This interdisciplinary minor explores the relationship between humans and the environment. The program integrates knowledge and methods from the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities to gain a holistic understanding of the environmental challenges of the 21st century. Students earning a minor in Sustainability and Environmental Studies will be better prepared to understand and communicate a host of complex issues confronting our species and our planet, including climate change, energy, pollution, waste, biodiversity loss, population growth, food production, environmental racism, and the moral standing of nonhuman animals and future generations.

Student Learning Outcomes

Students completing a minor in Sustainability and Environmental Studies will be able to:

• Use scientific reasoning to understand, evaluate, and develop arguments about human impacts on the environment and ways to mitigate those impacts.
• Evaluate and develop arguments about ethical dimensions of humans’ relationships to and impacts on the environment, including how these vary across human populations.
• Analyze and create communication strategies to respond to environmental challenges and engage in environmental advocacy.
• Analyze and synthesize representations and conceptualizations of the environment in human cultures.

This minor requires a minimum of 15 credit hours, consisting of 9 credit hours in three core courses and 6 credit hours to be taken from approved courses from at least two of three distribution areas (Humanities, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences). A minimum of 6 hours will be at the upper division level. Students must have a grade of “C” or better in each course. A minimum of six hours used to meet the minor requirements must be earned in residence at Washburn University. Students may request alternate coursework be accepted toward the minor. Students should make these requests prior to completing coursework.

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Required Courses
BI 203	Human Impact on the Environment	3
CN 353	Environmental Communication	3
Select one course from the following options:		3
PH 300	General Topics in Philosophy (Section Name: Climate Change Ethics)
PH 317	Ethics of Genetic Technologies
PH 319	Midwestern Environmental Ethics
Subtotal		9
Electives
Select one course from two of the following distribution areas:		6
Humanities
CN 306	Health Communication
CN 308	Organizational Communication
CN 341	Persuasive Speaking
EN 192	Literature & Film
EN 399	Special Topics - Writing/Reading (Section Name: Animals in Literature and Film)
Natural Sciences
AS 104	Life in the Universe
BI 106	Everyday Biology
CH 111	Chemistry in Everyday Life
GG 101	Introduction to Geography
GG 102	World Regional Geography
GL 101	Physical Geology
GL 103	Historical Geology
Social Sciences
CE 250	Introduction to Community Studies
AN 116	Biological Anthropology
AN 303	Human Origins and Evolution
AN 317	Peoples and Cultures of Africa
AN 320	Ancient Latin America
AN 332	Forensic Anthropology in Popular Culture
CE 250	Introduction to Community Studies
PO 245	Introduction to Public Administration
PO 305	Public Policy
PO 306	American Urban and Metropolitan Planning