Requirements for a Major or Minor in Environmental Studies


An Interdisciplinary Program
– also see Global Studies

Programs offered
• Major in Environmental Studies (Natural Sciences Concentration) (36 to 40 credits)
• Major in Environmental Studies (Policy and Perspectives Concentration) (36 credits)
• Major in Environmental Studies (Contract Concentration)
(36 credits)
• Minor in Environmental Studies (32 to 36 credits)

Environmental Studies Committee
D. Bryan Bishop, co-chair
Hilda P. Koster, co-chair
Laura Aldrich-Wolfe
Gregory B. Carlson
Richard M. Chapman
Kenneth W. Foster
Gretchen G. Harvey
Ross A. Hilgers
Peter C. Hovde
Donald A. Krogstad
Matthew L. Lindholm
Andrew M. Lindner
Michelle D. Marko
Jonathan M. Steinwand

Environmental Studies Program Mission Statement
The environmental studies program equips students with an interdisciplinary framework for analyzing, assessing and responsibly engaging contemporary environmental issues and problems affecting earth systems and human societies across the world. Responding to the call to take care of creation, the program develops students who are ecologically literate citizens of the globe, able to understand and conduct science, to develop policy and to provide moral leadership based on an in-depth understanding of the complexity of contemporary environmental issues and concerns.

Environmental Studies Program Goals and Learning Outcomes
Students majoring in environmental studies pursue diverse programs of study depending on which concentration they choose and which particular courses they take as electives within their concentration. However, the program provides all students with learning experiences that prepare them to achieve a common set of goals and learning outcomes.

The environmental studies program provides learning experiences that prepare students to achieve the following outcomes:
1. possess an understanding of the ecological connectivity (interactions and relationships) of the living and nonliving systems on earth, from the organismal to the global scale;
a. students have a thorough knowledge of the way science and ecologists examine and describe ecological processes and test hypotheses about processes;
b. students have gained the skills to evaluate scientific information presented to, or collected by them (e.g., the process of succession, trophic-levels, nutrient fluxes), and the understanding to recognize how scientific data informs the policies and decisions we make;
c. students have the ability to distinguish between scientific evidence and values-based appraisal, and will be able to recognize the different roles these two perspectives have in policy decisions.
2. possess an understanding of the impact of human activity on local and global environments;
a. students are able to recognize and analyze the effects of human activity on the health and vitality of ecosystems both locally and globally;
b. students are able to distinguish between sustainable and nonsustainable interactions between humans and ecosystems both locally and globally.
3. possess an understanding of how cultures shape human attitudes toward the nonhuman world;
a. students are cognizant of the diverse ways cultures around the world have perceived of human beings’ relationship with the nonhuman world, and the ways in which these cultural perspectives shape societal attitudes and ethics;
b. students are able to reflect critically on their own assumptions and beliefs concerning the nature of reality and the various ways their cultural heritage, ethical systems, and spiritual beliefs have constructed human relationship and responsibilities vis-à-vis the rest of nature.
4. posses an understanding of the social, economic and political dimensions of environmental issues, both locally and globally;
a. students have gained insight in the effects of environmental destruction on societies and communities – especially economically vulnerable ones – as well as the various ways environmental and social-economic sustainability are interconnected;
b. students are conversant with national and international political processes related to environmental policies and their consequences for a sustainable earth-community.
5. be able to analyze, explore and articulate sustainable solutions to complex environmental problems;
a. students are able to assess the effect of technical, economic and social solutions to environmental problems in terms of their sustainability;
b. students are able to articulate and initiate innovative social, economic and/or technical solutions to contemporary environmental problems.
6. possess a thoughtful position on the major issues that surround the study of the global environmental crisis;
a. students are able to make connections between the distinctly diverse ways environmental concerns are studied within the natural sciences, the social sciences and the humanities;
b. students have integrated their comprehensive and critical study of the many dimensions of the global environmental crisis into a constructive position of their own.
7. have become practiced in responsible engagement with the world on behalf of the environment;
a. students possess the skills (e.g., activism, negotiation, policy making) to responsibly engage in social action to provide greater environmental sustainability to the planet and increased well-being for those who inhabit it;
b. students possess the senses and motives (e.g., empathy, efficacy, environmental stewardship) to responsibly engage in social action to provide greater environmental sustainability to the planet and increased well-being for those who inhabit it.

The program is administered by a special faculty committee. Each student seeking the major or minor should contact the program chair for advisement in planning an environmental studies program.

