By Kelsey Braun ’22, Editor in Chief

Starting this year, St. John Fisher College has partnered with RIT to create a program that will guarantee Fisher undergraduate students direct entry into RIT’s graduate School of Sustainability for their Masters of Sustainable Systems program. 

“It’s actually a program that is very interdisciplinary and any degree on campus could  — potentially with the right prerequisites — apply and take advantage of this agreement,” Fisher’s Sustainability Program Director Michael Boller said. 

Starting as early as their junior year, students can get guaranteed entry into the program, as long as they maintain a 3.25 GPA, as well as take the required prerequisites: two science courses, calculus, and statistics.

Additionally, Fisher students will get a 30% tuition scholarship if they are admitted in the program, a waived application fee when applying and they are able to apply without taking the Graduate Record Examinations. Six graduate-level courses from Fisher can be transferred over into the program.

Boller said this program will benefit both RIT and Fisher and only strengthen the relationship. As for students interested in applying, the admissions process will be a whole lot easier. 

“It’s kind of an unknown and new field of working as a sustainability professional,” said Boller. 

“We hear a lot about environmental problems, and we hear a lot about sustainability, but what I think students don’t understand is that corporations, small businesses, governments, everybody needs to think about these issues. Going to study sustainability, especially alongside something else, is really going to allow students to have the background and that breadth of knowledge about why do these things.”

For more information, students can chat with RIT sustainability faculty Dr. Eric Williams and Dr. Guiping Hu on October 26th from 11:20 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. in Basil 210. They will be talking about the new relationship and opportunities for Fisher students.