Overview and Learning Goals

Overview

From its inception, the Environmental Studies Program (ES) at Bowdoin anchors students in both interdisciplinary environmental studies and a recognized academic discipline. With the pairing of a department or program as a coordinate major, environmental studies students are trained to embrace interdisciplinary breadth and disciplinary depth. This combination underscores the mission of Bowdoin as a liberal arts college. ES graduates have long found that the coordinate major translates into success after Bowdoin in graduate or professional school, plus a wide range of professional opportunities.

Learning Goals

The program's mission is to help students understand and respond wisely to environmental challenges facing the planet through rigorous training in the natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities and arts.

Content

Students should demonstrate fluency in basic principles of the social sciences, humanities and arts, and natural sciences as they relate to environmental inquiry.

1. Engage principles and methods of the humanities and the arts to consider ethical, cultural, historical, literary, and artistic dimensions of environmental questions (ENVS 1101 Introduction to Environmental Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches, ENVS 2403 Environment and Culture in North American History)
2. Engage principles and methods of the natural sciences to understand the physical, chemical, and biological processes that characterize natural and human systems (ENVS 1101 Introduction to Environmental Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches​, ENVS 2201 Perspectives in Environmental Science, (see Requirements))
3. Engage principles and methods of the social sciences to analyze and evaluate political, economic, psychological, anthropological, and sociological dimensions of environmental questions (ENVS 1101 Introduction to Environmental Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches, ENVS 2330 Environmental Policy and Politics)
4. Synthesize these disciplinary perspectives to understand the complexities of environmental questions (ENVS 1101 Introduction to Environmental Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches, ENVS courses numbered 3000–3999 (ENVS advanced seminars)) 

Skills

Students should acquire and refine the following skills as part of their coordinate major in environmental studies:

1. To locate and critically assess varied sources of information, data, and evidence (ENVS 1101 Introduction to Environmental Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches, ENVS 2201 Perspectives in Environmental Science, ENVS 2330 Environmental Policy and Politics, ENVS 2403 Environment and Culture in North American History)
2. To identify appropriate methods of inquiry to address research questions (ENVS 2201 Perspectives in Environmental Science, ENVS 2330 Environmental Policy and Politics, ENVS 2403 Environment and Culture in North American History)
3. To gain exposure and practice in quantitative, qualitative, statistical, and spatial analyses (ENVS 1101 Introduction to Environmental Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches, ENVS 2201 Perspectives in Environmental Science, ENVS 2330 Environmental Policy and Politics, ENVS 2403 Environment and Culture in North American History) and to work toward developing competency and fluency in these areas
4. To understand the importance of place and locality in environmental inquiry and evaluate its significance and applicability to other contexts (ENVS 1101 Introduction to Environmental Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches, ENVS 2201 Perspectives in Environmental Science  ENVS 2330 Environmental Policy and Politics, ENVS 2403 Environment and Culture in North American History)
5. To understand the importance of temporal and spatial scales in environmental inquiry (ENVS 1101 Introduction to Environmental Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches, ENVS 2201 Perspectives in Environmental Science, ENVS 2330 Environmental Policy and Politics, ENVS 2403 Environment and Culture in North American History)
6. To discern underlying values and criteria used to evaluate alternatives for addressing environmental problems (ENVS 1101 Introduction to Environmental Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches, ENVS 2330 Environmental Policy and Politics, ENVS 2403 Environment and Culture in North American History)
7. To work collaboratively and communicate across disciplines, while acknowledging and seeking out diverse perspectives (ENVS 1101 Introduction to Environmental Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches and ENVS courses numbered 3000–3999 (ENVS advanced seminars))
8. To develop the ability to identify and engage various communities, while acknowledging questions of equity and power (ENVS courses numbered 3000–3999 (ENVS advanced seminars)) 
9. To research, write, and present within multiple disciplines (ENVS 1101 Introduction to Environmental Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches, ENVS 2201 Perspectives in Environmental Science, ENVS 2330 Environmental Policy and Politics, ENVS 2403 Environment and Culture in North American History)

Options for Majoring or Minoring in the Program

Students may elect to coordinate a major in environmental studies with any other department/program  major. Students pursuing coordinate majors may not normally elect a second major. Non-majors may elect to minor in environmental studies. 

Program Website