Curriculum

A Guide to Completing the Environmental Studies Major

Introduction

The section below provides guidelines for students and advisors of freshmen and sophomores contemplating a major in EVST. A description of the goals and philosophy of the major is included in the catalog. This Guide provides nuts and bolts advice about how to complete the major.

Summary of the major

The EVST major is divided into three components, the Core (16 hours), the Breadth (9-12 hours) , and the Area of Expertise (15 hours). The Core is a set of required courses that must be taken in sequence (the exceptions are the internship which can be done anytime during the Junior or Senior years, and EVST105 and 106 can be taken in any order). Because the Core courses are sequenced, it is important that students considering EVST begin the sequence in their freshman year (although it can be started as a sophomore if absolutely necessary). The Breath is one elective course in each of three categories. The Area of Expertise is a set of electives with some constraints. All courses counted towards the major must be passed with at least a C-. 

The Core

Course	When Offered/When Taken	Comments
EVST105  (4 hr)	Every fall / Freshman year. If no other choice is available, this can be taken as a sophomore.	Any FYC taught by Gowan or Fenster can substitute for EVST105. Other FYCs preapproved by the EVST Chair can also substitute. Ideally, an EVST major will be enrolled in either EVST105 or an appropriate FYC during fall of their freshman year.
EVST106 (1 hr)	Every spring / Freshman year. If no other choice is available, this can be taken as a sophomore.	Ideally, this course will be taken during spring of freshman year. If a freshman missed EVST105 (or an appropriate FYC) in the fall, he/she should still take EVST106 in the spring.
EVST305 (4 hr)	Every spring / Junior year.	This course can be taken so long as EVST105 was passed (i.e., at least a D- was earned). This course cannot be taken concurrently with EVST405. 2
EVST405 (4 hr)	Every spring / Senior year	This course cannot be taken unless EVST305 was passed with at least a C-. This is the capstone to the major
EVST450 or 451 (3 hr)	Every term / Junior or Senior year	This is an internship. Students with a GPA < 2.25 should enroll in EVST450 and all others in EVST451.

The Breadth

A student must take least one course from each of the following categories. These courses must be in addition to those used to satisfy the College’s Area of Knowledge requirements. These courses can be used to satisfy the College’s Cross-Area Requirements.
a. Category 1 (natural sciences): BIOL121, BIOL 122, CHEM121, CHEM122, EVST300, EVST245, GEOL 101, PHYS151, PHYS152
b. Category 2 (social sciences): ECON201, ECON202, ECON203, EVST319, PSCI201, PSCI 202, PSCI319, SOCI210, or SOCI383 (only when listed as “Environmental Sociology”).
c. Category 3 (humanities): PHIL212, PHIL213, PHIL280, or RELS235.

The Area of Expertise

The Area of Expertise is a set of electives from any department or program on campus with the following constraints:
1) They must total at least 15 credit hours.
2) All credit hours must be within a single discipline and must be beyond the introductory level. Courses considered introductory for certain disciplines are listed below (consult the Chair of EVST about disciplines not listed). Students are encouraged to satisfy the EVST Breadth requirement and the College’s AOK requirement with pre-requisite(s) needed to take courses in the Area of Expertise. For example, if a student plans to use Biology as their Area of Expertise, BIOL121 and BIOL122 should be taken to fulfill the EVST Breadth and College AOK requirements so that the student has the pre-requisites needed for the Area of Expertise.

Discipline	Area of Expertise course(s) must be beyond:
Biology	The 180 level
Chemistry	The 100 level
Economics and Econ/Business	The 100 and 200 levels
English	The 100 and 200 levels
Ethics	PHIL212 and RELS235
Geology	The 100 level
Mathematics	The 100 level
Physics	The 100 level
Political Science	The 100 and 200 levels
Sociology	The 100 and 200 levels

3) We encourage students to double major in their area of expertise, but keep in mind the college rule stipulating that at least ½ the credit hours counted towards a major must be unique to that major (i.e., 21 of the credits counted towards EVST cannot be counted towards a second major).

Recommended courses for certain disciplines

Although the Area of Expertise allows students to explore a particular discipline in some depth, many students, particularly those considering graduate school, should be encouraged to take more than the minimum requirements. These courses are considered by R-MC faculty to be those of most importance to EVST majors contemplating graduate school.

Area of Expertise	Take as many of the following as possible
Biology	BIOL121, BIOL122, BIOL200, BIOL325, BIOL350, BIOL480, CHEM121, CHEM122, CHEM221, CHEM222, MATH131, MATH132, PHYS151, PHYS152, electives pertaining to the student’s interest including BIOL181, BIOL182, BIOL202, BIOL230, BIOL235, BIOL245, BIOL248, BIOL260, BIOL300, BIOL301, BIOL302, BIOL310, BIOL332
Chemistry	CHEM121, CHEM122, CHEM221, CHEM222, CHEM341L, CHEM342L, CHEM407, CHEM408, BIOL121, BIOL122, MATH131, MATH132, PHYS151, PHYS152,
Economics and Econ/Business	ECON201 or 203, ECON202, ECON312, ECON350
English	TBA
Ethics	PHIL212 and RELS235
Geology	GEOL101, GEOL201, GEOL312, EVST245
Mathematics	MATH141, MATH142, MATH199, MATH203, MATH307, MATH353, MATH371, MATH 372
Physics	PHYS130, PHYS151, PHYS152, PHYS205, PHYS250, PHYS440, EVST300
Political Science	PSCI201, PSCI202, PSCI301, PSCI307, PSCI312, PSCI315, PSCI316, PSCI318, PSCI319, PSCI421
Sociology	SOCI200, SOCI210, SOCI217, SOCI300, SOCI383, SOCI400, SOCI420

An example schedule for an EVST major

To illustrate how the EVST major is completed, below is an example for a student interested in Political Science as an “Area of Expertise”. If the student chose a different AE, the choice of Breadth courses and AE courses would change. See the footnotes for an explanation of how choice of AE affects the choice of Breadth courses.

An example course schedule for a student wishing to complete the EVST major with an Area of Expertise (AE) in political science.*
Course	Credits	Comments
EVST105	4	Core
EVST106	1	Core
EVST305	4	Core
EVST405	4	Core
EVST450 or 451	3	Core
Breadth (Humanities)	3	PHIL212
Breadth (Natural Science)	4	BIOL121
Breadth (Social Science)	3	PSCI202*
PSCI 3XX or 4XX	3	AE upper level
PSCI 3XX or 4XX	3	AE upper level
PSCI 3XX or 4XX	3	AE upper level
PSCI 3XX or 4XX	3	AE upper level
PSCI 3XX or 4XX	3	AE upper level
Total hours:	41**

*Note that PSCI202 is being used to fulfill the Breadth requirement inthe social sciences; this is because the course is the pre-requisite for the AE upper level courses. Ideally, the student would have taken PSCI201 to partially satisfy the general education requirements under the Social Science Area of Knowledge.
**In this example, the credit hours within the AE total 25, not the required 26, and so the student would have to take a 1-credit course to round out the AE program (it could come from any discipline given that the AE allows “distribution” courses), or would take a 4-hour course rather than all the 3 hour ones used in the example).