Environmental Studies
Program Overview
College of Arts and Sciences, The Department of Earth, Environment, and Society
Owens Science Hall (OWS) 153
Caplow (Chair), Clotts, Hickson, Lamb, Lorah, McDermott, McKay, Regan, Small, Theissen, Vislova
Departmental Overview
The Department of Earth, Environment and Society prepares students to address complex environmental challenges and contribute to a more sustainable future. We offer courses of study in Environmental Science (major, minor), Environmental Studies (major), Geography (minor), Geography-GIS (major, minor, certificate), Geology (major, minor), and Sustainability (minor).
Environmental Studies Program
The Environmental Studies degree provides students with a broad interdisciplinary background as well as a basis for career specialization and practical application and problem solving. The program is based upon an investigation of both the Earth's environment and the wide variety of human interactions with that environment.
The major has three basic objectives:
- to transmit an understanding of environmental problems and their complexities,
- to motivate productive responses to those problems, both vocational and avocational, based on that understanding, and
- to foster the development of critical, inquiring minds
Major in Environmental Studies (B.A.)
44 credits
EES Core (required for all majors in the department)
- ESCI 132 Intro to Environmental Science OR GEOL 115 Environmental Geology OR GEOL 163 Applied Geology (4 credits)
- GEOG 215 Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (4 credits)
- ESCI 310 Environmental Problem Solving (4 credits)
- ENVR 401 Environmental Capstone (4 credits)
- Experiential Learning Requirement (4 credits of GEOL 260, Internship, Research, or other options as approved)
Environmental Studies Major Requirements
- ENVR 151 Environmental Problems and Sustainable Solutions (4 credits)
- ENVR 212 Society and Sustainability (4 credits)
Social Science Methods (choose one of the following):
- HIST 228 Environmental History (4 credits)
- GEOG 331 Conservation Geography (4 credits)
- GEOG 350 Geography of Global Health (4 credits)
- PSYC 334 Psychology for Sustainability (4 credits)
Electives (choose 12 credits from at least three disciplines):
- One Social Science Methods course not used above (4 credits)
- ECON 370 Environmental and Natural Resource Economics (4 credits)
- ENVR 222 Minnesota Ecosystem Management (4 credits)
- ENVR 270 Environmental Education & Interpretation (4 credits)
- ENVR 296/298 Special Topics (2/4 credits; if cross-listed from another department, the home discipline is counted)
- ENVR 269/389/491 Research (2 or 4 credits - if not used above)
- ENVR 476 Experiential Learning (1 to 4 credits - if not used above)
- GEOL 231 Applied Environmental Policy (2 credits)
- POLS 309 Environmental Policy (4 credits)
- JOUR 372 Environmental Journalism (4 credits)
- JPST 294 Environmental Conflict Resolution (4 credits)
- PHIL 258 Environmental Ethics (4 credits)
- PSYC 342 Psychology of Work w/ SUST (4 credits)
- THEO 224 Theology and the Environment (4 credits)
Minor in Sustainability
Available only to non-Environmental Studies majors
See Sustainability