Environmental Studies minor
Office: 340 Science Center
(716) 673-3292
Sherri A. Mason, Coordinator
Email: mason@fredonia.edu
Website: http://www.fredonia.edu/department/chemistry/environmental/
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)
Students will take at least one class from each of the four areas:
Natural Science:
Historical Contexts:
| HIST 310 | World Environmental History | 3 |
| | or | |
| HIST 352 | Environmental History of North America | 3 |
Social Science:
| POLI 387 | Environmental Policy | 3 |
| | or | |
| ECON 380 | Environmental/Natural Resource Economics | 3 |
Humanities:
Other Courses as Advised
Capstone (2 credits)
| ESCI 440 | Environmental Sciences Seminar | 1 |
| ESCI 441 | Environmental Sciences Senior Seminar | 1 |
Additional Requirements
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):
* 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.