Special Topics

Independent reading course.

Fall and spring semesters. The Department.

How to handle overenrollment: null

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: oral presentations, discussion leading, reading, independent research, and writing.

Geomorphology

Geomorphology is the scientific study of landscapes and the processes that shape them. More than just backdrops for activity at the planet’s surface, landscapes are dynamic systems which impact and are impacted by the solid Earth, hydrosphere, cryosphere, and biosphere. This course is designed for students interested in understanding the ways in which environmental change influences the physical evolution of Earth’s surface.

Geomorphology

Geomorphology is the scientific study of landscapes and the processes that shape them. More than just backdrops for activity at the planet’s surface, landscapes are dynamic systems which impact and are impacted by the solid Earth, hydrosphere, cryosphere, and biosphere. This course is designed for students interested in understanding the ways in which environmental change influences the physical evolution of Earth’s surface.

Qualitative Methods

This is a seminar on qualitative research methods drawing from and providing examples for interdisciplinary environmental studies. This course introduces students to various qualitative research methods, including discourse analysis and archival research methods (especially digital living archives, including materials from social media), field site and participant observation, individual structured and semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews, oral history, and innovations in ethnographic research methods.

Food and Environment

(Offered as ENST-270 and SOCI-270) Food and farming make fundamental connections between humans and the earth. This course examines how agriculture, food systems, and rural development are entangled with environmental and social transformations around the world, and how we can cultivate solutions for global health, sustainability and social justice.

US Environ. Policy

This course is built around core readings on key policies and agencies of environmental governance in the US. It will provide students with a strong grasp of the most important environmental legislation in the United States (such as the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Clean Air Act). We will explore how existing environmental laws and institutions have provided important environmental protections, and also where they have fallen short.

Environ Science

This course provides an introduction to environmental science. Students will gain an understanding of the interactions between the biotic, which is inclusive of people, and the physical components of the Earth system. Through lecture, analysis of scientific literature, and lab we address topics such as biodiversity, agriculture, water resources, atmospheric pollution and climate change, and renewable and non-renewable energy, linking central scientific concepts to local, regional, and global case studies.

Environ Science

This course provides an introduction to environmental science. Students will gain an understanding of the interactions between the biotic, which is inclusive of people, and the physical components of the Earth system. Through lecture, analysis of scientific literature, and lab we address topics such as biodiversity, agriculture, water resources, atmospheric pollution and climate change, and renewable and non-renewable energy, linking central scientific concepts to local, regional, and global case studies.

Environ Science

This course provides an introduction to environmental science. Students will gain an understanding of the interactions between the biotic, which is inclusive of people, and the physical components of the Earth system. Through lecture, analysis of scientific literature, and lab we address topics such as biodiversity, agriculture, water resources, atmospheric pollution and climate change, and renewable and non-renewable energy, linking central scientific concepts to local, regional, and global case studies.

The Film Essay

(Offered as ENGL 480 and FAMS 411) The “essay” derives its meaning from the original French essayer: to try or attempt. In its attempts to work through and experiment with new ideas, the essay form becomes a manifestation of observation, experience, and transformation. Originally developed through the written form, the essay has also taken shape in visual work–photographic, installation, and, of course, cinematic. The “essay film” is exploratory, digressive, subjective; the “video essay” is similarly personal and simultaneously transformative.

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