Courses of Study:
Minor

Program website: http://www.brandeis.edu/departments/environmental/index.shtml

Objectives

Awareness of the mutual impact of human activity and the natural environment is rapidly growing. On scales as different as personal hygiene and international trade agreements, decisions increasingly reflect environmental concerns and understanding. This broad range of issues can be successfully approached from the vantage point of several traditional disciplines. Yet, no single field is truly representative of, or adequate for, the study of "the environment." Accordingly, the Brandeis Environmental Studies Program aims to expand disciplinary training in the social and natural sciences to assure adequate grounding in environment-related subfields, but also to complement such training with similarly relevant courses outside a student's major. This combination is designed to provide a broad, transdisciplinary base for employment or future professional training.

How to Become a Program Member (Minor)

The program is open to students from any major. The requirements may be met with specific courses in the sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities, and must also include a practical component of an environmental problem, and a senior research paper (that may serve as a thesis in the student's major), or a structured internship experience. Some students may elect to receive field training in specialized subjects, e.g., marine biology, sustainable development, tropical ecology. The program maintains extensive files of such off-campus opportunities. Students may register for the minor, seek guidance in course selection, off-campus training, and paper topics, by contacting the Environmental Studies Program faculty advisor as early in their Brandeis career as possible. Registered participants will receive information on courses and campus events.

Committee

Brian Donahue, Chair
(American Studies)

Richard Gaskins
(American Studies, Legal Studies)

Laura Goldin
(American Studies)

Judy Herzfeld
(Chemistry)

Adam Jaffe
(Economics)

Dan L. Perlman
(Biology)

Requirements for the Program

A. Two semester courses chosen from Group I (Environment and Society).

B. Two semester courses chosen from Group II (Environment and the Natural World).

C. Successful completion of AMST 20a (Environmental Issues).

D. Either successful completion of ENVS 97a or b (Senior Essay) (or an approved Senior Honors Thesis submitted to any department); or successful completion of ENVS 92a or b (Environmental Internship).

Special Note on Off-Campus Courses

Through our membership in the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) Consortium, competitively selected students may satisfy some of the above requirements by participating in the Semester in Environmental Science offered each fall at the MBL in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Brandeis is also affiliated with the School for Field Studies and the Marine Studies Consortium (MSC). Both offer programs of special interest to those enrolled in the Environmental Studies Program. (MSC courses are sometimes over-subscribed and enrollments must be redistributed among member schools. Enrolling through Brandeis does not guarantee final acceptance into MSC courses. Students taking MSC courses through cross-registration at Brandeis must pay MSC through their home institution).

Courses of Instruction

ENVS 11b Water Resources Management and Policy
Signature of Professor Donahue required. Offered under the auspices of the MSC and open to Brandeis students by petition. Please see the special note above on off-campus courses.
An advanced interdisciplinary seminar examining past and current water supply issues and exploring the uncertain future of our water supply. The Boston metropolitan area water supply system is used as a case study. Water is looked at from scientific, historical, and political viewpoints. Usually offered every year. Will be offered in the fall of 2002.
Mr. Donahue (Brandeis coordinator)

ENVS 12b Introduction to Marine Mammals
[ sn ]
Prerequisite: A college-level biology course. Signature of Professor Perlman required. Offered under the auspices of the MSC and open to Brandeis students by petition. Please see the special note above on off-campus courses.
Designed to familiarize students with the biology and natural history of marine mammals, with an emphasis on whales, dolphins, and seals of the western North Atlantic. Topics include evolution, anatomy, behavior, field identification, the history of whaling, and contemporary conservation issues. Usually offered every second year. Last offered in the fall of 2000.
Mr. D.L. Perlman (Brandeis coordinator)

ENVS 13b Coastal Zone Management
Signature of Professor Donahue required. Offered under the auspices of the MSC and open to Brandeis students by petition. Please see the special note above on off-campus courses.
Introduction to the coastal environment, its resources, and its uses; impact of human activities; scope of the Federal Coastal Zone Management Act; collaborative planning efforts by federal, state, and local governments; and international applications of coastal management. Course includes case studies, guest speakers, and student presentations. Usually offered every year. Last offered in the spring of 2002.
Mr. Donahue (Brandeis coordinator)

