Environmental Studies

Department Website: http://www.sewanee.edu/EnvStudies/

Associate Professor Brown, Chair, Religion

Professor Palisano, Biology

Professor Evans, Biology

Associate Professor Haskell, Biology

Associate Professor McGrath, Biology

Professor Potter, Forestry and Geology

Professor Shaver, Forestry and Geology

Professor M. Knoll, Forestry and Geology

Professor Torreano, Forestry and Geology

Professor Kuers, Forestry and Geology

Associate Professor Ray, Anthropology

Professor Keith-Lucas, Psychology

Professor Hart, Physics

Professor Durig, Physics

Associate Professor Shibata, Chemistry

Associate Professor Bachman, Chemistry

Professor Smith, Religion

Associate Professor Smith, Forestry and Geology

Assistant Professor Levine, History

Professor Brockett, International and Global Studies

Associate Professor Dale, Mathematics and Computer Science

Associate Professor Pond, Art


Program Mission

The Environmental Studies Program brings together students, faculty, and staff from 13 academic departments to study, discuss, and research environmental issues at local, national, and international scales. The goal is to expose the students to a variety of viewpoints concerning environmental issues, and to give them the interdisciplinary tools they need to become environmental problem solvers before they graduate from Sewanee.

Majors offered:

Four majors and a minor are offered in the Environmental Studies Program. The four majors include Environmental Policy, Ecology and Biodiversity, Natural Resources and the Environment, and Environmental Chemistry. There are 11 required courses for each of the majors, including a senior capstone course.

Minor offered:

The minor in Environmental Studies consists of six courses taken from the approved Environmental Studies course list. The minor requires EnSt 200 (Introduction to Environmental Studies), two social science/policy courses (from the approved list), two science courses (from the approved list), and an additional sixth course of their choosing (from the approved list).

 

Environmental Studies: Policy: An interdisciplinary major designed to examine important environmental issues and the political, social, and biological ramifications of environmental policy.

Eleven courses required:

Environmental Studies: Ecology and Biodiversity: An interdisciplinary major that integrates coursework in biology, ecology, and evolution with other environmental disciplines.

Eleven courses required:

Biol 132: Cellular, Molecular and Physiological Biology
Biol 210: Ecology
Biol 211: Biodiversity: Pattern and Process
One capstone class: EnSt 400: Seminar in Environmental Studies or Biol 444A

Three biology classes from Ecology and Biodiversity list:
Biol 200: Entomology
Biol 201: Ornithology
Biol 202: Invertebrate Zoology
Biol 206: Plant Ecology
Biol 207: Biology of Lower Plants
Biol 209: Advanced Conservation Biology
Biol 213: Evolutionary Biology
Biol 215: Fungi AND Biol 216. Algae and Bryophytes
Biol 221: Environmental Physiology of Plants
Biol 222: Advanced Conservation Biology
Biol 232: Human Health and the Environment
Biol 250: Molecular Evolution
Biol 309: Ecology and Biodiversity Seminar
Biol 310: Plant Evolution and Systematics
Biol 311: Behavioral Ecology
Biol 313: Ecosystems and Global Change
Biol 317: Wildfire in the Southern Appalachians
Biol 339: Studio Course in Microbiology
Biol 340: Microbiology
Biol 350: Environmental Physiology and Biochemistry of Animals
Students who have completed the Island Ecology summer program may count the program as one course in this list.

Three classes in the study of the environment from a non-scientific perspective:
EnSt 200: Introduction to Environmental Studies
Classes in humanities or social science from the Humanities/Social Science list

One class in the scientific study of the environment from a science department other than biology:
Chem 101: General Chemistry I
Chem 102: General Chemistry II
Chem 103: Earth, Air, Water and Fire: An Introduction to Environmental Chemistry
Chem 111: Advanced General Chemistry
Fors 121: Introduction to Forestry
Geol 121: Physical Geology
Phys 101: General Physics I
Phys 102: General Physics II
Phys 105: Environmental Physics
Phys 106: Foundations of Global Warming

Note that many graduate programs in ecology and biodiversity require one or more semesters of physical science (chemistry, geology, and/or physics)

Required for a B.S. (but not for a B.A.) in Ecology and Biodiversity:
Statistics, and three additional Math / Stat / science classes outside Biology, including at least two lab science classes.

Note: The major field is defined as all Biology classes listed above, Biol 130, EnSt 140, EnSt 200, EnSt 217, EnSt 240, EnSt 317, and EnSt 400. Study abroad courses count inside the major field if the majority of the work in the course concerns the scientific study of ecology and biodiversity; study abroad courses will count outside the major field if the majority of the work for the course concerns social science, humanities or other work outside the natural sciences.

Environmental Studies: Natural Resources and the Environment: An interdisciplinary major that integrates coursework in forest ecosystems and geology with other environmental topics.

Eleven and one-half courses required:

1. EnSt 200: Intro to Environmental Studies
2. Forestry 121: Intro to Forestry
3. Geology 121: Physical Geology
4. One Biology Lab course
5. One of: Fors 303: Soils or Geol 314: Hydrology
6. Three of the following:
Fors 211: Dendrology
Fors 305: Forest Ecology
Fors 312: Silviculture
Fors 319: Natural Resource Mgmt & Decisions
Geol 215: GeoResources
Geol 221: Mineralogy
Geol 222: Historical Geology
Geol 225: Sedimentology
Geol 325: Field and Structural Geology
7. Two additional courses (Forestry, Geology, or other) from the Environmental Studies catalog list
7.5. Fors/Geol 322: Jr. Presentations (0.5 credit)
8. Fors/Geol 432: Sr. Interdisciplinary Field Project (0.5) (Capstone)


Required for B.S. (but not for B.A.) in Natural Resources
One Chemistry lab course
One Biology lab course
Two other math or science courses not in FOR/GEO

Environmental Studies: Environmental Chemistry: An interdisciplinary major that integrates coursework in chemistry with other environmentally related disciplines.

Eleven courses required:

Secondary Area of Study for Environmental Chemistry Majors: Four courses from one of the following groups:

Group I Ecology and Biodiversity:
Biol 131 AND Biol 132
Two courses from the Ecology and Conservation list OR the
Biodiversity and Evolution list



Group II Natural Resources and the Environment:
Fors 121 AND Geol 121
Two courses numbered between 200 and 400 in either Forestry or Geology EXCEPT For/Geo 332, For 307, and For/Geo 432

Group III Environmental Policy:
Two courses from A. Policy Analysis and one from B. Ethics (Note: Please refer to the catalog section for prerequisites in planning course selections.)

A. Policy Analysis:
Econ 335: Environmental Economics
Pols 208: Environmental Policy
Biol 222 or 209: Conservation Biology
Fors 201: Natural Resource Issues and Policies

B. Ethics:
EnSt 300: Ecology and Ethics
Phil 230: Environmental Ethics
Relg 341: Religion and Ecology
Relg 353: Buddhism and the Environment

Elective (one course from the following OR one not previously taken from Policy Analysis/Ethics list above):
Anth 298: Ecological Anthropology
Fors 212: Forestry in the Developing World
EnSt 283: Environmental History
Econ/Pols 381: Political Economy of Sustainable Development
Costa Rica Program
Island Ecology Program