Environmental Studies Major

Requirements for the Environmental Studies Major

A 10-course major:

The environmental studies major includes two components: a set of core requirements and a set of electives. The core requirements provide students with an interdisciplinary introduction to environmental studies. The electives allow students to pursue either a general approach to environmental studies or an area of focus that reflects their particular interests.

1. Two required core courses:
     a. ES 102 Environment and Society: Addressing Climate Change
     b. ES 214/POL2 214 Social Causes and Consequences of Environmental Problems

2. Two science courses (with at least one lab): 

     a. One introductory environmental science course, from among this list of courses:

     - ES 100 Introduction to Environmental Science & Systems
     - ES 101 Fundamentals of Environmental Science with Laboratory
     - BISC 108 Environmental Horticulture with Laboratory
     - BISC 111 or BISC 113 Organismal Biology with Laboratory
     - CHEM 103 Elements and the Environment
     - ES 111/GEOS 101 Earth Processes and the Environment with Laboratory

     b. One additional NPS designated course from the list of Environmental Studies courses or Courses for Credit Towards the ES Major. If the introductory science course taken didn't have a lab, the additional NPS course must. Includes 100-level courses but not both ES 100 and ES 101. 

3. One environmental studies course which satisfies the Historical Studies, Language and Literature, Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy, or Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film, and Video distribution requirement.

4. Four electives from the list of Environmental Studies courses or courses for credit toward the major.  The electives must add up to at least 4 units of academic credit. Independent study courses and partial-credit courses count toward the requirement, although at least two electives must be full-unit, non-independent study courses, one of which must be at the 300-level (a 350 independent study does not meet the 300-level elective requirement).

5. One capstone course:

     - ES 300 Environmental Decision-making
     - ES 399 Environmental Synthesis and Communication

Other guidance regarding the major:

Students will, in consultation with their advisors, choose one or more focus areas to lend depth and coherence to the major and can guide course choices.

Note: All courses that count for the ES major can be taken as electives, but no single course can fulfill two requirements for the major.

Students who have taken a core ES required course for another major or minor can substitute an ES elective (200-level or above) instead of taking an additional core ES course to fulfill the same requirement.

Partial unit courses can be combined to fulfill the science or humanities requirements or count toward the elective requirement. 

A student may petition to count a course not listed in the Courses for Credit Toward the Major list. Students should contact the Chair for approval, and the Chair will use their discretion in seeking guidance from the ES Advisory Faculty.

Students may count three courses taken from outside of Wellesley toward the environmental studies major. Courses from abroad cannot be substituted for ES 102, ES 214, or the 300-level elective requirement. Students may petition the Chair to count more than three courses from outside Wellesley. Such petitions will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Courses should be approved by the Chair prior to enrollment. Courses at MIT and Olin, as well as EXTD courses, count as Wellesley courses rather than as courses taken off campus, but specific courses must be approved by the student's advisor to count toward the major. AP credit in Environmental Science cannot be used to replace any Environmental Studies requirements.

Environmental Studies Senior Thesis

Engaging in the completion of a thesis in ES enables a student to examine a set of questions that they co-discover working closely with an ES faculty advisor during the course of an entire academic year. It provides the opportunity to develop a specialized set of analytical skills in order to make a significant research contribution in their field of study. The products of this inquiry often include presentations at Ruhlman conferences, national professional society meetings, and in some disciplines may result in the submission of a peer-reviewed manuscript. There are two options for pursuing a thesis: ES 355/365 for senior theses and ES 360/370 for senior honors theses. In both cases, a thesis is a chance to pursue in-depth research for a sustained project, involving careful project design and research, over the course of the entire senior year. In all cases, thesis work is in addition to the 10-course requirement for the ES major. Any student interested in pursuing a thesis should follow the application process outlined on our website, including identifying a thesis advisor and developing a proposal. To pursue an honors thesis and register for ES 360/370, students must have a GPA of at least 3.5 in all work in the major field above the 100 level and the department's permission. There is no GPA requirement to pursue ES 355/365, although the thesis proposal must be approved by the ES Advisory Faculty. For complete Environmental Studies Senior Thesis Guidelines visit: https://www.wellesley.edu/environmentalstudies/major/seniorthesis.

Courses for Credit Toward the Environmental Studies Major

In addition to all courses offered by or cross-listed with the ES department, the following courses may be used as electives. Note, this list may not reflect courses recently added to the college curriculum. If you are taking or have taken another ES-related course that doesn’t appear on the list, please petition the chair to count it toward your major or minor. Note that some 200- and 300-level courses have prerequisites outside of required Environmental Studies courses.) Note that PHIL 338 and POL4 311 require an ES paper in order to count as an elective. 

AFR 226	Environmental Justice, "Race," and Sustainable Development	1.0
AFR 304 / POL3 302	The Politics of Chocolates and Other Foods	1.0
AFR 312	Seminar: The Political Economy of Natural Resources in Africa	1.0
ANTH 222	Anthropology of Science	1.0
ARTH 266	New Perspectives on the Global City	1.0
ARTH 317	Historic Preservation: Theory and Practice	1.0
ASTR 223 / GEOS 223	Planetary Atmospheres and Climates	1.0
BISC 108	Environmental Horticulture with Laboratory	1.25
BISC 111 or BISC 113	Organismal Biology with Laboratory	1.25
BISC 116 & CHEM 116	Fundamentals of Chemistry and Molecular/Cellular Biology with Laboratory: An Integrated Approach	2.5
BISC 198	Statistics in the Biosciences	1.0
BISC 201	Ecology with Laboratory	1.25
BISC 202	Evolution with Laboratory	1.25
BISC 204	Biological Modeling with Laboratory	1.25
BISC 209	Microbiology with Laboratory	1.25
BISC 210	Marine Biology with Laboratory	1.25
BISC 308	Tropical Ecology	1.25
BISC 310	Seminar: Issues in Marine Biology	1.0
BISC 314	Environmental Microbiology with Laboratory	1.25
CHEM 103	Elements and the Environment	1.0
CHEM 105	Fundamentals of Chemistry with Laboratory	1.25
CHEM 120	Intensive Introductory Chemistry with Laboratory	1.25
CHEM 303	Seminar: Aquatic Chemistry	1.0
ECON 328	Environmental Issues in Developing Countries	1.0
EXTD 123	Water Resources Planning and Management	1.0
EXTD 128	Coastal Zone Management	1.0
GEOS 102	The Dynamic Earth with Laboratory	1.25
GEOS 208	Oceanography	1.0
GEOS 304	Sedimentology and Stratigraphy with Laboratory	1.25
GEOS 315	Environmental Geochemistry with Laboratory	1.25
GEOS 320	Isotope Geochemistry	1.0
HIST 320	Seminar: The Hand that Feeds: A History of American Food	1.0
PHIL 338	Seminar: Who Owns the Past?	1.0
POL4 311	Seminar: Grassroots Organizing	1.0
QR 260 / STAT 260	Applied Data Analysis and Statistical Inference	1.0
STAT 160	Fundamentals of Statistics	1.0
WGST 302	Global Health and the Environmental Crisis	1.0
WRIT 128	Are We What We Eat? Writing About Food and Culture	1.0