Undergraduate Programs

Environmental issues are complex and multidisciplinary, and the University's course of study is deliberately designed to give students a broad sense of the scientific and ethical issues at the heart of what will be perhaps the greatest social problem of the twenty-first century.

The BS track leads to a degree in environmental studies, a broadly conceived course of study that involves biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, and computer science, along with a strong foundation in the social sciences and humanities. Within this integrative framework, students will select an upper-level concentration in biology, chemistry, or quantitative and spatial methods.

The BA track leads to a degree in environmental ethics and policy, which combines a background in science with a discourse that centers on philosophy, theology, ethics, political science, and other fields. One of the critical aims of this degree track is to cultivate critical intelligence and consciousness within students regarding the multifaceted nature of environmental ethics and environmental policy.

Students are brought together several times in the course of their undergraduate work: in the University's core curriculum courses, in environmental science courses, laboratories, and field trips, and in a senior capstone seminar which involves case studies and team-approach problem-solving in regional environmental issues. View the learning outcomes for the Environmental Science majors. 

Minors are available in environmental policy and in environmental studies.