Stanford University
AC-3: Undergraduate Program

The Earth Systems Program is an interdisciplinary environmental science major. Students learn about and independently investigate complex environmental problems caused by human activities in interaction with natural changes in the Earth system. Earth Systems majors become skilled in those areas of science, economics, and policy needed to tackle the globe’s most pressing environmental problems, becoming part of a generation of scientists, professionals, and citizens who approach and solve problems in a new way: a systematic, interdisciplinary way.

The Civil and Environmental Engineering department is committed to finding solutions to our major sustainability challenges this century, and to educating and training the leaders who will have a large impact on our profession and on society.

Stanford's Global Studies Division (formerly International, Comparative and Area Studies) provides an arena for students and scholars to explore our increasingly complex world from multiple economic, political, social, technological and cultural perspectives. As Stanford educates the leaders of the future, we must prepare them to deal with the great issues facing the world – health, peace, prosperity, environmental sustainability – from a basis of cultural and historical understanding as well as a basis of scientific analysis. The School of Humanities and Sciences has established a division of International Comparative and Area Studies (ICA) to strengthen existing international programs and to expand the scope of our scholarship and education to include critically important regions and themes in today’s world. It will have an enduring benefit not only for the students and faculty in the School of Humanities and Sciences, but for the other schools and institutes in the university whose applied work will derive its effectiveness from the basic scholarship in our departments spanning the humanities and arts, and the natural and social sciences.

There are numerous such programs offered for undergraduate-level degrees. Please see the complete list of undergraduate degree programs and website URLs in the uploaded back-up materials for AC-2.

The Urban Studies program treats urbanism as an interdisciplinary field; it brings together students, faculty, and outside specialists concerned with cities, and the impacts of cities on society and people's lives. The Urban Studies major encourages students to inquire deeply into the nature of cities and the techniques used to modify urban environments. It prepares students to address urbanization, and gives students a knowledge base and theoretical, analytical, and practical skills to understand urban social systems and effect social change.

The mission of the Science, Technology and Society (STS) Program is to provide Stanford undergraduates with intellectually stimulating education that will prepare them for life in the contemporary era, one in which science and technology are pervasive and potent forces for transformative social change. To that end, STS courses explore the evolving natures and interrelationship of science and technology, influences of science and technology on different kinds of societies, how societies manage and otherwise shape their scientific and technological endeavors and products, and ethical, social, cultural, and policy issues raised by scientific and technological innovations in contemporary societies. STS faculty believe that probing study of this vital subject matter provides an innovative form of liberal arts and pre-professional education, one that helps STS students fulfill their future civic and professional roles in an informed, responsible manner. STS is an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary program. STS students learn to critically analyze the interplay of science and technology with human values and world views, political and economic forces, and cultural and environmental systems. To a set of core STS courses promoting such learning, Program majors add structured sets of pertinent disciplinary courses in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering.

The Program in Human Biology is an interschool, interdepartmental undergraduate major and minor. The program's mission is to provide an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the human being from 7 biological, behavioral, social, and cultural perspectives. The curriculum provides a broad and rigorous introduction to the biological and behavioral sciences and their interrelationships, and explores how this knowledge, in conjunction with studies in other fields, can be applied to formulate and evaluate health, environmental, and other public policies that influence human welfare. Majors later pursue advanced training in professional or graduate programs, or work in diverse sectors.

There are numerous such programs offered for undergraduate-level minors, concentrations and certificates. Please see the complete list of undergraduate degree programs and website URLs in the uploaded back-up materials for AC-2.