Chair: Andrew J. Friedland
Professors A. J. Friedland, R. B. Howarth, J. E. Shepherd, R. A. Virginia; Associate Professors D. T. Bolger, K. Fisher-Vanden, C. S. Sneddon; Assistant Professors M. K. Dorsey, D. J. Ranco; Adjunct Professors N. N. Miller, B. D. Roebuck (Toxicology); Visiting Assistant Professor C. A. Fox; Senior Lecturer T. S. Osborne (English); Adjunct Instructor S. P. Stokoe; Research Assistant Professor D. N. M. Mbora.
The Dartmouth Environmental Studies Program began in 1970. Its principle mission is to provide an opportunity for undergraduates to understand and assess the complexity of environmental issues and to learn how to search for solutions to these problems.
The Program takes a broad view of what is meant by the environment. We concern ourselves with pollution and its causes and effects, but we also consider resources, both renewable and non-renewable, energy, population, and, not least, quality of life—a thing difficult to quantify but important to human well-being.
Environmental Studies is an important ingredient in a liberal education. We believe that the College can contribute to the appreciation of the value of natural resources, to the understanding of environmental problems, and to the strong dependence of humanity on its surroundings by offering a Program broadly based in the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences. At the same time, the Program has a strong teaching and research focus in environmental science (especially ecosystem science, biogeochemistry and conservation biology) and environmental policy and politics (especially international environmental issues, environmental economics and environmental justice).
An additional goal of the Program is to provide courses and course-project activities that are oriented towards providing policy options and potential solutions to decision makers at the level of the College, the community, adjoining communities, states, and the Federal Government. Faculty in Environmental Studies supervise undergraduate theses and participate in graduate education in Ecology, Earth Sciences, Chemistry and Engineering. Environmental Studies is a partner in the graduate environmental science degree programs in Earth Sciences and Ecology through the Earth, Ecosystem, and Ecological Sciences Program (EEES).
Off-Campus Program in Africa: The foreign study program in Southern Africa highlights the global perspective of the Environmental Studies Program. In each offering, twenty students will be admitted to a program which is designed to give students firsthand experience with issues of population, land and water use, and resource management in the region of Southern Africa. One course, Environmental Studies 40, addresses these issues in the classroom and directly in the field, where students live in a rural farming village. Another course, Environmental Studies 42, uses African faculty and experts from government and NGOs to give a comprehensive view of the political and social context of initiatives for development and environmental conservation with an emphasis on regional problems and regional opportunities for solutions. The role of women in agriculture and conservation is also studied. A third course, Environmental Studies 84, is a coordinating seminar taught by the Dartmouth faculty director which requires an extensively researched group project and paper.
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MAJOR, MODIFIED MAJOR, AND MINOR
The Environmental Studies Major
Prerequisites: Math 3 or 10 or the equivalent; Chemistry 3 or 5 or Physics 3 or Biology 16 or Earth Sciences 1; and Economics 1.
Requirements: Environmental Studies 1 or 3; and 2 or the equivalent.
Core courses—One from each group:
Science: 20 or 25 or 28 or 30.
Economics: 55 or 56.
Politics and policy: 58 or 65.
A culminating experience in the major; and an elective focus consisting of four related and relevant non-introductory classes (numbered 10 and above).
It is possible to substitute several other course combinations for Environmental Studies 2 on a two-for-one basis. If choosing to substitute for ENVS 2, students must take Biology 16 and one additional course: either Earth Sciences 1 or 6; Environmental Studies 12; or Geography 3. If Biology 16 is taken as a partial substitution for ENVS 2, it may not satisfy the ENVS pre-requisite. It is expected that the elective focus will contain at least one Environmental Studies course. Classes from outside the Environmental Studies Program may be used for the elective focus if they are part of the approved major plan. Every Environmental Studies major will submit a major plan for approval by an Environmental Studies faculty curriculum committee. This written statement must present the rationale for the elective focus classes, the relationship between the Environmental Studies major and any other selected major or minors, and a justification for courses from outside Environmental Studies.
The Environmental Studies Honors Program
A candidate for the Honors Program in Environmental Studies must satisfy the minimum College requirement, have a grade average of ‘B+’ in courses applied to the major, and complete Environmental Studies 91 (Thesis Research). Environmental Studies 91 may be taken two times, both for course credit, but can only count once toward the major. Students who complete a senior thesis and have a ‘B+’ average or higher in the courses that constitute the major will earn Honors recognition in the major. High Honors may be granted by a vote of the faculty on the basis of outstanding independent work. An interim evaluation of honors students will be made after one term and continuation recommended for those students whose work demonstrates the capacity for satisfactory (B+) work. Enrollment in Environmental Studies 91 does not imply admissions into the Honors Program nor does completion of a senior thesis require the awarding of Honors in the major.
The Culminating Experience
The culminating experience requirement for the major in Environmental Studies may be met by completing either Environmental Studies 50, Environmental Studies 84, or conducting Honors Research (Environmental Studies 91).
The Environmental Studies Minor
Prerequisites: Environmental Studies 2 or the equivalent. Requirements: Environmental Studies 1 or 3; and four other related non-introductory courses (numbered 10 and above), two of which are normally from Environmental Studies. Courses from outside Environmental Studies must be from an approved list or by permission of the Chair.
The Environmental Science Minor
Prerequisites: Environmental Studies 2 or the equivalent; Chemistry 3 or 5 or Physics 3 or Biology 16 or Earth Sciences 1.
Requirements: One course from Environmental Studies 1, 3, or 42; 20 or 25 or 28 or 30; and three other related non-introductory Environmental Studies science courses (normally numbered 10 or above). One class from outside Environmental Studies may be used if from an approved list or with permission of the Chair.
Another Major Modified with Environmental Studies
Requirements: One course from Environmental Studies 1, 2, or 3; 50; and three additional Environmental Studies courses, not including 1, 2, 3, or 7. (One of these may be substituted by an appropriate course from another department. Written permission required).
AFRICA FOREIGN STUDY PROGRAM
Prerequisites: Environmental Studies 2 or the equivalent; 39 or with permission 65. Also one of the following courses (check with the Program office for updated list):
African and African American Studies 11: Introduction to African Studies
African and African American Studies 14: (Identical to History 5.1)
African and African American Studies 41: Women in Africa (Identical to Women’s and Gender Studies 30)
African and African American Studies 43: (Identical to Religion 50)
African and African American Studies 45: Africa: Ecology and Development
Comparative Literature 51: African Literatures
Geography 40: (Identical to African and African American Studies 45)
Government 44: Politics and Political Economies in Africa
History 5.1: Pre-Colonial African History
History 66: History of Africa since 1800
History 75: Colonialism, Development and the Environment in Asia and Africa
Religion 50: Indigenous African Religions
Related Courses: The following courses may be of particular interest to students interested in environmental issues.
Anthropology 3: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
Anthropology 51: Colonialism and Its Legacies
Biology 16: Ecology
Biology 25: Introductory Marine Biology and Ecology
Chemistry 63: Environmental Chemistry
Earth Sciences 26: Hydrology and Water Resources
Earth Sciences 28: Environmental Geology
Earth Sciences 55: Remote Sensing (Identical to Geography 55)
Engineering Sciences 41: Environmental and Natural Resource Management
Geography 20: Economic Geography and Globalization
Geography 55: Remote Sensing (Identical to Earth Sciences 55)
Geography 58: Geographic Information Systems
Government 58: International Political Economy