Undergraduate Program in Environmental Studies (B.S.)
Director: John Felleman
To address environmental issues, we must first understand the problems that underlie them. And because those issues and problems exist at the interface of complex human and natural systems, understanding them requires the right synthesis of scientific, social, and cultural knowledge. Addressing those problems also requires scientific, social and cultural skills. The Environmental Studies program at SUNY-ESF offers students just those sorts of learning and skill-development opportunities in the context of a well-rounded, yet substantial, education.
Our program has been carefully designed to provide students with as comprehensive an understanding of environmental affairs as is possible in an undergraduate education. That means learning about the scientific diagnosis of environmental issues and having enough scientific knowledge to work with scientists. It also means learning about the technological, social and cultural causes of those issues. And finally, it means understanding the diversity of approaches needed to treat the problems. In the pursuit of these objectives, we bring together philosophical, theoretical and practical perspectives on a wide range of environmental concerns. And in this way, our program prepares students with the knowledge, skills and experience to work for a more ecologically sustainable and socially just world.
Because the environmental studies program is broadly multi-disciplinary as well as interdisciplinary, it provides students with a broad-based liberal education and asks them to be proficient across a breadth of scholarly and practical areas.
Graduates of the environmental studies program have gone on to graduate school in many different disciplines as well as to law and medical school. They have also gone on to work in non-governmental organizations (NGOs), education, government, and the private sector, pursuing careers in such areas as policy, advocacy, conservation, consulting, administration, law, and education to name just a few.
Guiding Principles
There are six principles that guide the design and implementation of the Environmental Studies program:
- holistic interdisciplinary education: we seek to offer our students an education that demonstrates the interconnectedness and integration of the many disciplines and fields that intersect with environmental concerns.
- critical skills: we encourage our students to be active learners and prepare them with invaluable life-long skills, including research, analysis, writing, and critical thinking.
- diversity and complexity: we encourage our students to recognize and value the diversity and complexity of ecological and social systems, and of the perspectives that inform society's understanding of environmental affairs.
- ecological literacy: we seek to develop students' awareness, knowledge, and appreciation of the intrinsic values of ecological processes and communities.
- justice and equity: we encourage students to value social and ecological justice and equity in all contexts.
- thoughtful professionalism: we seek to prepare our students to be reflective and sensitive, yet also effective and professional, in whatever endeavors they choose to pursue.
Program Description
In the first two years of the program, students develop a foundation in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences as they relate to environmental affairs. During that time, they also fulfill SUNY General Education Requirements and take open elective courses. In the final two years of the program, students select one of three specializations:
- Environmental Communication & Culture: This option focuses on the many ways that communication, broadly defined, intersects environmental affairs. These include activism, media, education, public participation, and conflict resolution. In addition, the option helps students explore the diversity of ways that environmental problems are understood, and ways that cultural meanings of Nature are expressed, including through literature and the arts.
- Environmental Policy: This option is concerned with how environmental policies are created, implemented and contested. It emphasizes legislative, regulatory, and collaborative approaches to environmental issues.
- Biological Science Applications: This option is designed for students interested in the interface between biology and socio-economic issues. It provides an emphasis on biology with an eye to the interaction with societal issues ranging from education to habitat management.
In each of these options, students have the flexibility to pursue more specific interests. Several undergraduate minors, including a Minor in Urban Environmental Science, also are available.
In addition to traditional courses available through the core environmental studies curriculum and in the options, our program features the following:
- community engagement through service learning in a number of courses
- internships that provide valuable hands-on experience
- opportunities to study abroad for a semester
The scope and complexity of course work within the environmental studies program demands both discipline and commitment from students seeking this degree. But the value of a broad education is widely acknowledged by educators and professionals. We hope that in offering this program we can prepare students to work not only in the diverse field of environmental protection, but also in any area that might interest them after graduation.
Scholarships
Several dedicated scholarships are available to SUNY-ESF Environmental Studies undergraduate students, including:
- Denise M. Cerimeli Memorial Fund: This fund was established in memory of an Environmental Studies student. It is awarded to deserving Environmental Studies students, with preference given to financial need.
- Gary Hamilton '76 Memorial Scholarship: Grants and awards made from this fund are used to assist students who demonstrate financial need and are in either Environmental Studies or Landscape Architecture.
