Environmental Studies minor
Geology and Environmental Sciences
Office: 112 Jewett Hall
(716) 673-3301
Justin Conroy, Chairperson
Email: justin.conroy@fredonia.edu
The Environmental Studies minor provides students with a broad interdisciplinary perspective on the relationship between humans and the natural world. Drawing equally on insights from the natural sciences, humanities, and social sciences, the program prepares students to address key environmental and social challenges of the 21st Century—unsustainable resources use, climate change, energy policies, ecosystem devastation, social justice issues, population growth and development, industrial food systems, pollution and waste, and human health problems, to name a few.
The Environmental Studies minor is open to all students, and it is particularly useful for students who are thinking about environmentally focused careers in the areas of advocacy and public policy, communication, economics, history, journalism, law, or writing. The breadth and interdisciplinary nature of the program provides a solid foundation in the multitude of perspectives from which to view the natural world, and the variety of independent but interconnected paths from which to build a career focused on sustainability.
Requirements for the Interdisciplinary Studies minor in Environmental Studies (20 credit hours):
Required Core Courses (12 credit hours):
Some courses require prerequisites. Click on any hyperlinked course for additional information.
Students will take at least one class from each of the four areas:
1. Natural Science:
| BIOL 115 | Environmental Biology | 3 |
| | or | |
| CHEM 113 | Chemistry and the Environment | 3 |
| | or | |
| GEO 175 | Thirsty Planet | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 3 |
2. Historical Contexts:
| HIST 310 | World Environmental History | 3 |
| | or | |
| HIST 352 | Environmental History of North America | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 3 |
3. Social Science:
| POLI 387 | Environmental Policy | 3 |
| | or | |
| ECON 380 | Environmental/Natural Resource Economics | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 3 |
4. Humanities:
| COMM 321 | Environmental Communication | 3 |
| | or | |
| ENGL 333 | Environmental Literature | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 3 |
Electives (6 credit hours):
Students will take at least two courses from two different disciplines, selected from the following list (or from the previous list of required core courses):
| ANTH 342 | Food and Culture | 3 |
| BIOL 222 | Introduction to Tropical Biology | 2 |
| BIOL 223 | Introduction to Tropical Biology Study Abroad Costa Rica | 1 |
| BIOL 421 | Biological Conservation | 3 |
| BIOL 426 | Current Environmental Topics | 3 |
| ECON 340 | Urban and Regional Economics | 3 |
| ENGL 374 | Writing and Social Change | 3 |
| ESCI 105 | Global Environmental Issues | 3 |
| GEO 359 | Vanishing Earth Resources | 3 |
| HIST 353 | U.S. Consumer Culture | 3 |
| POLI 240 | Urbanization and Environmental Challenges | 3 |
| SOC 215 | Introduction to Public Health | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 6 |
Capstone (2 credits):
| ESCI 440 | Environmental Sciences Seminar | 1 |
| ESCI 441 | Environmental Sciences Senior Seminar | 1 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 2 |
NOTE:
- Many of the upper level core and elective courses have prerequisites; students are responsible for knowing which prerequisites they need to take and should plan carefully as they complete this minor.
- No more than six credits from a student’s major or other minors may be counted toward the Environmental Studies minor.
Total Credit Hours: 20