Environmental Studies Minor
Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences
Office: 150 Houghton Hall
(716) 673-3302
Erica Simoson, Chairperson
Email: geosciences@fredonia.edu
Website: https://www.fredonia.edu/academics/colleges-schools/college-liberal-arts-sciences/geology-environmental-sciences
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.
Minor Requirements
Required Core Courses:
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 in the Environment: Issues and Solutions | 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:
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):
Capstone:
| ESCI 440 | Environmental Sciences Seminar | 1 |
| ESCI 441 | Environmental Sciences Senior Seminar | 1 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 2 |
NOTE:
- Both ESCI 440 & ESCI 441 are required for the Capstone.
- 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