Department Website
Program Description
The Department of Environmental Studies aims to provide students with the breadth of understanding and skills necessary for resolving environmental questions and creating a sustainable future on scales ranging from local to global. It does so through integrated, problem-oriented study and a broad range of courses across disciplines and schools. The department offers opportunities to develop interests in a number of areas, including environmental studies; environmental values, policy, and law; urban environmental problems; climate change; energy systems; environmental justice; and our complex relations with both domesticated and wild nature.
Major/Minor Declaration
Please review the major/minor requirements before submitting a declaration request. For questions about the Environmental Studies major or minor, please contact environmental.studies.advising@nyu.edu. CAS students can declare the Environmental Studies major or minor by visiting the department's website and filling out the form listed under the "Declaring a Major or Minor" section. Non-CAS students wishing to declare the Environmental Studies major or minor must do the following:
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Non-CAS students must review their eligibility for a major in Environmental Studies with their adviser. If approved, please request a secondary/non-primary major declaration form and email it to arb653@nyu.edu.
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Non-CAS students must declare the minor through the "Application for Cross-School Minor" form found on the "Academics" tab in Albert. The "host school" for the minor is CAS, and the "home school" is the school in which you are matriculated as a full-time student. The minor declaration request will then be processed by your home school.
Honors Program
Students who maintain a GPA over 3.65 (both in the major and overall) and complete the ENVST-UA 950 Honors Seminar in Environmental Studies (4 credits) are eligible for departmental honors. No formal application is required to enroll in the course as long as the GPA requirement is met, but it may only be taken in the spring semester of senior year—students should plan accordingly. The Honors Seminar cannot be taken in place of the required Environmental Studies Senior Seminar course. Students who enroll in the Honors Seminar will be expected to formulate their own research question and write a thesis to address it.
Admissions
New York University's Office of Undergraduate Admissions supports the application process for all undergraduate programs at NYU. For additional information about undergraduate admissions, including application requirements, see How to Apply.
Program Requirements
The major in environmental studies requires nine 4-credit courses (36 credits) as outlined below.
Course List
Course |
Title |
Credits |
| 4 |
EXPOS-UA 1 | Writing as Inquiry | 4 |
1 | 16 |
| 4 |
| 4 |
| 4 |
| 4 |
| 4 |
| 4 |
ENVST-UA 100 | Environmental Systems Science | 4 |
ENVST-UA 101 | Environment & Society | 4 |
or SOCS-SHU 135 | Environment and Society |
ENVST-UA 900 | Environmental Studies Senior Seminar | 4 |
| 4 |
| Introduction to Environmental Modeling | |
| Environmental Quantitative Methods | |
| Introduction to Conservation Science Analysis | |
| Fundamental Dynamics of Earth's Atmosphere and Climate | |
| Exploring Earth: Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis | |
| Environmental Qualitative Methods | |
| Biostatistics | |
| Quantitative Reasoning: Elementary Statistics | |
| Quantitative Reasoning: Prob,Stats & Decisn-Mkng | |
| Statistics for The Behavioral Sciences | |
| Research Methods | |
| Quantitative Analysis for Public Policy | |
| 4 |
| Animals and Public Policy | |
| Introduction to Marine Ecology and Conservation | |
| Science in Environmental Policy | |
| History of United States Environmental Policy | |
| Environmental Governance | |
| Governing Disaster | |
| Public Economics | |
| Public Policy | |
| Controversies in Public Policy: Logic and Evidence | |
| Private Influence in Public Policy | |
| Diplomacy & Negotiation | |
| Internat'L Organization | |
3 | 16 |
| Ethics and Animals | |
| Food, Animals, & The Environment | |
| Literature and the Environment | |
| Topics in Environmental Science | |
| Advanced Topics: | |
| Fundamentals of Ecology | |
| NY Underground | |
| Food Production and Climate Change | |
| Animal Behavior for Compassionate Conservation | |
| Biogeochemistry of Global Change | |
| Climate and Life | |
| Urban Ecology | |
| Ethics & The Environment | |
| Urban Environmentalism | |
| Food, Animals, & The Environment | |
| Topics in Environmental Values & Society | |
| Business and the Environment | |
| Climate and Society | |
| Environmental Justice & Inequality | |
| Animals and Public Policy | |
| Introduction to Environmental Humanities | |
| Internship in Environmental Studies | |
| Environmental Design: Issues & Methods | |
| Ecological Field Methods | |
| Physical Science: Energy & The Environment | |
| History of Water | |
| Life Science: Lessons From The Biosphere | |
| Aerosol Science of Particulate Air Pollution | |
| History of European Environmental Sciences | |
| Green Design from Geddes to Gore | |
| Think Big: Global Issues and Ecological Solutions | |
| History of Environmental Sciences | |
| NYC Coastlines: Past, Present, and Future | |
| Environmental Racism and Environmental Injustice: Rights, Citizenship, and Activism | |
| Cultures of Energy and the End of Fossil Fuels | |
| The Great Auk: Performance and Advocacy in the Mass Extinction Event | |
| 44 |
Total Credits | 128 |
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of program requirements, students are expected to have acquired:
- The skills necessary for resolving environmental questions and creating a sustainable future on scales ranging from local to global.
- The intellectual tools for critical thinking about the environment.
- A general familiarity with main theoretical constructs relevant for thinking about the environment from scientific, humanistic, social, and integrative perspectives.
- Demonstrated engagement and familiarity with primary texts in the field.
- Proficiency in written and oral communication.
- Familiarity with fundamental research skills, including organizing, analyzing, and displaying scientific data.
Policies
Program Policies
Policies Applying to the Major
- A course cannot satisfy more than one requirement for the environmental studies major. Students must earn a C or better in all courses to satisfy major requirements. Pass/Fail courses cannot count toward the major.
- Any transfer courses to be applied toward major requirements must be approved by the department and may not exceed one-half of the required coursework for the major or minor. A maximum of four transfer courses can be applied to the major.
- Completion of the major in environmental studies satisfies the Societies and the Social Sciences component of the College Core Curriculum. However, completion of the minor does not satisfy this requirement. Environmental Quantitative Methods (ENVST-UA 310) fulfills the Quantitative Reasoning requirement in the Foundations of Scientific Inquiry component of the College Core Curriculum.
- Many courses approved for the major in environmental studies are outside of the College of Arts and Science. CAS students may take up to 16 credits outside the College and apply them to their degree. To request additional non-CAS credits beyond the 16-credit limit, students must consult the College of Arts and Science Advising Center (25 West 4th Street, 5th floor; 212-998-8130; http://cas.nyu.edu/academic-standards/petitions).
- Students may double count a maximum of two courses between two majors, as long as both departments approve.
NYU Policies
University-wide policies can be found on the New York University Policy pages.
College of Arts and Science Policies
A full list of relevant academic policies can be found on the CAS Academic Policies page.