Colorado State University
AC-3: Undergraduate Program

The Major in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics prepares students to apply economic tools to evaluate the allocation and utilization of natural resources and the management of the natural environment. Economic analysis provides a strong basis to guide societal choices that directly and indirectly affect our environment. Economic theory provides a framework for understanding both environmental and natural resource issues, predicting the likely effects of government policies and regulations, and devising solutions to pressing economic and environmental problems. This major differentiates from other programs of study that address natural resource management in that it focuses on weighing the private and public implications of choices that we make ranging from a local through a global scale.

Landscape architects lead the stewardship, planning, and design of built and natural environments. Throughout the program, emphasis is on the relationship between design, nature, and society: the impact of environments on the individual as well as the impact of users on the environment. Landscape architects must analyze the natural elements of a site including the climate, soil, slope of the land, drainage, sunlight, and vegetation. Landscape architects often work with building architects, surveyors, engineers, and urban planners and collaborate with environmental scientists, foresters, and other professionals to find the best way to conserve or restore natural resources. Knowledge of appropriate local, state, or federal regulations such as those protecting wetlands or historic resources is essential. Nature, culture, form, and space are the classic elements of landscape architecture with which students work in a series of design studies and related courses.

The Major in Restoration Ecology emphasizes interdisciplinary study, research, and restoration of damaged, degraded, or destroyed rangelands and forested ecosystems of the world. More specifically, this major focuses on the restoration of rangelands and forests for multiple uses. These uses include both consumptive and non-consumptive activities such as recreation, preservation of wildlife habitat, providing for aesthetic beauty, livestock grazing, and timber production. Students in this program will gain the important knowledge and skills necessary to restore damaged ecosystems. Students develop an in-depth understanding of basic plant and animal biology; a basic understanding of the physical sciences as they relate to restoration ecology; knowledge of important concepts of ecology and natural resources management; an understanding of economics related to evaluating alternatives; and analytical and decision-making skills. Students also develop communication, political and interpersonal skills to make their education effective.

https://green.colostate.edu/courses/

The Global Environmental Sustainability (GES) Minor offers students in every department an interdisciplinary curriculum that enhances their major with an understanding of the issues of sustainability and provides students with the tools to bring sustainability into their career paths.
The GES minor is a 21-credit sequence with course offerings from 25 different subject codes across all eight colleges, providing depth in learning and allowing students to tailor coursework to augment their interests. The minor provides a deep understanding of the complexity surrounding the problems we face and the solutions that we need to implement to address climate change, biodiversity, pollution, public health, oceans, food security and development on a global scale.

Environmental Health is a branch of public health that studies how biological, chemical, and physical factors in natural and built environments impact human health and disease. Students learn how to help prevent injuries and disease by managing environmental hazards and promoting healthier air, water, soil, homes, workplaces, and communities. A minor in Environmental Health (EH) will benefit students majoring in a variety of biosciences who want to leverage and integrate EH skill sets into their professional endeavors (e.g., medicine, dentistry, law, research, industry) as well as those students interested in career options in environmental public health, private sector occupational health and safety, environmental toxicology, and environmental epidemiology.

The minor in Applied Environmental Policy Analysis will provide students with a rigorous and in-depth study of the public sector environment, practice, and methods for analyzing and developing policy. Each course will also have the environment as a focus in the material, exams, and assignments. At the end of the minor, students will be able to recall and explain the basic rationales for public policies, apply rigorous research methods for evaluating policy, and integrate the elements of theory, methods, problem structuring, ethics, analysis, and argumentation to generate reports useable in government and nonprofit management.

https://green.colostate.edu/academics

The complete inventory of sustainability-focused majors, minors, specializations, and certificates at both the graduate and undergraduate level are listed at https://green.colostate.edu/academics. Total of 22 undergraduate majors (including 14 concentrations), 46 graduate programs (including 14 concentrations), 22 minors, and 9 certificates that are sustainability-focused programs.