REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MINOR
An interdisciplinary minor in environmental studies consists of an integrated program of five selected courses plus a required capstone seminar. At least three of the five selected courses must be outside the major and, if it exists, a second minor, so that when the Capstone Seminar is added, the College policy requiring at least 4 courses outside the major or any other minor will be satisfied. An honors minor is also available with similar requirements plus an external examination and a senior honors paper on an approved topic that links together two of the courses. There are three categories of courses: Environmental Science/Technology, Environmental Social Science/Humanities, and Adjunct/Interdisciplinary. Lists of courses belonging to each of these categories appear in the course catalog and the program’s Web site: http://www.swarthmore.edu/es.
Environmental Courses in Specific Disciplines (minimum of 3)
The minor in environmental studies requires at least one course from a specific discipline in environmental science/technology, at least one course from a specific discipline in environmental social science/humanities, and at least one more from either of these two groups for a minimum of three courses in these two categories. These courses are offered by the departments that support the program, and they focus on environmental topics using the methods and perspectives of a specific discipline.
Adjunct and Interdisciplinary Courses (maximum of 2)
Up to two courses may be chosen from the list of adjunct courses. These courses cover topics and methods that relate significantly to the environment. Interdisciplinary environmental studies courses also count as adjunct courses. Such courses are occasionally offered by the Environmental Studies Program, including independent work or a field study (in the United States or abroad) supervised by a member of the committee (ENVS 090). Interdisciplinary environmental courses taken abroad at other institutions and foreign study programs may also be included in this category.
Capstone Seminar. In addition to the five courses, each concentrator will participate in the capstone seminar in environmental studies (ENVS 091) during the spring semester of the senior year. The capstone seminar will involve advanced interdisciplinary work on one or more issues or problems in environmental studies. Leadership of the capstone seminar rotates among the members of the Faculty Committee on Environmental Studies.
SWARTHMORE’S ENVIRONMENTAL FOREIGN STUDY PROGRAMS
Swarthmore has its own environmental foreign study program that operates at three universities at Krakow in southern Poland. Students usually take three environmentally related courses taught in English consisting of the survey course Environmental Science and Policy in Central and Eastern Europe, plus two other courses that depend on student interests. In addition, students take an intensive orientation course on Polish culture and language (survival level). For more information, see the Web site: http://www.swarthmore.edu/es/Poland.html
Cape Town South Africa Program on Globalization and the Natural Environment.
Swarthmore is a member of a consortium with Macalester and Pomona Colleges that sponsors a Junior year environmental study-abroad program in collaboration with the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Students from the three consortium schools, as well as those schools under consortium agreements with the three schools, may apply. For more information, see the Web site: http://www.swarthmore.edu/es/UCT
Students should regularly check the program’s Web site (http://www.swarthmore.edu/es) for additions and changes to the course lists shown below.
COURSES IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY
The environmental science/technology category includes courses that emphasize techniques and methodologies of the sciences and engineering and whose subject is central to environmental studies. Therefore, all students will be familiar with a body of scientific knowledge and scientific approaches to environmental problems.
CHEM 001. Chemistry in the Human Environment
BIOL 036. Ecology
BIOL 037. Systematic Botany
BIOL 039. Marine Biology
BIOL 116. Microbial Processes and Biotechnology
BIOL 130. Behavioral Ecology
ENGR 004A. Introduction to Environmental Protection
ENGR 004E. Introduction to Sustainable Systems Analysis
ENGR 063. Water Quality and Pollution Control
ENGR 066. Environmental Systems
GEOL 103 (Bryn Mawr College). Environmental Geology
PHYS 020. The Earth and Its Climate
COURSES IN ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIAL SCIENCES/HUMANITIES
The environmental social science/humanities category includes courses that are central to environmental studies and focus on values, their social contexts, and their implementation in policies. Thus, all students will have studied the social context in which environmental problems are created and can be solved.
ECON 076. Environmental Economics
EDUC 065. Environmental Education
POLS 043. Environmental Policy and Politics
POLS 047. Global Policy and International Institutions: Hunger and Environmental Threats
ENGL 005L. Reading Nature
ENGL 070G. Writing Nature
POLS 222 (Bryn Mawr College). Introduction to Environmental Issues
RELG 022. Religion and Ecology
ADJUNCT/INTERDISCIPLINARY COURSES
The following are courses that are either (1) relevant to environmental studies but not central enough to justify their inclusion in the preceding groups or (2) focus primarily on the environment and are interdisciplinary in nature:
BIOL 016. Microbiology
BIOL 017. Microbial Pathogenesis and Immune Response
BIOL 026. Invertebrate Zoology
BIOL 034. Evolution
ENGR 003. Problems in Technology
ENGR 004B. Swarthmore and the Biosphere
ENGR 035. Solar Energy Systems
ENGR 057. Operations Research
ENVS 002. Human Nature, Technology, and the Environment (description later)
ENVS 090. Directed Reading in Environmental Studies (Advanced permission of instructor is required.)
ENVS 092. Research Project
MATH 061. Modeling
POLS 048. The Politics of Population
(Updated 1/21/2005)