Minors in Environmental Studies, Environmental Humanities, and Food Studies
The Environmental Studies Program offers two undergraduate majors (Environmental Studies and Environmental Science), three undergraduate minors (Environmental Studies,Environmental Humanities, and Food Studies), Master’s and Doctoral degrees. It also houses several high-profile interdisciplinary centers, programs and initiatives including the Center for Environmental Futures, Tribal Climate Change Project, Environmental Leadership Program, Just Futures Institute for Racial and Climate Justice, and Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples Initiative.
Environmental Studies Minor
The interdisciplinary minor in environmental studies includes three lower-division courses and five upper-division elective courses for a minimum of 32 credits. Courses applied to the minor must be taken for letter grades and passed with grades of C– or better. At least 16 of the 32 credits must be taken at the University of Oregon. No more than 8 upper-division credits from the major may be applied to minor requirements. With the advisor’s consent, an environmental issues course and a practical learning experience may be substituted for one of the elective courses. Students may also submit a petition to their advisor to substitute one upper-division course for one of the required lower-division courses.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required Courses | ||
| ENVS 201 | Introduction to Environmental Studies: Social Sciences | 4 |
| ENVS 202 | Introduction to Environmental Studies: Natural Sciences | 4 |
| ENVS 203 | Introduction to Environmental Studies: Humanities | 4 |
| Advanced Course Requirements | ||
| One upper-division natural science course from the major requirements sheet | 4 | |
| Four electives from areas of social science, policy, humanities, or design | 16 | |
| Total Credits | 32 | |
The Environmental Humanities Minor helps students to understand the environment and the human condition through interdisciplinary scholarship in the humanities and allied disciplines—history, literature, philosophy, art and architecture and their histories, anthropology, sociology, and historical and cultural geography—in conversation with the natural sciences. Through interpretation, argumentation, storytelling, and the arts, Environmental Humanities students reflect on the interactions between humans and their environments over time and among different cultures, grapple with complex moral and ethical issues, think critically about the world around us, and help to transform our environmental futures through imaginative and creative projects. This minor differs from the Environmental Studies minor in its primary focus on how humanities disciplines and the arts can contribute to understandings of environmental change; environmental ethics and politics; environmental justice; climate justice; and equitable, sustainable futures. At the UO, the Environmental Humanities are also concerned with the long histories of colonialism and racism.
Minor in Environmental Humanities
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| ENVS 203 | Introduction to Environmental Studies: Humanities | 4 |
| Electives 1 | ||
| Lower Division Electives: | 4 | |
| Introduction to Environmental Literature | ||
| Food in World History | ||
| Introduction to Environmental History | ||
| Global Environmental Issues and Alternatives | ||
| Introduction to Environmental Law and Policy | ||
| Upper Division Electives: | 16 | |
| Experimental Course: [Topic] | ||
| Special Studies: [Topic] | ||
| Literature of the Northwest | ||
| Literature and the Environment: [Topic] | ||
| Environmental Ethics | ||
| Environmental Leadership: [Topic] | ||
| Environmental Justice | ||
| Native Americans and the Environment | ||
| Environmental Racism | ||
| Society, Culture, and Place | ||
| Experimental Course: [Topic] | ||
| Environmental Alteration | ||
| Nature, Culture, and the Environment | ||
| American Environmental History to 1890 | ||
| The American West | ||
| The Pacific Northwest | ||
| American Environmental History: [Topic] | ||
| Introduction to Philosophy of Science | ||
| Environmental Philosophy | ||
| Science, Technology, and Gender | ||
| Gender, Environment, and Development | ||
| Total Credits | 24 | |
| 1 | Undergraduate students must take 24 credit hours, 20 of which come from an approved list of electives (listed below). Students must take ENVS 203, Introduction to Environmental Studies: Humanities, for a maximum of 4 credit hours. No more than two courses for the Environmental Humanities minor may have the same subject code with the exception of ENVS, which can be two courses beyond the required ENVS 203. All courses must be at the 200-level or above. |
All upper-division courses for the minor must be taken in residency at UO. Up to 4 lower-division credits may be taken elsewhere, with the approval of academic and career advisors in Tykeson Hall.
Minor in Food Studies
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Foundational Courses | 12 | |
| ENVS 225 | Introduction to Food Studies | 4 |
| ANTH 220 | Introduction to Nutritional Anthropology | 4 |
| or ANTH 248 | Archaeology of Wild Foods | |
| or HPHY 105 | Principles of Nutrition | |
| HIST 215 | Food in World History | 4 |
| or HUM 245 | Food, Art, and Literature | |
| or PHIL 220 | Food Ethics | |
| Elective Courses 1 | 8 | |
| Capstone Seminar 2 | 4 | |
| Total Credits | 36 | |
| 1 | Any upper division elective course listed on the current Food Studies minor requirements or tip sheet. |
| 2 | Students are required to take at least one capstone seminar course. A Food Studies minor–approved 400-level course, LA 390, HPHY 399 Nutrition and Metabolism, or a practical learning experience approved by the Food Studies faculty advisor (e.g. an internship, study abroad, service learning, or research) satisfy the capstone seminar requirement. |
- The minor requires 24 graded credits (6 courses) from approved courses, at least twelve of which must be upper-division courses.
- Letter grades of C- or better must be earned in all courses applied to the minor.
- Students can count up to two upper division courses from their major department.
- Students are required to take at least one 400-level course or capstone seminar.
- Some “special topics” courses that focus on food may count toward the minor. Check with the advisors if you have one in mind.
- All upper-division courses for the Food Studies minor must be taken in residency at the University of Oregon. (“In residency” includes UO study abroad courses.)
- No more than three courses with the same subject heading will count for the minor (including ENVS).