ENVS 14b The Maritime History of New England
Signature of Professor Donahue required. Offered under the auspices of the MSC and open to Brandeis students by petition. Please see the special note above on off-campus courses.
The sea has shaped New England. Surveys the sea's legacy from the earliest Indian fishery to the shipbuilding and commerce of today. Examines historical, political, and economic developments. Particular attention is given to insights gleaned from the investigation of shipwrecks, time capsules of discrete moments from New England's past. Classes will include visits to museums, a field session at a maritime archaeology site, and guest lectures on current research projects. Usually offered every year. Last offered in the spring of 2002.
Mr. Donahue (Brandeis coordinator)

ENVS 28a Wetlands: Hydrology, Ecology, Restoration
[ sn ]
Prerequisite: Two semesters of introductory science (biology or chemistry or physics). Signature of Professor Perlman required. Offered under the auspices of the MSC and open to Brandeis students by petition. Please see the special note above on off-campus courses.
Role of wetlands in the global landscape. Functioning of inland and coastal marshes and flood planes; water and nutrients cycles, biodiversity of organisms from microbes to vertebrates. Biological links between wetlands and human activities. Protection and restoration of endangered wetlands. Usually offered every second year. Will be offered in the fall of 2003.

Messrs. Klein and Waterman

ENVS 92a and b Environmental Internship
Early registration (April and October) encouraged. Signature of Professor Goldin required.
Students work in environmental internship placements tailored to the students' academic program, interests, and skills. Internships are in public and private organizations focused on environmental policy, research, regulation, enforcement, and education. A classroom component is designed to provide an opportunity for analysis and discussion of the internship experience. Usually offered every semester. Will be offered in the fall of 2002.
Ms. Goldin

ENVS 97a Senior Essay
Signature of the instructor required.
Usually offered every year.
Staff

ENVS 97b Senior Essay
Signature of the instructor required.
Usually offered every year.
Staff

Core Courses

AMST 20a
Environmental Issues

Electives

Group I: Environment and Society

AMST 101a
American Environmental History

AMST 102a
Women, the Environment and Social Justice

AMST 104b
Brandeis and Its Environs: The Geographic Analysis of Your Community

AMST 106b
The Pleasures and Perils of Eating: Food and Farming in America

AMST 191b
Greening the Ivory Tower: Researching and Improving the Brandeis Environment

ANTH 20b
The Development of Human Food Production

ANTH 55a
Models of Development: Third World

ECON 57a
Environmental Economics

ECON 175a
Introduction to the Economics of Development

ENG 60b
Writing about the Environment

ENVS 11b
Water Resources Management and Policy

ENVS 13b
Coastal Zone Management

ENVS 14b
The Maritime History of New England

HIST 100a
Fire and Ice: An Ecological Approach to World History

HIST 128a
Ecological Imperialism: The Environmental Consequences of Early Modern Expansion

LGLS 132b
Environmental Law and Policy

POL 179a
Seminar: Politics and Hunger

POL 180b
Sustaining Development

SOC 175b
Environmental Sociology

Group II: Environment and the Natural World

An asterisk (*) indicates a course with multiple prerequisites.

AMST 105a
The Eastern Forest: Paleoecology to Policy

BISC 2a
Human Reproduction, Population Explosion, Global Consequences

BISC 3b
Organism and the Environment

BISC 6b
Environmental Health

BIOL 17b
Conservation Biology

BIOL 23a*
Evolutionary Ecology

BIOL 27a*
Aquatic Ecology

BIOL 28a*
Marine Biology

BIOL 30b*
Cetacean Biology and Conservation

BIOL 31b*
Biology of Fishes

BIOL 32a
Field Biology

BIOL 37b*
Biology of Extreme Environments

BIOL 60b*
Evolution

BIOL 134b*
Topics in Ecology

BIOL 149b*
Molecular Pharmacology

CHSC 3a
The Planet as an Organism: Gaia Theory and the Human Prospect

CHSC 4a
Chemicals and Toxicity

CHEM 33a*
Environmental Chemistry

ENVS 12b
Introduction to Marine Mammals

PHSC 4a
Science and Development