Environmental Studies is an interdisciplinary degree program that provides students with the cultural, political, and scientific background for careers focused on environmental issues. Environmental Studies is unique in that it unites a broad array of disciplines, and students take courses in the sciences and humanities in order to gain a broad understanding of human and environmental relations. The curriculum includes introductory coursework in Environmental Studies and requirements in Human-Environment Relations, Policy, and Scientific Literacy. The core of the curriculum is a series of upper-division applied research and design courses in which students gain analytical skills and engage with community- and field-based learning. Students design their own environmental projects through a team capstone and an individual research project. These opportunities allow students to develop expertise in a particular aspect of Environmental Studies and provide them with valuable field experience that prepares them for a wide variety career pursuits. The major is designed to prepare students for graduate studies or careers in environmental management and planning; environmental justice and advocacy; sustainability and food systems; public policy and local, state, federal, and tribal government, for example.
1. Students can articulate why environmental studies must make connections between multiple areas of study and points of view. 2. Students will be able to differentiate and reflect on complex human and environmental interactions across spatial and temporal scales. 3. Students will have the ability to create and apply appropriate research strategies to study complex environmental issues by drawing from a diverse skill set including qualitative and/or quantitative methodologies. 4. Students will be able to generate and judge effective environmental problem-solving strategies and identify and apply various approaches to sustainability and mitigating environmental damage. 5. Students will utilize their scientific literacy to effectively communicate complex human and environmental issues to the general public, environmental professionals, and policymakers by developing effective writing, oral communication, and multimedia presentation strategies appropriate for their audience.