Degree Requirements

General Requirements for the Minor

General university degree requirements stipulate that 1) three units of the minor be taken in residence at Puget Sound; 2) students earn a GPA of 2.0 in courses taken for the minor; and 3) all courses taken for a minor must be taken for graded credit. Any exceptions to these stipulations are indicated in the minor degree requirements listed below.

Requirements for the Minor

Five units to include:

  • ENVR 101, Introduction to Environmental Policy and Decision Making
  • One policy elective (see list below)
  • Two general electives (see list below)
  • ENVR 400, Senior Seminar in Environmental Policy and Decision Making

Four requirements must be completed while in residence at Puget Sound, including ENVR 101, the policy elective, and ENVR 400.

Policy Electives

One unit selected from the following policy courses.

  • CONN 381, Environmental Law
  • ECON 325, Environmental Economics and Policy
  • ECON 326, Natural Resource Economics and Policy
  • ENVR 310, Environmental Decision Making
  • ENVR 322, Water Policy
  • ENVR/PG 326, People, Politics, and Parks
  • ENVR/PG 382 Global Environmental Politics
  • PG 305, U.S. Environmental Policy
  • PG 309, Applied Environmental Politics and Agenda Setting

General Electives

Two additional units selected either from the policy courses above or the following general elective courses. At least one of the courses used to fulfill this requirement must be outside the student's major program. The courses used to fulfill this requirement may not count towards the requirements for both the minor and a major. Students should contact the specific department to determine when a course will be offered. Students may also use one unit of independent study or internship (ENVR 495/496 or 498 or INTN 497).

  • CONN 320, Ecotourism as a Tool for Conservation and Sustainable Development in Sikkim India (PacRim course)
  • CSOC 230, Indigenous Peoples: Alternative Political Economies
  • CSOC 316B, Social and Cultural Change
  • CSOC 407, Political Ecology
  • CSOC 481, Special Topics: Environmental Anthropology
  • ENGL 380, Literature and the Environment
  • ENVR 325, Geological and Environmental Catastrophes
  • ENVR 335, Thinking about Biodiversity
  • ENVR 340, Climate Change
  • ENVR 350 Puget Sound Environmental Issues I: Politics and Public Participation
  • ENVR 351 Puget Sound Environmental Issues II: Laws and Land Use Designations
  • ENVR 495/496, Independent Study
  • ENVR 498, Internship Tutorial
  • GEO 310 Water Resources
  • HIST 364, American Environmental History
  • HIST 369, History of the West and the Pacific Northwest
  • INTN 497, Internship Seminar
  • STS 341, Modeling the Earth's Climate
  • STS 344, History of Ecology