Emory University
AC-3: Undergraduate Program

The Department of Environmental Sciences' interdisciplinary and integrative curriculum is designed to equip students with key skills and knowledge to understand and confront complex environmental issues. The curriculum is rooted in the basic disciplines of ecology and conservation, earth science, and social science and policy. Field and integrative courses compel students to synthesize concepts, methods and practice from these essential disciplines. Undergraduate research opportunities and internships are emphasized. The department offers a BA, BS, three minor options, a concentration in Environment and Sustainability Management with the Goizueta Business School, and two 4+1 programs: one BS/MPH with Rollins and a BS/MS program housed within the department.

The ENVS BS/MS offers students an in-depth understanding of the complexities of scientific evidence in both the natural and social sciences within a curriculum that integrates people and the environment. The B.S. is rooted in the basic disciplines of ecology and conservation, earth science, and social science and policy. The M.S. curriculum is anchored in an intensive research experience and the building of practical quantitative skills. Department research encompasses earth and atmospheric sciences, biological conservation, climate change, disease ecology, environmental policy, resource management and urban ecology. Student research opportunities include a focus in air pollution, climate change, conservation, development, ecology, health and resource management.

The 4+1 BS/MPH in Environmental Sciences and Environmental Health program draws upon diverse, yet integrated, academic, research, and service resources in order to provide a unique and interdisciplinary approach to environmental science and health. Students also receive training in the mechanisms of toxicity, exposure science, epidemiology and biostatistics, disease ecology and global change, and environmental health policy.

The minor in Sustainability curriculum is designed for students to understand and explore the challenges of sustainability, bridging theory and practice in understanding what determines sustainability in a strongly coupled world of humans and their environment. The courses link the theoretical and practical by understanding how human institutions, organizations, cultures, and technologies link and interact with their biophysical environments. The minor in Sustainability Sciences curriculum is designed for students to understand and explore the challenges of sustainability in three crosscutting areas. One is to explicitly integrate across scales of space and time to define and develop solutions to pressing issues from global to local scales. The second is to unite disciplinary approaches to foster a broader and richer exploration of sustainability. The minor uses the different sciences of sustainability (ecological, environmental, social, political and economic) to provide insights into similarities and differences of structural and process complexities inherent in Sustainability Sciences. Finally the coursework bridges theory and practice in understanding what determines sustainability in a strongly coupled world of humans and their environment. The courses link the theoretical and practical by understanding how human institutions, organizations, cultures, technologies link and interact with their biophysical environments.

The minor in Community Building and Social Change is designed to offer students from a variety of majors an introduction to the challenges and opportunities for revitalizing and strengthening communities in contemporary urban America. Students must complete a three course sequence in community building and social change that includes Community Building and Social Change I, Planning and Evaluating Community-Based Initiatives, and Practicum in Community Building.

Through integrative, interdisciplinary and applied scholarship, students are introduced to theories and methods of earth and atmospheric sciences. This minor fulfills a need for students majoring in the natural sciences, such as Chemistry or Physics, with an interest in earth systems dynamics; and in the social sciences, for students who are focused on natural resource or energy policy. Collaboration in earth and atmospheric sciences is increasing through the newly formed Climate@Emory Academic Learning Community; interdisciplinary course development and new programmatic initiatives are expected outcomes of these discussions.

The Concentration in Environment and Sustainability Management is a collaboration between the Department of Environmental Sciences in Emory College and the Goizueta Business School Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) Program. Participation is limited to BBA students and students who are Environmental Studies majors. This concentration provides knowledge, competencies and experiences for Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Science (BS) and BBA students interested in pursuing careers in environmental management. BBA students who complete this concentration focus on the history, politics and practice of the environmental fields. Environmental Studies students who complete the concentration acquire grounding in business principles and practices, including management, marketing, finance and strategy. All students pursue business-related and environmentally focused industry-related electives and participate in a capstone course that give them the opportunity to synthesize and validate their evolving perspectives in both an academic and an applied environment. http://envs.emory.edu/home/undergraduate/business_connection/index.html

Data reported for 2015-2016 academic year.