Environmental Studies Major

Meaningful solutions to the Earth’s environmental challenges require an interdisciplinary, intersectional, and integrative perspective. In Environmental Studies, we advocate for the creation of a more just and sustainable world by drawing together knowledge and insights from a diverse range of disciplines and areas of study. Learning from history, the natural sciences, the social sciences, theology, the arts, and the world’s past and contemporary great thinkers, we seek solutions to address the environmental challenges of our time. An Environmental Studies student will take core courses from multiple disciplines. Students also choose an area of focus — Environmental Justice, Living Systems, Earth Systems, or Distributed Environmental Studies — to provide additional depth in environmental scholarship.

ES students often engage in on- and off-campus experiences like sustainability internships, public- and private-sector internships, independent research, and advocacy experiences. We encourage ES students to study abroad and will work with students to identify suitable courses that complement or substitute for courses in the ES program.

Students intending an ES major should begin taking 100-level core courses immediately, and students should normally declare an ES major no later than the end of their sophomore year. Students wishing to declare a major in ES should complete the major interest form, available on the EGE website, which will allow a student to be matched with an advisor in their area of interest.

The major consists of 11 courses (46-51 credit hours), divided into a core (6 courses, 26 credit hours) and concentration (5 courses, 20-24 credit hours). Each student must select a concentration when they declare their major. Note that the same course cannot satisfy two requirements (e.g., core and concentration, or two areas within a concentration).