About the Program
Faculty: Marc Boglioli, Nancy Byrnes, Joslyn Cassady, Darrell Cole, Fred Curtis, Jennifer Fox, Ryan Hinrichs, Maria Mascucci, Phil Mundo, Catherine Riihimaki, Sara Webb (program director), Tammy Windfelder.
The Environmental Studies and Sustainability program provides students with the in-depth knowledge, multidisciplinary perspectives, and critical skills needed to address the complex environmental problems of today and of the future. The ESS major explores disruptions to Earth’s global life-support systems, threats to biotic and human communities, and both the obstacles to and the promise of environmental sustainability. The major is designed with considerable flexibility so that students can pursue a wide range of interests and careers, such as research, environmental law, non-profit work, consulting, and work with state and federal environmental agency work at the state or federal level. Many graduate school programs have specialized requirements such as statistics, organic chemistry, or economics. Students interested in the ESS major or minor should thus seek advising from an ESS faculty member early in their academic careers, in addition to consulting the departmental website.
Five core courses, required of all majors, cover environmental science, sustainability, GIS, and ecology, and include a senior capstone seminar. Also integral to the major is an experiential requirement which can be met through relevant academic internships, study abroad, field research, civic engagement, or volunteer work. The program and Drew University’s Academic Internship Office help students find appropriate opportunities. Each student’s experiential work must be approved in advance by the program director and must be completed before the start of the last semester of study.
Building on these core requirements, three options are available. The Environmental Science Option allows students to build appropriate skills and experiences for science-oriented jobs and graduate programs. The Environmental Sustainability and Society Option is grounded in the social sciences and forges connections between environmental, economic and community sustainability. The third option, Environmental Studies, follows neither specialization but allows students to choose a mixture of electives to fit their own interests and goals.
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Requirements for the Major
A. Required Courses for all ESS Majors (5 courses, 20 credits)
BIOL 7/Ecology and Evolution (4 credits). Fall semester annually.
ESS 30/Environmental Science (4 cr) (Fox, Riihimaki, Webb) Taught annually.
ESS 40/Environment, Society, and Sustainability (4 cr) (Curtis) Taught annually beginning 2009-10 academic year.
ESS 145/ Geographic Information Systems (4 cr) (Riihimaki) Spring semester 2009 & annually.
ESS 185/Environmental Studies & Sustainability Capstone Seminar (4 credits) (Windfelder) Taught annually beginning spring 2010.
B. Experiential Requirement: (0-2 cr)
All ESS majors must acquire hands-on experience related to environmental concerns. This requirement can be met through relevant Academic Internships, Drew International Seminars, other study-abroad programs with environmental or sustainability components, civic engagement and volunteer experiences, and appropriate independent research at Drew or elsewhere (excluding literature research projects). This need not be a credit-bearing experience. This requirement may be met by certain designated courses that also count as electives. Must be completed before the start of the last semester; must be approved beforehand by the ESS Program Director.
C. Electives:
Seven additional courses (28 credits) with at least 16 credits at the upper level, allocated as follows for each of three options:
Environmental Science Option: 28 credits as follows:
8 credits of chemistry, CHEM 6 AND CHEM 7
12-16 credits from the Environmental Science course list.
4-8 credits from the Sustainability and Society course list.
Environmental Sustainability and Society Option: 28 credits of electives:
At least 20 credits from the Sustainability and Society course list.
Environmental Studies (General) Option:
28 credits in any combination from the two course lists.
Elective Courses: Environmental Science Courses
CHEM 3/ Chemistry & Environment OR CHEM 6/General Chemistry I
ANTH 25/Primatology
BIOL 162/Ornithology
BIOL 167/Animal Behavior
BIOL 169/Conservation Biology
BIOL 171/Plant Morphology & Identification
BIOL 173/Forest Ecology
BIOL 178 & 179/Biogeography & Lab
BIOL 183/Marine Ecology: Tropical
BIOL 186/Freshwater Ecology
ESS 90/Topics in Environmental Science (2 or 4 cr)
ESS 190/Advanced Topics in Environmental Science (2 or 4 cr)
ESS 196/Research in Environmental Studies (2 or 4 cr)
Elective Courses: Sustainability, Society, and Environment
ANTH 11/Cultural Ecology
DIS 10/Drew International Seminar: when topic is appropriate for environmental studies credit
ECON 45/Environmental Economics (prerequisite: ECON 5)
ECON 47/Economics of Business and Sustainability
(prerequisite of ECON 5 will be waived for ESS majors & minors)
ECON 130/Topics in Economy and Environment. May be repeated for credit with a change in topic.
(prerequisite of ECON 5 will be waived for ESS students)
PSCI 141/Public Policy: when topic is Environmental Policy
REL 152/Environmental Ethics
ESS 91/ Topics in Environmental Studies (2 or 4 cr)
ESS 191/Advanced Topics in Environmental Studies (2 or 4 cr)
ESS 196/Research in Environmental Studies (2 or 4 cr)
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Requirements for the Minor
Required Courses for all ESS Minors: (3 courses, 12 credits):
ENVST 30/Environmental Science
ENVST 40/Environment, Society, and Sustainability
ENVST 185/Environmental Studies & Sustainability Capstone Seminar
Elective Courses for the Minor:
At least 3 courses (12 credits) from the ESS course lists, with no more than one course (4 cr) from the student’s major field of study. Normally ESS 196/Independent Research will not count toward the minor.
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