Bowdoin College
AC-3: Undergraduate Program

Three convictions guide the design of Bowdoin's coordinate environmental studies major. First, students' academic foundation should be both disciplinary and interdisciplinary, fostering an integrated understanding. Second, it should encompass perspectives from the curriculum's three broad divisions - humanities, natural science, and social science. Third, it should offer abundant opportunities for students to supplement their academic learning with experiences outside the classroom, helping them to discover their vocations, acquire practical skills, form lifelong habits, and develop networks of relationships. The program has a mission to offer students an interdisciplinary introduction to environmental studies, ensure that ES majors have a grounding in natural science, public policy, and humanistic perspectives, and facilitate independent scholarly investigation, among other other goals. The major is coordinated with another major that provides depth in a specific discipline within environmental studies. In order to complete the major, students are required to take 9 environmental studies courses. Students must take an introductory interdisciplinary course, Introduction to Environmental Studies followed by three courses in each of the disciplines, a course in the environmental sciences (Perspectives in Environmental Science), a course in the environmental humanities (Environment and Culture in North American History), and a course in the social sciences (Environmental Policy and Politics), and a senior seminar. Three out of the nine courses are concentration electives; each student develops a focus for the concentration in consultation with their advisor and selects courses based upon the theme.

With similar educational goals as the major, minor consists of five courses: Environmental Studies 101, two courses at the intermediate level or higher, one of which should be in the disciplinary area outside a student's major, and two core courses in the disciplinary area.