Environmental Studies Program

Environmental Studies
Program Description

Why Study the Environment?
Environmental Studies is an interdisciplinary program that focuses on the study of the relationship between humans and the environment. Managing the environment requires the specialized tools and knowledge of the social and natural sciences, the ability to understand and express ideas and values, and the dissemination of these ideas through business, education, nursing and other professions.
The social sciences provide perspectives on the environment from a human point of view, balancing the ecological perspectives contributed by the natural sciences with the economic and political aspects of human society. The courses in the humanities bring the insights of religion and ethics as well as a body of literature and artistic appreciation that connect the natural world to human sensibility. Many biologists, chemists, and geoscientists study the ways humans interact with the natural ecosystems, trying to find answers to complex, inter-related problems of resources, population and pollution.

Why PLU?
The mission of the Environmental Studies Program at Pacific Lutheran University is to lay the foundation for an integrated and interdisciplinary approach to address environmental problems. The program embraces the broad liberal arts objectives of the university and prepares students for professions in environmental fields. Students develop grounding in science, an understanding of institutional processes, an appreciation of values, beauty, and holistic thinking, and a solid foundation in various methodologies and skills.
The setting of PLU in the Pacific Northwest is ideal for the study of the environment. The northwest is a region striving to balance between the pressures of population growth and the preservation and restoration of the natural environment. Students have the opportunity to explore local, regional and global issues with community experts who are actively involved in dealing with these issues.

Career Opportunities
The Environmental Studies program prepares students for employment in laboratories, consulting firms, environmental and regulatory affairs offices in corporations and government, and non-profit organizations that focus on environmental concerns. Recent PLU graduates have put their environmental expertise to work in such areas as:

Government agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency
Greenpeace and other non-profit activist groups
Journalism
Medicine
Evaluation of groundwater contamination
Environmental law
Sustainable forestry practices in Chile
Sustainable agriculture
Environmental consulting firms
Urban landscape design
Fulbright scholarships

The Program of Study
Central to the Environmental Studies program at PLU is integration and interdisciplinary method. This is achieved through a combination of discipline-based courses and interdisciplinary courses. Breadth is provided in courses that introduce students through offerings in other units to the scientific, institutional, ethical, and aesthetic dimensions of the environment. Methods, integration and interdisciplinary competency are emphasized in the two program courses, Environmental Methods of Investigation (ENVT 35O) and the Capstone Project (ENVT 490). Essential depth in a discipline is gained through a complementary major or minor. In keeping with PLU’s mission of “education for service,” an internship is required for the major, as students benefit greatly from an experience in the professional world and in turn they are able to contribute to the community. The Environmental Studies program offers two paths of study, a minor or a major.