Degree Requirements for Environmental Policy & Decision Making
General Requirements for the Major or Minor
General university degree requirements stipulate that 1) at least four units of the major or three units of the minor be taken in residence at Puget Sound; 2) students earn at least a cumulative GPA of 2.0 in courses taken for the major or the minor; and 3) all courses taken for a major or minor must be taken for graded credit. Any exceptions to these stipulations are indicated in the major and minor degree requirements listed below.
Requirements for the Major in Environmental Policy & Decision Making
- The Environmental Policy and Decision Making major is a secondary major that can be chosen only after a primary major in another field is chosen. A major in Environmental Policy and Decision Making cannot be completed unless a primary major in another department or program is also completed.
- Completion of the following eight units:
- ENVR 200*
- ENVR 201
- ENVR 202 (0.5 units) or any three courses in the natural sciences (BIO, CHEM, GEO, PHYS)
- ENVR 203 (0.5 units)
- ENVR 400
- A minimum of one policy elective unit (see list below)
- Three additional elective units from the lists of policy or general electives (see list below)
- At least two of the courses used to fulfill the electives for the Environmental Policy and Decision Making major must be outside of the student's primary major department or program.
- Seven requirements for the Environmental Policy and Decision Making major must be completed on campus at Puget Sound, including ENVR 200, ENVR 201, ENVR 202 (unless 202 is replaced by three courses in the sciences), ENVR 203, the policy elective, and ENVR 400.
- Completion of an experiential education requirement, to be approved by the program director. Examples of experiential education include, but are not limited to, the following: a study-abroad experience with environmental courses, field schools that have an environmental focus (e.g., ENVR 342A), a summer research experience, many of the ENVR-listed .25 unit courses, or an environmentally related internship. Verification of completion of this requirement will take place in the semester prior to graduation; any questions about what counts should be addressed to the EPDM program director.
*ENVR 200 (Note: Prior to 2018-19, this course was numbered ENVR 101.)
Requirements for the Minor in Environmental Policy & Decision Making
- Completion of the following five units:
- ENVR 200*
- A minimum of one policy elective unit (see list below) or ENVR 201
- Two additional elective units from the lists of policy or general electives (see list below). ENVR 202 and/or ENVR 203 can count towards this requirement.
- ENVR 400
- Four requirements for the Environmental Policy and Decision Making minor must be completed on campus at Puget Sound, including ENVR 200, the policy elective, and ENVR 400.
*ENVR 200 (Note: Prior to 2018-19, this course was numbered ENVR 101.)
Note: It is strongly recommended that at least two of the courses used to fulfill the electives for the Environmental Policy and Decision Making minor be outside of the student's major department or program.
Policy Electives
CONN 309 Applied Environmental Politics and Agenda Setting
CONN 410 Science and Economics of Climate Change
ECON 225 Environmental and Natural Resource Economics
ECON/ENVR 327 Climate Change: Economics, Policy, and Politics
ENVR 201 Environmental Policy Tools and Topics required/not an elective for major; can count as elective in the minor only
ENVR 210 Fundamentals of U.S. Environmental Law and Policy
ENVR 310 Environmental Decision Making
ENVR/GEOL 315 Energy Resources
ENVR 322 Water Policy
ENVR 326 People, Politics, and Parks
ENVR 328 Nuclear Narratives of the American West
ENVR 342 Field School in Conservation and Development
ENVR/PG 382 Global Environmental Politics
GEOL 307 Introduction to Field Methods and GIS
IPE 331 International Political Economy of Food and Agriculture
PG 305 United States Environmental Policy
General Electives
AFAM/ENVR 301 Environmental Racism
BIOL 211 General Ecology
BIOL 370 Conservation Biology
BIOL 379 Ornithology
CONN 350 Modeling Earth's Climate
ENGL 374 Literature and the Environment
ENVR 202 Tools in Environmental Science (0.50 units.) required/not an elective for major; can count as elective in the minor only
ENVR 203 Topics in Environmental Science (0.50 units.) required/not an elective for major; can count as elective in the minor only
ENVR 204 Learning in Nearby Nature (0.25 units.)
ENVR 250 Introduction to GIS (Geographic Information Systems)
ENVR 253 Topics in Environmental Justice (0.25 units.)
ENVR/GEOL 324 Biogeochemical Approaches to Environmental Science
ENVR 325 Geological and Environmental Catastrophes
ENVR 335 Thinking About Biodiversity
ENVR/GEOL 340 Climate Change
ENVR 343 Buddhist Environmentalisms
ENVR 345 Community-Based Methods for Environmental Research
ENVR 350 Puget Sound Environmental Issues Part I: Politics and Public Participation (0.25 units.)
ENVR 351 Puget Sound Environmental Issues Part II: Laws and Land Use Designations (0.25 units.)
ENVR 352 Sustainability in Everyday Life (0.25 units.)
ENVR 353 Environmental Careers and Callings (0.25 units.)
ENVR 354 Contemplative Environments (0.25 units.)
ENVR 355 Sacred Ecology (0.25 units.)
ENVR 495 Independent Study (Variable credit up to 1.00 unit.)
ENVR 496 Independent Study (Variable credit up to 1.00 unit.)
ENVR 498 Internship
GEOL 304 Volcanology (0.50 units.)
GEOL 310 Water Resources
GEOL 330 Regional Field Geology
HIST 364 American Environmental History
HIST 369 History of the West and the Pacific Northwest
IPE/SOAN 407 Political Ecology
PHIL 285 Environmental Ethics
REL 444 God in the Anthropocene
SOAN 205 Heritage of Asia: Nature, Culture, and the Politics of the Past
SOAN 230 Indigenous Peoples: Alternative Political Economies
SOAN 316 Cultural Politics of Global Development
SOAN 481 Special Topics
STHS 325 Natural History Museums and Society
STHS 344 Ecological Knowledge in Historical Perspective