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Core Curriculum

Environment & Sustainability 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.

For information about declaring the E&S major, grade guidelines, and policies, please go to the E&S Advising page.

Required courses

Choose 1 course.

  • NTRES/ENVS 1101 - Understanding Environment and Sustainability (F, 3 cr)
  • NTRES/ENVS 1201 - Global Water Sustainability (S, 3 cr) Spring 2025, last time offered!
  • NTRES/ENVS 2201 - Society and Natural Resources (S, 3 cr)

Choose 1 course.

Ecology

  • BIOEE 1610 - Ecology and the Environment (F, S, Su, 3-4 cr) or
  • BIOSM 1610 - Ecology and the Marine Environment (Su, 3 cr)

Evolution/Diversity

  • 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.

Choose 1 course.

  • CHEM 1560/1561 - Introduction to General Chemistry, lecture/lab (F, Su, 4 cr), Concurrent enrollment in 1560 and 1561 is required to receive credit.
  • CHEM 2070/2071 - General Chemistry I, lecture/lab (F, S, Su, 4 cr), Concurrent enrollment in 2070 and 2071 is required to receive credit.
  • EAS 1600 - Environmental Physics (F, S, 3 cr)
  • AP/IB/CASE exam credit accepted.

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.

Choose 1 course.

  • AEM 2100 - Introductory Statistics (F, 4 cr)
  • BIOEE 1760 - Biostatistics with R Programming Language (Su, 3 cr)
  • BTRY 3010/STSCI 2200 - Biological Statistics I (F, 4 cr)
  • MATH 1710 - Statistical Theory and Application in the Real World (F, 4 cr)
  • PSYCH 2500 - Statistics and Research Design (F, Su, 4 cr)
  • PUBPOL 2100 - Introduction to Statistics (S, 4 cr)
  • SOC 3010 - Statistics for Sociological Research (F, 4 cr)
  • 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.

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) (Next offered S27.)
  • ANTHR 2420 - Nature/Culture: Ethnographic Approaches to Human-Environment Relations (F, 3 cr)
  • [ANTHR/SHUM 2482 -  Anthropology of Climate Change] (S, 3 cr)
  • ASIAN 2273 - Religion and Ecological Sustainability (F, 3 cr)
  • BSOC 2061 - Ethics and the Environment (S, 4 cr) Offered Spring 2026!
  • [COML 2036 - Literature and the Elements of Nature] (F, 3 cr) (Next offered F26.)
  • ENGL 4675 - The Environmental Imagination in American Literature (F or S, 4 cr) Offered Spring 2026!
  • ENGL 3795 - Communicating Climate Change (F, 3 cr) (Note: Prerequisite for ENVS 4795 capstone.)
  • [HIST 2581 - Environmental History] (S, 4 cr)
  • NTRES/AIIS 3330 - Ways of Knowing: Indigenous and Place-Based Ecological Knowledge (F, 4 cr)
  • [PHIL 1440 - Ethics of Eating] (TBD, 4 cr) (Next offered 2026-27.)

Choose 1 course.

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

Note: 

  • Sustainable Business and Environmental Economics Concentration (SBEE) requires AEM/ENVS 2500.
  • ECON 1110 alone does NOT fulfill the core environmental resource economics requirement.

Choose 1 course.

  • [BIOEE 2525+2526+2527 - Ecology and Conservation of Wildlife in the Neotropics] (multi-semester course starting in Fall, by application, 4 cr total)
  • BIOEE 3611 - Field Ecology (F, 3 cr)
  • BIOEE 4570 - Limnology: Ecology of Lakes (F, 3 cr Lec) AND BIOEE 4571 (F, 2 cr Lab, alternate even years)
  • ENTOM 2120 - Insect Biology (F, 4 cr)
  • NTRES/ENVS 2100 - Introductory Field Biology (F, 4 cr)
  • NTRES/ENVS 2101 - Introductory Winter Field Naturalist (S, 7-week course, 3 cr) New!
  • NTRES/ENVS 2400 - Field Methods in Avian Ecology (F, 3 cr, by permission of instructor)
  • NTRES/ENVS 3020 - Earth Projects (F, 7-week course, 3 cr) Fall 2025, last time offered.
  • [NTRES 3150+3151+3152 - Introduction to Conservation Bioacoustics] (multi-semester course starting in Fall, by permission, 5.5 cr total)
  • [NTRES/BIOEE 4560 - Stream Ecology] (F, 4 cr, alternate years)

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

  • [BIOSM 2500 - Coastal Habitat Field Research Methods] (Su, 3 cr)
  • BIOSM 3330 - Marine Parasitology and Disease (Su, 3 cr) (Offered alternate years.)
  • BIOSM 3340 - Marine Invasive Species (Su, 3 cr) (Offered alternate years.)
  • BIOSM 3450 - Marine Mammal Biology (Su, 3 cr)
  • BIOSM 3650 - Underwater Research (Su, 3 cr)
  • BIOSM 3740 - Field Ornithology (Su, 3 cr)

Choose 1 course.

  • ENVS 2000 - Environment and Sustainability Colloquium (F, 1 cr)
    OR
    ENVS 2010 - Discussions of Environment and Sustainability (F, 3 cr)
  • BEE 2000/ENVS 2001 - Perspectives on the Climate Change Challenge (S, 1.5 cr or 3 cr)

Choose 1 course. NOTE: Only juniors and seniors are eligible for capstone requirement fulfillment.

  • COML/ENVS 4103 - Nabokov, Naturally (S, 3 cr)
  • ENGL/ENVS 4795 - Climate Communications Capstone (S, 3 cr, prerequisite ENGL 3795)
  • GDEV/ENVS 4850 - Sustainability Project Lab (S, 3 cr)
  • [HIST/ENVS 4262 - Environmental Justice: Past, Present and Future] (F, 4 cr) (Not offered Fall 2025.)
  • NTRES/ENVS 4400 - Nature-Based Climate Solutions? (F, 3 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 (S, 3 cr) (No longer offered.)
  • NTRES/ENVS 4800 - Wildlife Corridor Conservation & Crossing Design (F, 3 cr) (formerly ENVS 4940, now offered fall semesters)
  • ENVS 4940 - Capstone Special Topics Course in Environment and Sustainability, Managing Pond Water Quality (S, 3 cr)

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

  • BIOSM 3750 - Integrated Ecosystem Research and Management (Su, 3 cr) - Rising Juniors and Seniors only

Concentrations

Students choose and declare one concentration by the end of their sophomore year.

Explore the concentrations
Students working in groups near Beebe Lake