Course Catalogs

Environment, Sustainability, and Policy, BS

Integrated Learning Major in Environment, Sustainability, and Policy

Program Director

Jane Read
123 Eggers Hall
315-443-4279
envtsustpolicy@syr.edu

Core Faculty

Jane Read, Associate Professor of Geography and the Environment
Phil Arnold, Associate Professor of Religion
Tripti Bhattacharya, Thonis Family Professor. Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Melissa Chipman, Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Ethan Coffel, Assistant Professor of Geography and the Environment
Jay Golden, Pontarelli Professor of Environmental Sustainability and Finance, PAIA Department
Michael Goode, Professor of English
Gregory Hoke, Jessie Page Heroy Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Tomás Olivier, Assistant Professor of Public Administration and International Affairs
Susan Parks, Professor of Biology
Sarah Pralle, Associate Professor of Political Science
Chie Sakakibara, Associate Professor of Geography and the Environment
Chris Scholz, Professor of Earth Sciences
Takumi Shibaike, Assistant Professor of Political Science
Peter Wilcoxen, Professor of Public Affairs and International Affairs
Robert Wilson, Associate Professor of Geography and the Environment

This Integrated Learning Major (ILM) in Environment, Sustainability, and Policy is designed to introduce students to and ground them in the interdisciplinary study of environmental science, sustainability, and policy necessary to understand the nature of our changing planet, contribute solutions to advance sustainability, and become more engaged global citizens. 

As a growing human population seeks to meet its needs, competing demands on the environment threaten the planet’s systems for supporting and sustaining life. Rising to the challenge of planetary stewardship requires the integration of multiple scientific disciplines exploring the planet’s vital functions and an understanding of how the complexities of human societies across places and time periods shape views of and approaches to protecting or exploiting the planet’s resources and pursuing sustainability. The ILM’s foundation is built on two pillars integral to finding solutions to environmental problems and sustainability:

  1. the science of the planet’s interacting natural systems (environmental sciences) and
  2. the examination of human perceptions, institutions, and policies toward the environment from the social sciences and humanities (environmental studies).

This major’s integration across traditionally isolated lenses of natural and human sciences provides a unique perspective toward understanding, examining, and addressing the environment and sustainability.

This ILM may be combined with any other undergraduate major with approval by the program director. While certain majors typically serve as the base major for this ILM, students are encouraged to meet with the program director to determine their best choice of a base major. Dually enrolled students must have a base major within Arts and Sciences|Maxwell.