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Environmental Studies

Environmental Studies, B.A.

Preparing the next generation of environmental professionals to overcome emerging challenges at the intersection between social and environmental justice.

The Environmental Studies program will educate and inspire you with the knowledge, skills, and compassion to promote social and environmental justice and sustainable communities in a wide range of invigorating career pathways.

Empowering You to Excel in Your Chosen Profession

The program will prepare you to take advantage of the rapidly expanding job market for environmental professionals in education, communication, environmental justice, planning, law health, and sustainability.

Employers of Program Graduates

You’ll find our graduates thriving and leading at organizations across the spectrum of business and industry, including:

Bird School Project
Bureau of Land Management
Cactus High School, Peoria Arizona
CalFire
California Department of Food and Agriculture
California Department of Water Resources
California Rural Legal Assistance
California State Parks
Catalina Island Marine Institute
Center for Blue Economy
City of Bellevue, Washington
City of San Jose, California
City of Seaside, California
City of Watsonville, California
City of Woodland, California
Climate Now
County of Tuolumne, California (Planner)
Dolphin Quest Oahu
El Sausal Middle School, Salinas, California
Environmental Protection Agency
Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery,
Golden Gate National Recreation Area
Google
Green Waste Recovery
Gumbo Limbo Nature Center
Kleinfelder (Environmental Planning Firm), Oakland
Loggerhead Marine Life Center
Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health
Marina Coast Water District
MEarth
Monterey Bay Aquarium
National Park Service
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
Ojai Valley Inn (Sustainability Manager)
Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History
Rana Creek Nursery
Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge
Santa Clara Valley Water District
Seaside High School
Skansa: Field Engineer in charge of community relations for the San Fernando Light Rail Project for Los Angeles Metro
Tetra Tech, Planner, Pasadena, CA
Tiü'vac'a'ai Tribal Conservation Corps
Tribal EcoRestoration Alliance
Ventana Wildlife Society
Western Shasta Resource Conservation District

Professional Pathways to Success

The program’s emphasis on community-engaged learning, intentional community partnerships, opportunities for leadership and advocacy, and promotion of environmental literacy delivers the perfect preparation that can be applied in any number of professional roles, including:

Divemaster and marine science instructor
Early childhood educator
Education coordinator
Environmental educator
Environmental scientist
Environmental stewardship educator
Farm youth educator
Forestry technician
High school science teacher
Museum educator
Naturalist
NEPA program manager
Nursery manager
Outdoor education instructor
Outreach specialist, outreach coordinator
Planner, environmental planner, urban planner
Restoration ecologist
Sustainability manager, sustainability consultant, sustainability advisor
Tribal wildfire resilience coordinator
Urban park ranger
Video production

Graduate Schools of Program Alumni

Graduates of our program who choose to advance their studies with a graduate degree find opportunities at elite colleges and universities, some of which include:

Cal Poly Pomona
CSU Northridge
CSUMB, Scientific Illustration Program
Middlebury Institute of International Studies
San Francisco State University
San Jose State University
UC Berkeley
UC Davis
UC Davis
UC Santa Cruz Science
University of Bayreuth
University of Maine School of Law
University of Oregon
University of Stirling, Scotland
University of the Pacific
University of Washington

Public University Price, Private University Experience

A Lifetime of Value

Tuition & Fees Financial Aid

Environmental Studies, B.A.

Educational Objectives

The program will fuel your academic and professional growth with an intentional integration of community-focused, interdisciplinary, and applied problem-solving skills that will uniquely position you to tackle a range of environmental pressures, from the impacts of climate change to biodiversity loss to environmental and social justice.

Educational Objectives

Our solutions-focused curriculum and opportunities will powerfully equip you with the knowledge, research experiences, and applied skills to frame problems, investigate solutions, engage stakeholders, and visualize complex ideas along the path to applied problem solving.

Our capstone courses and project will put you to work with community partners to plan and implement regionally relevant research and applied outreach, serving as an impressive culminating project, enriching your hands-on skills and abilities, and helping to meet local and regional environmental needs.

Our concentrations in Sustainable Communities and Education and Community Outreach link with more than a dozen other minors across the University’s program offerings and will offer you a personalized path for specializing your studies in a way that best aligns with your career goals.

Our intentional flexibility will allow you to craft your own, custom curriculum that enhances the program’s core with electives, options for a minor, and individually-tailored coursework based on your future academic and career goals.

Course Requirements

Complete all of the following Environmental Studies core courses:

STAT 100 - Introduction to Statistics Units: 3
ENVS 240 - Environmental Biology Units: 4
ENSTU 280 - Environmental Economics and Policy Units: 3
ENSTU 300 - Critical Thinking & Communication in Environmental Studies Units: 4
ENSTU 350 - Research Methods for Environmental Studies Units: 4
ENSTU 410 - Capstone Integration Seminar Units: 1
ENSTU 412 - Enviro Thought & Practice Units: 3

Complete one of the following Environmental Science courses:

ENVS 201 - Intro to Environmental Science Units: 4
FYS 124 - Introduction to Environmental Science Units: 4