Core Curriculum

Core courses provide students in the Environment & Sustainability (E&S) major with a broad awareness of the biological, physical-chemical, ecological, human and social dimensions of environment and sustainability issues. Additional courses in one of six concentrations advance your ability to address real-world environmental challenges with a greater depth of understanding.

Semester Key: F=Fall, S=Spring, Su=Summer

Declare the major here

Required courses

Choose 1 course.

  • NTRES/ENVS 1101 - Understanding Environment and Sustainability (F, 3 cr)
  • NTRES/ENVS 1201 - Global Water Sustainability (S, 3 cr)
  • NTRES 2201/BSOC 2201 - Society and Natural Resources (S, 3 cr)

Choose 1 course.

  • BIOEE 1610 - Ecology and the Environment (F, S, Su, 3-4 cr) or
  • [BIOSM 1610 - Ecology and the Marine Environment] (Su, 3 cr) (Not offered Su23)

or

  • BIOEE 1780 - Evolution and Diversity (F, S, 4-5 cr) or
  • BIOEE 1781 - Introduction to Evolution and Diversity (F, S, Su, 4 cr) or
  • BIOSM 1780 - Evolution and Marine Diversity (Su, 4 cr)

AP Biology credits are accepted toward university degree progress but do not exempt students from the E&S specified courses.

Note:

  • BIOSM options are 2.5 week intensive courses at Shoals Marine Lab that satisfy this requirement. Scholarships are available.
  • EBAE and LAWR concentrations require more than one biology course.
  • Health careers students should consult with their advisor about meeting the E&S biology requirement.

Choose 1 course.

  • CHEM 1560 - Introduction to General Chemistry (F, Su, 4 cr)
  • CHEM 2070 - General Chemistry I (F, Su, 4 cr)
  • EAS 1600 - Environmental Physics (F, S, 3 cr)

AP/IB credit accepted to meet requirement.

Note:

  • EBAE concentration requires students to complete at least one physics course and at least one chemistry course.
  • LAWR concentration requires students to complete at least one physics course and at least one chemistry course.
  • Health careers students should consult with their advisor about meeting this requirement.

Choose 1 course.

  • AEM 2100 - Introductory Statistics (F, 4 cr)
  • BTRY 3010/STSCI 2200 - Biological Statistics I (F, 4 cr)
  • MATH 1710 - Statistical Theory and Application in the Real World (F, S, 4 cr)
  • PAM 2100 - Introduction to Statistics (S, 4 cr)
  • PSYCH 2500 - Statistics and Research Design (F, Su, 4 cr)
  • [SOC 3010 - Statistics for Sociological Research] (F, 4 cr) (Not offered F23)
  • STSCI/ILRST 2100 - Introductory Statistics (F, W, S, Su, 4 cr)
  • STSCI 2150 - Introductory Statistics for Biology (F, S, 4 cr)

AP Statistics credit accepted to fulfill requirement.

Note:

  • Some concentrations require more than one quantitative course (e.g. calculus). See EBAE, LAWR and SBEE concentrations.

Choose 1 course.

  • ANTHR 2201 - Early Agriculture (S, 3 cr) (Not offered S23)
  • ANTHR 2420 - Nature/Culture: Ethnographic Approaches to Human-Environment Relations (F, 3 cr) 
  • ASIAN 2273 - Religion and Ecological Sustainability (F, 3 cr)
  • BSOC 2061 - Ethics and the Environment (S, 4 cr)
  • [COML 2036 - Literature and the Elements of Nature] (F, 3 cr) (not offered F23)
  • ENGL 3675 - The Environmental Imagination in American Literature (S, 4 cr) (not offered S24)
  • ENGL 3795 - Communicating Climate Change (F, 4 cr)
  • HIST 2581 - Environmental History (S, 4 cr)
  • NTRES 2320 - Nature and Culture (S, 3 cr) no longer offered
  • NTRES/ENVS 3320 - Introduction to Ethics and Environment (S, 4 cr) no longer offered
  • NTRES 3330 - Ways of Knowing: Indigenous and Place-Based Ecological Knowledge (F, 4 cr)
  • PHIL 1440 - Ethics of Eating (F, 4 cr)

Choose 1 course.

  • AEM 1500 - An Introduction to the Economics of Environmental and Natural Resources (S, 3 cr)
  • AEM 2500 - Environmental and Resource Economics (F, 3 cr) (prerequisite: ECON 1110)

Note: Sustainable Business and Environmental Economics Concentration (SBEE) requires AEM 2500.

Choose 1 course.

  • BIOEE 3611 - Field Ecology (F, 3 cr)
  • BIOEE 2525+2526+2527 - Ecology and Conservation of Wildlife in the Neotropics (multi-semester course starting in Fall, by application, 4 cr total)
  • [BIOEE 4570 - Limnology: Ecology of Lakes (F, 3 cr LEC) AND BIOEE 4571] (F, 2 cr LAB) (Next Offered: 2024-2025)
  • ENTOM 2120 - Insect Biology (F, 4 cr) 
  • NTRES/ENVS 2100 - Introductory Field Biology (F, 4 cr)
  • NTRES/ENVS 2400 - Field Methods in Avian Ecology (F, 3 cr, by permission of instructor)
  • NTRES/ENVS 2600 - Field Research in the Ecological Arts (S, 3 cr) (Not offered S24)
  • NTRES/ENVS 3020 - Earth Projects (F, 7-week course, 3 cr) 
  • NTRES 3150+3151+3152 - Introduction to Conservation Bioacoustics (multi-semester course starting in Fall, by application, 5 cr total)
  • NTRES 3260 - Applied Conservation Ecology (S, 3 cr)
  • NTRES 4560 -  Stream Ecology (F, 4 cr, alternate years) (Next offered F25)

BIOSM - Shoals Marine Laboratory (Summer, off-campus, additional fee)

  • [BIOSM 2500: Coastal Habitat Field Research Methods] (Su, 3 cr) (Not offered Su23)
  • BIOSM 3330: Marine Parasitology and Disease
  • BIOSM 3340: Marine Invasive Species
  • BIOSM 3450: Marine Mammal Biology 
  • BIOSM 3650: Underwater Research

Choose 1 course.

  • ENVS 2000 - Environment and Sustainability Colloquium (F, 1 cr)
    OR
    ENVS 2010 - Discussions of Environment and Sustainability (F, 3 cr, BY APPLICATION due by the start of Add Period, 8/16)
  • BEE 2000 - Perspectives on the Climate Change Challenge (S, 1 cr)

Choose 1 course.

  • COML 4103 - Nabokov, Naturally (NEW in F23, 3 cr)
  • HIST 4262 - Environmental Justice: Past, Present and Future (F23, 4 cr)
  • NTRES/ENVS 4500 - Climate Solutions Capstone (F, 3 cr) 
  • NTRES/ENVS 4600 - Planning for Environmental Conservation and Sustainability (F, 3 cr)
  • NTRES/ENVS 4700 - Art and Science of the Mohawk River Watershed (NEW in S24, 3 cr)

BIOSM - Shoals Marine Laboratory (Summer, off-campus, additional fee)

  • BIOSM 3750 - Integrated Ecosystem Research and Management (Su, 3 cr)