Department of Environmental Science and Studies

Through the Department of Environmental Science and Studies, the natural world becomes your playground, and your laboratory. Located in the Chesapeake Bay region, we take advantage of our access to farms, waterways, history, culture, and people and their environmental concerns as part of our course offerings and opportunities. Our faculty are experts in the field, offering a range of courses on the atmosphere, ocean, and environment; ecology; environmental communication and economics; climate change; sustainability; contemporary moral issues; environment and public art; and more. Critical analysis, collaboration, and investigating solutions to regional and global environmental issues are at the core of our department.  
 
Our faculty provide learning opportunities inside the classroom and lab, and out in the field, getting you familiar with research methods like collection and analysis. 

 The department offers majors in  environmental science (B.S.) and environmental studies (B.A.) or an environmental studies minor. It also feeds into the earth and planetary sciences and Chesapeake regional studies minors and the Chesapeake semester.

The department also contributes classes for the first-year seminar (FYS) program, distribution courses for nonmajors, introductory level courses, and diverse upper-level courses for majors. Undergraduate research opportunities are available through the department.