate concentration, students will complete a minimum of 21 credit hours of relevant coursework with a B- or above. RISD students will be able to ‘double count’ up to 9 credits of courses they have taken in their major as NCSS courses as long as such courses are identified as fulfilling NCSS requirements.

9 credits electives from Liberal Arts that cover NCSS topics
9 credits double counted from your major
3 credits from the NCSS Core Seminar. This course will receive credit as a non-major studio elective cross-listed in the Liberal Arts, Fine Arts and Architecture and Design divisions. Students may distribute their remaining credits for the concentration according to their individual needs and creative passions.

The NCSS concentration can be completed within a 4-or 5-year degree program.

• NCSS concentrators will be able to transfer a maximum of 6 credits from other universities to fulfill their NCSS concentration requirements; all these courses must receive at least a B-, or in the case of universities where letter grades are not issued, a passing grade;
• All 4-credit courses from other universities will transfer into this concentration as 3-credit courses;
• Discretion regarding whether courses from other universities meet the standards for an NCSS course rests with the NCSS concentration coordinator.

Please use the Course Petition Form to transfer your courses.

Sage Gerson
Assistant Professor
NCSS Concentration Coordinator for First-Year + Sophomore Students

Anastasiia Raina
Associate Professor
NCSS Concentration Coordinator for Junior + Senior students

ncss-concentration@risd.edu