天普大學(xué)

The Environmental Studies major, offered by the Department of Geography and Urban Studies, examines the nature, causes and consequences of human interactions with the environment. Students in Environmental Studies gain the intellectual and methodological tools to understand and address the crucial environmental issues of our time and the impact on individuals, society, and the planet.

The Environmental Studies major introduces students to environmental processes, contemporary environmental issues and policies, geospatial technologies including Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and qualitative and quantitative social science research methods. The Environmental Studies gateway courses are designed to develop the theoretical and methodological frameworks and tools necessary to understand the relationships between people and their environment as they interact through local and global connections. In required courses and electives, students examine environmental policy and the role of political institutions; the geography of natural resources; environmental decision-making; natural hazards and risk assessment;?environmental ethics and legal issues; health and the environment; environmental justice; food access; etc. The electives give students the opportunity to develop an area of emphasis around their particular interests. Students focus on an individualized research project in their Senior Research Seminar. Each student's program is developed with a departmental advisor to suit individual interests and is designed to maximize educational and career opportunities. We encourage Environmental Studies students to incorporate a semester abroad and/or an internship into their plan of study.

The objective of the Bachelor of Arts program in Environmental Studies is to provide students with an understanding of: How space, place, and scale shape the interaction between environment and society; Critical thinking skills developed through examining a range of analytical approaches to investigate geographic, urban, and environmental processes; Contemporary explanatory frameworks in Geography and Urban Studies such as political ecology, feminist and poststructuralist theory, and development theory; The application of information technology skills to analyze spatial and temporal information, processes, and patterns through integrative research experiences; Practical considerations of community and environmental organizational settings at the local and regional scales.