Majoring in Environmental Studies and Sustainability
Worksheet for Planning the Environmental Studies Major
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, a senior capstone seminar, and laboratory science with focus on either ecology or environmental geology. 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.
(5 courses, 20 credits)
(0-2 credits)
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.
28 credits Seven additional courses with at least 16 credits at the upper level, allocated as follows for each of three options:
Environmental Science Option
28 credits of electives as follows:
- 8 credits of chemistry: CHEM 6 and CHEM 7.
- ESS 8 OR BIOL 7 – whichever is not counted as a core course.
- 8 - 12 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 Science (General) Option
28 credits in any combination from the two course lists below.
Special Topics courses are interdisciplinary elective courses. All Special Topics courses count toward the major and minor elective requirements, even though they are not listed in the regular College Course Catalog.
Occasionally, new courses may be offered that are not listed in the CLA Catalog. Any new courses listed as New Courses will fulfill elective credit requirements for the Environmental Studies and Sustainability degree.
For a list of Special Topics & New courses being offered currently, follow this link.