- Vivian Ryan Sutton Scholarship: Grants and awards are made from this fund to assist female students in their sophomore or junior year of study in either Environmental Studies or Landscape Architecture, on the basis of academic merit and/or financial need.
For further information about these or other scholarships, click here. For information about establishing a scholarship, please contact the ESF Development Office.
Relationship to Syracuse University
SUNY-ESF and Syracuse University (SU) share a campus. ESF students have access to all SU libraries and other facilities and may take courses from SU at no additional cost. Similarly, SU students have access to ESF facilities and courses. Environmental Studies students benefit from the broad range of courses ESF offers as well as from the many offerings at SU in political science, communication and rhetorical studies, arts, geography, anthropology, philosophy, etc.
Program Requirements
| Lower Division Environmental Studies Core Courses (62-63 credits) |
Credits |
| EST 132 Orientation Seminar: Environmental Studies 1 | 1 |
| APM 296 Precalculus or APM 105 Survey of Calculus & its Applications 2 |
4 |
| APM 255 Computing Applications | 3 |
| CLL 190 Writing and the Environment | 3 |
| CLL 290 Writing, Humanities & the Environment | 3 |
| EFB 120 Global Environment | 3 |
| EFB 226 General Botany | 4 |
| EFB 285 Principles of Zoology or FOR 296 Special Topics: Environmental Geology 3 |
3-4 |
| ESF 200 Information Literacy | 1 |
| EST 200 Cultural Ecology | 3 |
| EST 221 Introduction to American Government | 3 |
| EST 245 Nature & Popular Culture | 3 |
| FCH 150 General Chemistry I | 3 |
| FCH 151 General Chemistry Laboratory I | 1 |
| FOR 207 Introduction to Economics | 3 |
| General Education Course - American History | 3 |
| General Education Course - Western Civilization | 3 |
| General Education Course - The Arts | 3 |
| Electives 4 | 12-13 |
| Upper Division Environmental Studies Core Courses (34-35 credits) |
|
| ESF 332 Seminar for New Transfer Students 5 | 0 |
| APM 391 Introduction to Probability & Statistics | 3 |
| CLL 410 Writing for Environmental Professionals | 3 |
| EFB 320 General Ecology | 4 |
| EST 321 Government & the Environment | 3 |
| EST 366 History of the American Environmental Movement or EST 361 Attitudes, Values & the Environment |
3 |
| EST 388 Psychological Principles of Risk Communication or EST 390 Social Processes & the Environment |
3 |
| Upper Division Computing or Natural Science Course | 3-4 |
| Electives | 9 |
| Senior Synthesis | 3 |
| Environmental Communication & Culture Option Requirements (27 credits) |
|
| CMN 393 Environmental Discourse | 3 |
| CMN 493 Environmental Communication Workshop | 3 |
| CRS 338 Speech Communication in Organizations | 3 |
| Environmental Communication & Culture Methods Courses 6 | 6 |
| Environmental Communication & Culture Option Courses 6 | 12 |
| Environmental Policy Option Requirements (27 credits) |
|
| ENS 550 Environmental Impact Analysis or Law Course | 3 |
| Policy Methods Courses 6 | 6 |
| Law Course 6 | 3 |
| Environmental Policy Option Courses 6 | 15 |
| Biological Science Applications Option Requirements (27 credits) 7 |
|
| Microbes Course 6 | 3 |
| Plants Course 6 | 3 |
| Animals Course 6 | 3 |
| Geographic Information Systems course 6 | 3 |
| Policy or Law Course 6 | 3 |
| Biology Focus Area Courses 6 | 12 |
| Total minimum credits for the degree: 122-125 | |
|
|
|
| 1. For students who enter as freshmen. 2. Students who pursue the Biological Science Applications option need to complete APM 105 Survey of Calculus & its Applications. 3. Students who pursue the Biological Science Applications option need to complete EFB 285 Principles of Zoology. 4. Students who pursue the Biological Science Applications option need to complete FCH 152 & FCH 153 General Chemistry II and General Chemistry Laboratory II as one of these electives. 5. Only for students who enter as transfer students. 6. Lists of possible courses are available in the ES Student Handbook, online at www.esf.edu/es. 7. Please note the specific lower division required courses for students in the Biological Science Applications option. See footnotes 2, 3 and 4 above. |
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For more details, please consult the current BS Program Handbook.
The option declaration form is here in PDF format.