Environmental Studies
The Environmental Studies major gives students an interdisciplinary background and enables them to think critically about, analyze, and understand today’s environmental issues. In this major, students receive a broad overview of environmental issues that includes environmental science, the social sciences, and humanities. Students take a core set of fundamental courses and then tailor a set of broad upper-level electives that reflects the students’ specific interests.
Major Requirements (49 Credits)
Foundation Courses (16 credits)
| BIO 101 | Introduction to Biology: Genetics, Evolution, and Ecology | 3 |
| BIO 101L | Laboratory to Introduction to Biology: Genetics, Evolution, and Ecology | 1 |
| ENV 200 | Understanding Environmental Issues | 3 |
| MAT 201 | Introduction to Statistics | 3 |
Two additional 100-level science courses (BIO, CHEM, ENV, GEO, PHYS)
Lower-level Humanities and Social Sciences (9 credits)
Three of the following:
| CLCS 110 | Reading Cultures: Approaches to Cultural Studies | 3 |
| ECN 100 | Principles of Macroeconomics | 3 |
| ECN 101 | Principles of Microeconomics | 3 |
| COM 212 | Public Speaking: Engaging with the Global Audience | 3 |
| FAS 100 | Introduction to Fashion Studies | 3 |
| HIS 104 | Global History I: Traditions, Encounters, and Adaptation from the Stone Age to the 16th Century | 3 |
| HIS 105 | Global History II: Globalization, the Emergence of the Modern State, and Coping with Change | 3 |
| POL 100 | Introduction to Political Science | 3 |
| POL 101 | Introduction to International Relations | 3 |
| POL 112 | Markets, Policy and Administration | 3 |
| SJS 100 | Sustainability and Social Justice: Ethics, Equality, and Environments | 3 |
Upper-level Science Courses (3 credits)
One of the following:
Upper-level Science Courses (6 credits)
Two of the following:
| BIO 203 | Plant Biology | 3 |
| BIO 210T | Alpine Ecosystems | 3 |
BIO 3XX
| Any 300-level Biology course | |
| ENV 210 | Natural Disasters, Catastrophes, and the Environment | 3 |
| ENV 230T | Freshwater Conservation | 3 |
| ENV 231T | Introduction to Coastal Ecosystems | 3 |
| ENV 240 | Environment and Health | 3 |
| ENV 250 | Quantitative Methods for Environmental Science | 3 |
| ENV 280T | Managing the New Zealand Environment | 3 |
| ENV 372 | Sustainability Science | 3 |
| ENV 373T | Sustainability Science (Iceland) | 3 |
| ENV 399 | Research in Environmental Studies | 3 |
| ENV 499 | Senior Research Project in Environmental Studies | 3 |
Upper-level Humanities and Social Sciences (12 credits)
Four of the following:
| AHT 361 | The Visual Culture of Disaster | 3 |
| AHT 375 | Nature City Post-1960 | 3 |
| BUS 342 | Green Marketing and CSR | 3 |
| CLCS 238T | Reading the Postcolonial City: Berlin and Hamburg | 3 |
| CLCS 250 | Ecocritical Approaches to Film | 3 |
| CLCS 254 | Introduction to Postcolonial Literatures and Theories | 3 |
| CLCS 275 | Literature and the Land: Aotearoa-New Zealand | 3 |
| CLCS 330 | The Politics of Mobility: Exile and Immigration | 3 |
| CLCS 372 | Tales of Catastrophe | 3 |
| COM 301 | Globalization and Media | 3 |
| COM 314 | Digital Journalism in a Global Context | 3 |
| ECN 256 | Managerial Economics (Intermediate Microeconomics) | 3 |
| ECN 303 | Development Economics | 3 |
| ECN 355 | Political Economy: Theories and Issues | 3 |
| ENV 220 | Ecocritical Approaches to Literature | 3 |
| ENV 498 | Internship in Environmental Studies | 3 |
| HIS 202T | History of Switzerland | 3 |
| HIS 325 | Human Rights in History | 3 |
| HIS 355 | The World and the West in the Long 19th Century | 3 |
| POL 281T | Politics of Sustainability and Development | 3 |
| POL 310 | International Law | 3 |
| POL 321 | International Organization | 3 |
| POL 376T | International Environmental Politics | 3 |
| POL 377 | International Political Economy | 3 |
| POL 378 | International Politics of Energy and Sustainability | 3 |
| POL 398 | Human Rights in International Law and Politics | 3 |
| PSY 315 | Environmental Psychology | 3 |
| STA 235 | Sustainability and the Studio | 3 |
| STA 240T | Sustainability and Art in Europe | 3 |
Note: Prerequisites may be required for courses outside of the major.
Capstone Course (3 credits)
Students must complete two of the above requirements with 3-credit Academic Travel environmentally-themed courses, of which at least one must be ENV.