a c a d e m i c p r o g r a m sCollege of Arts and Sciences - Curriculum Guide
Environmental Studies
The environmental studies major is an interdisciplinary program designed for students who wish to apply an understanding of both social and scientific issues to the solution of environmental problems. The goal of the major is to enable students to conceptualize and to attack "unstructured problems" (i.e., problems with many more variables than equations, or problems for which there may be no obvious single best solution). This type of problem dominates natural environmental systems; the solutions to environmental problems may require balancing scientific and societal concerns. By the time students graduate, they should be able to identify an environmental problem, develop a plan to address the problem, identify and organize the resources that they would need to solve the problem, and know how to implement a plan to solve the problem.
The major is structured to provide progressive development in skills and knowledge. It is flexible in that it allows latitude in upper-level course choices, selected with the approval of a faculty adviser, to suit individual student interests. Students first complete ten environmental studies prerequisite courses and two interdisciplinary environmental core courses: one to help link across two of the science prerequisite courses, and the other to focus on environmental policy making. With approval from faculty advisers, students select a set of eight upper-level electives, participate in a one quarter-hour environmental seminar, and complete a four quarter-hour field experience (which will also satisfy the collegeÕs Experiential Education Requirement), perhaps the Woods Hole SEA semester or another field study program. The senior thesis provides an opportunity to focus on a single issue in environmental problem solving.
Bachelor of Arts Curriculum
Prerequisites: SOA 1104/IAF 1104, Cultures of the World or SOA 1100, Peoples and Cultures, or SOC 1100, Introduction to Sociology; CHM 1105, General Chemistry for the Health Sciences; BIO 1111, Environment and Man; PHL 1140, Social and Political Philosophy or PHL 1135, Philosophical Problems of Law and Justice; one of the following: ECN 1250, Statistics 1; MTH 1150, Probability, Statistics, and the Computer; POL 1301, Research Methods 1; ECN 1323, Environmental Economics; POL 1110, Introduction to Politics or POL 1112/IAF 1112, Introduction to International Relations; GEO 1140, Environmental Geology or GEO 1212, Physical Geology; SOC 1146, Environment and Society; HST 1544, Environmental History of the United States; Interdisciplinary Environmental Science requirement GEO 1438, Geology and Land-Use Planning, or GEO 1442, Environmental Planning; Environmental Policy requirement POL 1334, Environmental Policy and Politics; eight upper-level environmental studies electives chosen with faculty adviser; independent research, internship or field training; experiential education requirement; and senior thesis.
In addition, complete the arts and sciences core curriculum and the experiential education requirement.
Minor in Environmental Studies Curriculum
Students must complete nine quarter-hours in the prerequisites section and the two interdisciplinary environmental core courses.