Why study environmental studies?

The Environmental Studies Program at the University of Kansas, established in 1971, is one of the oldest environmental studies programs in the country. The KU Environmental Studies Program provides a rigorous interdisciplinary degree that balances learning in the physical and social sciences along with the arts and humanities. Learning Pathways, thematic areas of study that match student interest to the environmental expertise of our faculty, are a key aspect of our unique program.

Requirements for the Minor

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Environmental Studies Minor Core
Required: Global Environmental Change (3 credits) Satisfied by one of the following:
EVRN 140	Global Environment I: The Discovery of Environmental Change
EVRN 142	Global Environment II: The Ecology of Human Civilization
EVRN 148	Scientific Principles of Environmental Studies
GEOG 104	Introduction to Physical Geography
Required: Applied Environmental Studies (3 credits) Satisfied by one of the following:
EVRN 304	Environmental Conservation
EVRN 336	Ethics, Ideas and Nature
EVRN 410	Environmental Applications of Geographic Information Systems
EVRN 440	Soil Science for Environmental Assessment
EVRN 460	Field Ecology
EVRN 536	Environmental Remote Sensing
EVRN 611	Water Quality, Land Use, and Watershed Ecosystems
Required: Environmental Social Science (3 credits) Satisfied by one of the following.
EVRN 371	Environmental Geopolitics
EVRN 384	Environment, Power, and Justice
EVRN 385	Environmental Social Problems
EVRN 386	Sociology of Global Food
EVRN 528	Environmental Justice and Public Policy
EVRN 537	Water Resource Sustainability
EVRN 542	Ethnobotany
EVRN 543	Natural Hazards and Environmental Risks
EVRN 628	The Politics of Public Health
Required. Environmental Humanities and Arts (3 credits) Satisfied by one of the following.
EVRN 306	Global Environmental Literature
EVRN 330	Sculpture Intercepting the Waste Stream
EVRN 347	Environmental History of North America
EVRN 350	Global Environmental Justice
EVRN 362	Art and Ecology: Inhabiting the Ecosphere
EVRN 375	Radical Environmentalism in the United States
EVRN 377	Resilient and Resistant Futures: Global Perspectives in Climate Change Literature
EVRN 563	U.S. Environmental Thought in the 20th Century
EVRN 630	Sculpture Intercepting the Waste Stream
EVRN 662	Art and Ecology: Inhabiting the Ecosphere
Environmental Studies electives at the Junior/Senior Level. Satisfied by 2 additional (3 ch each) EVRN course at the Junior/Senior Level (300+).

Minor Hours & Minor GPA

While completing all required courses, minors must also meet each of the following hour and grade-point average minimum standards:

Minor Hours
Satisfied by 18 hours of major courses.

Minor Hours in Residence
Satisfied by a minimum of 9 junior/senior (300+) hours of KU resident credit in the major. 

Minor Junior/Senior Hours
Satisfied by a minimum of 12 hours from junior/senior courses (300+) in the minor.

Minor Graduation GPA
Satisfied by a minimum of a 2.0 KU GPA in junior/senior courses in the minor. GPA calculations include all junior/senior courses in the field of study including F’s and repeated courses. See the Semester/Cumulative GPA Calculator.