Environmental Studies Program
General Information About the Department or Program
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Environmental Studies Program (ENVS) students on an outing in the field. |
Involvement in Environmental Education and Research
The purpose of the major is to train students in the cause, scale, and remediation strategies of the major environmental problems in the United States and the world. Students will acquire an awareness of the complexity of factors relating to human interaction with the environment. They will become acutely aware of the fact that environmental problems have both human and biophysical components, and gain knowledge of the general principles of human-environmental interaction, global habitability, environmental change, and sustainable human societies.
Environmental Studies is an interdisciplinary program, and utilizes existing courses given in various Arts and Sciences departments, as well as a set of focused environmental studies courses. The program is designed to provide a broad, but rigorous education in environmental issues and problem-solving, as opposed to a traditional, discipline-based training. Environmental Studies draws from curricula in the earth and natural sciences as well as the social sciences.
The undergraduate program offers two tracks: Track A, Society and Policy, and Track B, Environmental Science. There are four specializations in Track A: Environment and Natural Resources, International Environment and Development, Decision-making, Planning, and Public Policy, and Environmental Analysis. There are three specializations in Track B: Water, Biogeochemistry, and Climate.
Graduate students currently choose from emphases including policy, water, or biogeochemisty, and other programs of study can be designed based on available courses and faculty support and expertise. Students engage with researchers at nearby national organizations including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
There are currently about 500 undergraduates and 40 graduate students.
Researchers
Please see the faculty listing on the department's website for information on the areas of focus of Environmental Studies faculty. (http://envs.colorado.edu/graduate/about/faculty.html)
How to Learn More
For more information, students should go to the Environmental Studies Program web page: http://www.colorado.edu/envirostudies.
Contact Information
Environmental Studies Program
University of Colorado at Boulder
397 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309-0397
303 492 5420 (phone)
303 492 5207 (fax)
