Vanderbilt University
AC-2: Learning Outcomes

• American Studies - The American Studies program is an interdisciplinary program that enables students to engage the diversity of American culture from a variety of intellectual disciplines and perspectives. Through course offerings, colloquia, and research opportunities, program students and faculty engage with the states of the nation in a post-9/11 era, examining anew the formation of social, legal, cultural, and economic identities within the borders of the United States. Compelling matters of class, race, ethnicity, sexuality, environmentalism, technology, the arts, region, and religion take their proper and vital place in the curriculum of study. https://www.vanderbilt.edu/americanstudies/ • Biological Sciences - The biological sciences encompass the study of living organisms and life processes at all levels: ecosystems, populations, individual organisms, tissues, cells, subcellular structures, and molecules. For undergraduates, the department offers three majors including the Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology (EEOB) major. The EEOB major is designed for students with an interest in ecology, evolutionary biology, environmental biology, and conservation biology. https://as.vanderbilt.edu/biosci/ • Chemistry: Environmental Chemistry Focus. Environmental chemistry concerns the chemical phenomena that occur in nature. Environmental chemistry spans atmospheric, aquatic, and soil chemistry with a reliance on analytical chemistry for methods of analysis. Environmental chemistry can be applied to the understanding of issues such as ground water pollution, wastewater treatment, ozone depletion, and greenhouse gas emissions. https://www.vanderbilt.edu/chemistry/ • Earth and Environmental Sciences - The Earth and Environmental Sciences are aimed at interpreting Earth’s dynamic history—its age and origin as recorded in rocks and the landscape—and at understanding how geological processes affect modern environmental and ecological systems. Students majoring in EES participate in field and laboratory work. Students use the major as preparation for graduate study, for careers in environmental studies and resource exploration (petroleum, minerals), or for related careers in such fields as land use planning, teaching, law, or engineering. Research programs in the department, which in many cases involve students, employ field, analytical, and experimental methods. https://www.vanderbilt.edu/ees/ • Environmental Science – The interdisciplinary minor in environmental science focuses on how the earth’s natural environmental processes work, how they have been or can be modified by humans and society, and how such modifications impact the biosphere, from the individual level all the way up to the ecosystem level. An environmental science minor provides students the opportunity to expand their education to include a coherent program on the scientific aspects of how we interact with and modify the earth’s environment. https://www.vanderbilt.edu/ees/undergradminor.php • Environmental and Sustainability Studies - Human beings and their societies necessarily interact with and alter Earth’s natural environment. The environmental and sustainability studies minor allows the student to examine human interaction with the environment from the perspectives of the humanities and social sciences with some exposure to the environmental sciences and/or environmental engineering. https://my.vanderbilt.edu/environmental/ • Civil and Environmental Engineering - Civil engineers must be able to face complex problems of modern society involving the development of physical facilities that serve the public while protecting the environment and preserving social values. Challenges facing civil and environmental engineers concern housing, urban transportation, pollution control, water resources development, industrial development, maintaining and advancing our nation’s aging infrastructure, and exploring space. The program also includes courses in economics, humanities, social sciences, resources management, and public policy. The curriculum includes upper-level analysis and design courses in structural, geotechnical, environmental, water resources, and transportation engineering. In addition, a major in chemical engineering with a minor in environmental engineering is available. https://engineering.vanderbilt.edu/cee/ • Department of Sociology: Environmental Sociology - Vanderbilt’s Department of Sociology launched its new environmental sociology major in 2015, the first environmental and sustainability studies major outside the sciences and engineering at Vanderbilt and one of the first such majors in the country. Students enrolled in the major receive a grounding in environmental science and general sociology, then focus on social questions surrounding environmental issues. Courses cover ecology and society, population and migration, environmental health, social movements and social change, business and civil society, green jobs, government policy and more. http://as.vanderbilt.edu/sociology/undergraduate/environmental-sociology-major/ • Communication of Science and Technology - Both the major and minor in Communication of Science and Technology are interdisciplinary. Students must take advanced courses in public speaking, writing, in one or more scientific disciplines, and a course that bridges the sciences with non-science content and issues.  Science communicators in all careers at the interface between the laboratory and the public must have a firm understanding of the language of science as well as the ability to communicate. The suggested courses will provide a strong background in both science/engineering and communication/humanities, preparing students to enter exciting careers. https://as.vanderbilt.edu/cst/ • Public Policy – Environmental policy track. The major is designed to prepare students for admission to graduate or professional programs or for careers in law, government, public service, activism, research, or business. The PPS major cultivates graduates with a sophisticated, in depth understanding of the vast array of issues, both global and national, that influence policy problems and outcomes. The program encourages students to specialize in a “policy track.” During their senior year, PPS majors take a capstone seminar that guides them through a policy relevant research project in their track area. https://as.vanderbilt.edu/publicpolicystudies/