Environmental Studies Interdisciplinary Concentration

The Environmental Studies Concentration is designed to acquaint students with the knowledge necessary to understand and solve environmental problems: the operations of the physical, biological, and chemical systems of our planet; the impact of people on these systems; the cultural underpinnings of our current patterns of interaction with nature; and the substantive nature and institutional process of political and social change which impinge upon our environment.

The Environmental Studies Concentration must complete the following core courses:

BL109/109L Environmental Biology with lab (4cr)

CH103/103L Environmental Chemistry with lab (4cr)

PO361 Environmental Politics & Policy (3cr)

or PO363 Environmental Law (3cr)

SC290 Environmental Sociology (3cr)

or SC380 Environmental Justice Movements (3cr)

And an additional 10 elective credits must be completed for a total of 24 credit hours:

Elective courses:

AR290/297 Cultivating Community; BL111/111L Fundamentals of Ecology; BL115 Human Genetics and Race;BL155/156/159L Principles of Biology; BL215/215L Introduction to Biotechnology; BL222 General Ecology; BL331Global Climate Change; CH105/105L Chemistry and Society; CH299 Green Chemistry; CO455 Health & Environmental Media; EC315 Environmental Economics; HS271 World Geography; PH101/101L Earth Science; PH102/102L Earth Science 2; PL314 Science, Technology, and Society; PL375 Philosophy of Science; PL385 Philosophy and the Body; PO312 Urban Politics; PO361 Environmental Politics and Policy; PO363 Environmental Law; PO464 Utopian Thought; RL260 Moral Decision Making; RL363 Religion, Ethics, Genetics; SC290 Environmental Sociology; SC360 Urban Society; SC380 Environmental Justice Movements; SC390 Health and Aging in East Asia.

Please refer to the Undergraduate Bulletin.

Concentration Coordinator: Dr. Wendy Wiedenhoft

Dr. Wiedenhoft joined the Department of Sociology in fall 2003 after completing her doctorate at the University of Maryland. Her specialty areas are sociological theory, environmental sociology, and the sociology of consumption.