PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The faculty participating in the Environmental Studies program represent a wide range of disciplines on campus, and are engaged in research, service and activism in the environmental arena. Environmental Studies students are equally diverse and involved in real world environmental issues.

For instance, in the Spring of 1999, Southwestern students and faculty in three different environmentally oriented courses worked together to conduct an ecological audit of the SU campus. Other Environmental Studies students have studied issues of sustainable development in Costa Rica, or have conducted field ecological research in Texas. Faculty members conduct research in U.S. environmental history, the ecology of grassland birds and parasitoid wasps, questions of conservation and development in the Central American country of Belize, the place of non-human animals in religious traditions, environmental chemistry, and the role of conventional economic texts in promoting values that are harmful to the environment.

In their coursework in Environmental Studies, students may select from a wide variety of courses in the natural and social sciences and humanities as they pursue their interest in the environment. All majors and minors are required to take an introductory interdisciplinary seminar in environmental studies, as well as an introductory environmental science course. Majors are also required to take an interdisciplinary capstone seminar in their senior year. Environmental Studies students are also strongly encouraged to fulfill their "Perspectives on Knowledge" (POK) requirements with courses that have special pertinence to the study of the environment. The list of courses suggests which POK courses best fit the Environmental Studies program.

The Environmental Studies program is organized into two specialized tracks: one focusing on science, "Science and the Environment" and one focusing on society, "Society and the Environment" Majors choose between these two tracks. Minors and other interested students are encouraged to take courses from both tracks.

For descriptions of the specific requirements for Environmental Studies majors and minors, click here.

For detailed descriptions of Environmental Studies courses click here.