Work in progress - Developing a curriculum for a minor in ‘sustainability’ by the incorporation of quality function deployment (QFD) techniques

Recently, there has been considerable focus on incorporating the concept of sustainability into academic curricula across the United States. In keeping with this trend, Georgia Southern University has sought to introduce a minor in sustainability that will be offered to students on campus. This aforementioned effort has been presented in this paper though the development of a systematic methodology. The proposed minor in sustainability will encompass factors such as carbon footprint, limited resources, renewable energy, and will critically examine in detail the business case for sustainability. A capstone course would seek to expose students to hands on experience in designing sustainable systems for both products as well as services. A multifaceted issue such as sustainability is bound to have many interdisciplinary as well as cross disciplinary aspects which are addressed through the proposed minor. A QFD approach has been utilized for this purpose to ensure objectivity of instruction and quality of course material.