Major in Environmental Studies with a Natural Sciences Concentration
The requirements for a major in environmental studies with a natural science concentration are 36 to 40 credits, depending on electives chosen:
• BIOL 122 – Evolution and Diversity, 4 credits
• BIOL 221 – Ecology, 4 credits
• ENVR 360, BIOL 360 – Introduction to Geographic Information Systems, 4 credits
• 4 to 8 credits from one or two of the following:
– CHEM 111 – Survey of General Chemistry, 4 credits OR
CHEM 127 – General Chemistry I, 4 credits AND
CHEM 128 – General Chemistry II, 4 credits
• 4 credits from the following:
– MATH 205 – Introduction to Statistics, 4 credits
– PSC 311– Methods and Techniques of Political Analysis, 4 credits
– PSYC 230 – Statistics and Psychological Measurement, 4 credits
• 4 credits from the following:
– ART 483 – Art and Environmental Activism, 4 credits
– CSTA 332 – Media Production I: Video, 4 credits
– ENG 165 – Global Literature and the Environment, 4 credits
– REL 348 – Ethics of Sustainable Community, 4 credits
– REL 393 – Religion and Ecology, 4 credits
• 8 credits from the following:
– BIOL 309 – Ornithology, 4 credits
– BIOL 311 – Entomology, 4 credits
– BIOL 313 – Plant Taxonomy, 4 credits
– BIOL 324 – Invertebrate Zoology, 4 credits
– BIOL 350 – Animal Behavior, 4 credits
– BIOL 409 – Limnology, 4 credits
– CHEM 111 – Survey of General Chemistry, 4 credits
– CHEM 127 – General Chemistry I, 4 credits AND
CHEM 128 – General Chemistry II, 4 credits
• 4 credits from the following:
– FND 336 Environmental Nutrition, 4 credits
– PSC 365, ENVR 365, SCAN 365 – Global Issues, 4 credits
– PSC 367, ENVR 367 – Arctic Environmental Governance, 4 credits
– PSC 350, ENVR 350 – Environmental Policy, 4 credits
– SOC 312, BUSN 312 – Global Development Issues, 4 credits
– SOC 315, ECON 315 – Political Sociology, 4 credits
– SOC 339 – Urban Communities, 4 credits
• ENVR 475 – Interdisciplinary Research, 4 credits

Major in Environmental Studies with a Policy and Perspectives Concentration
The requirements for a major in environmental studies with a policy and perspectives concentration are 36 credits:
• BIOL 101 – General Biology (non-biology majors), 4 credits
• ENVR 103 – Ecosystems and Human Influence, 4 credits
• BIOL 360, ENVR 360 – Introduction to Geographic Information Systems, 4 credits
• 4 credits from the following:
– REL 348 – Ethics of Sustainable Community, 4 credits
– REL 393 – Religion and Ecology, 4 credits
• 16 credits from below, 4 of which must come from the Social Sciences and 4 of which must come from Arts and Humanities.
Social Sciences
– ENVR 365, PSC 365 – Global Issues, 4 credits
– ENVR 367, PSC 367, SCAN 367 – Arctic Environmental Governance, 4 credits
– ENVR 350, PSC 350 – Environmental Policy and Politics, 4 credits
– ENVR 312, BUSN 312, SOC 312 – Global Development Issues, 4 credits
– SOC 315 – Political Sociology, 4 credits
– SOC 339 – Urban Communities, 4 credits
– FND 336 – Environmental Nutrition, 4 credits
Arts and Humanities
– ART 483 – Art and Environmental Activism, 4 credits
– CSTA 332 – Media Production I: Video, 4 credits
– ENG 165 – Ecosystems and Human Influence, 4 credits
• ENVR 475 – Interdisciplinary Research, 4 credits

Major in Environmental Studies with a Contract Concentration
The requirements for a major in environmental studies with a contract concentration are 36 credits designed by the student and approved by the program faculty:
• ENVR 103 – Ecosystems and Human Influence, 4 credits
88 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
• REL 348 – Ethics of Sustainable Community, 4 credits OR
REL 393 – Religion and Ecology, 4 credits
• ENVR 475 – Interdisciplinary Research, 4 credits
• BIOL, ENV 360 – Introduction to Geographic Information Systems, 4 credits
• 20 credits proposed by the student as a course of study in environmental studies, along with a rationale describing how the courses meet the student’s goals and the learning objectives of the environmental studies program – subject to approval by the environmental studies program faculty. The major should be submitted and approved no later than the end of the junior year.

Minor in Environmental Studies
The requirements for a minor in environmental studies are 32 or 36 credits:
• ENVR 103 – Ecosystems and Human Influence, 4 credits OR
BIOL 122 – Evolution and Diversity, 4 credits AND
BIOL 221 – Ecology, 4 credits
• 16 credits from any approved environmental studies courses, excluding statistics. Eight of these credits must be at the 300 or 400 level.
• ENVR 475 – Interdisciplinary Research, 4 credits
• 8 more credits from any approved environmental studies course