Major & Minor Requirements

Note: This page is designed to assist students, faculty, and advisors by providing degree requirements and recommendations in an easy-to-use format. The course catalogue remains the official source of degree requirements -- please report any discrepancies with this page to the department chair.  

Major Requirements

Note: These requirements apply to anyone declaring a major or minor in ENV during 2010-2011 or later. Those who declared ENV prior to 2010-2011 should follow our earlier set of requirements as described in the 2009-2010 course catalogue.

A minimum of 12 courses plus a capstone experience is required for all environmental studies majors, to include:

• Environmental Perspectives (ENV 101)
• The ENV Science Series:
  • Environmental Biology (ENV 201)
  • Environmental Chemistry (ENV 202)
  • Environmental Geology (ENV 301)
• Global Environmental Economics (ECB 261)
• One of the following pairs of courses:
  
  Pairing #1:
  
  • Nature Writers (ENG 350) or Literature and Arts of the Wilderness (ENG 347)
  • Environmental Ethics (PHI 224)
  Pairing #2:
  • American Politics (POL 262) or Public Policy (POL 282)
  • Environmental Politics (POL 368) or Wilderness Politics (POL 371)
• Five (5) electives to be chosen with the student's advisor and that define a concentration, at least two (2) of which must be at or above the 300-level; Geographic Information Systems (CSC 222) is encouraged as one of the electives where appropriate. No prescribed list of electives will be created; instead, students will be allowed to choose from all classes offered at Cornell as long as (1) they define a particular area of concentration and (2) they are acceptable to that student's ENV advisor and two other members of the Environmental Studies Program Committee. The list of five electives will be finalized with the students’ ENV advisor and submitted to the Registrar and the Environmental Studies Program Committee at the time of spring registration during the junior year. The list of electives must be accompanied by a statement explaining how those courses define a particular area of concentration, and must be signed by the advisor and two other members of the Environmental Studies Program Committee.
• Capstone experience, designed in consultation with the Environmental Studies Program Committee.
  

Minor Requirements

A minimum of six courses,  to include:

• Environmental Perspectives (ENV 101)
• Two courses from the ENV Science Series:
  • Environmental Biology (ENV 201)
  • Environmental Chemistry (ENV 202)
  • Environmental Geology (ENV 301)
• Global Environmental Economics (ECB 261)
• One of the following pairs of courses:
  
  Pairing #1:
  
  • Nature Writers (ENG 350) or Literature and Arts of the Wilderness (ENG 347)
  • Environmental Ethics (PHI 224)
  Pairing #2:
  • American Politics (POL 262) or Public Policy (POL 282)
  • Environmental Politics (POL 368) or Wilderness Politics (POL 371)

Note: Students considering a minor in environmental studies should be aware of the following wording from the Cornell College catalog:

"When there is an overlap between courses required or accepted for a major in one department or program and a minor in another, at least two courses must be completed beyond the courses counted toward the major in order to earn the minor in the other department or program.”