2025-2026 Undergraduate Academic Catalogue 
    
    Jun 28, 2025  
2025-2026 Undergraduate Academic Catalogue

Environmental Studies, Environmental Humanities Concentration, BA


The environmental humanities concentration is designed for students interested in the intersections of humanistic expression and ideas with the natural world. Students are provided with an education that fosters knowledge of environmental systems through a background in basic and applied science; promotes engagement with environmental issues and assessment of environmental and social systems; and the need for participatory action that responds to the 'cries of the Earth and poor' across society – thus training students to be integral ecologists and to serve others in a diverse and changing world.

The curriculum is designed with a focus on marketable skills such as analysis and communication, as well as building community and strategies for global sustainability. For this reason, the curriculum interlaces natural science, social science, and the humanities with a strong emphasis on the study of systems and the relationships of people with the natural world. Students focus on their interests by selecting humanities electives based on their career pathway and interests, choosing from electives across the humanities disciplines along with electives in the social sciences and natural sciences.

Program Learning Outcomes

  • Environmental Systems - Students will critically analyze and articulate the dynamics of Earth's environmental systems, including assessment of human-environmental interactions across spatial and temporal scales.
  • Environmental, Social, and Political Systems - Students will examine and explain the relationships between humans and nature, and articulate the dynamic interactions among cultural, socioeconomic, political, and ethical factors in environmental processes, emphasizing their implications for justice.
  • Critical Understanding and Interpretation - Students will apply moral and ethical perspectives to construct and critically evaluate environmental arguments and systematically analyze diverse sources for information using appropriate qualitative and/or quantitative methods.
  • Communication - Students will demonstrate proficiency in the communication of the complexities and urgency or environmental issues including issues of justice to diverse audiences.
  • Participatory Action - Students will design, advocate for, and, when appropriate, implement equitable and just solutions to environmental challenges, demonstrating an understanding of the complex interplay between environmental, social, cultural, and ethical factors, with consideration of their systematic impacts.

Environmental Science Elective


Students must complete one of the following:

Electives


Students must complete two additional elective courses from the environmental humanities; environment, society, and policy; and environmental science electives.

Typical Program


First Year


Sophomore Year


Fall Term


Junior Year


Fall Term


  • PL 200-Level Course or TH 200-Level Course
  • Environmental Humanities Elective
  • Environmental Science Elective
  • Math/Science Core
  • Elective

Senior Year


Fall Term


Spring Term


Notes:


  1. It is strongly recommended that students complete ST 210 .
  2. ENV 496  should be completed prior to the student's final semester.
  3. ENV 491  must be completed for 3-credits to count toward the major requirements.
  4. At least 4 of the 8 program electives must be 300 or 400-level
  5. Students in the Honors Program take 1 less Environmental Humanities elective provided they complete the honors program requirements.