General College Requirements

To earn a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Environmental Studies, a student must satisfy the General College Requirements (see “Curriculum” section), including the following requirements to satisfy the major:

Foundational Course Requirements

Students must complete each of the following four requirements:

• ENST 100 Environment and Society
• ENST 250 Introduction to Environmental Science with lab
• Three credit hours of college level biology with lab
• Three credit hours of college level chemistry with lab 

Toolkit Requirement

Students must complete one of the following Toolkit Courses:

• ENST 182 Introduction to GIS 
• ANTH 201 Anthropology Toolkit 
• BIOL 311 Biostatistics
• CHEM 305 Quantitative Analysis
• POSC 200 Scopes and Methods
• ECON 253 Economic Statistics  
• MATH 221 Introduction to Statistics 
• SOCI 201 Social Statistics 

Application Requirement

• Students must complete one of the following:
  • ENST 390 Applied Sustainability Practicum and co-requisite ENST390L
  • ENST 391 Field Study in Sustainable Agriculture along with ENST391L
  • Four (4) credits approved ENST Independent Study, Directed Research, or Internship
  • Approved Study Abroad or Field Studies course

Depth Requirements

Students choose one track to fulfill their depth requirement to provide significant expertise in a focused area. There are three available tracks: Environmental Science; Environmental Policy and Social Science; and Environmental Arts and Humanities. Depth requirements can be fulfilled in one of the following ways:

• 16 ENST or ENST cross-listed credits, all within a single ENST track; eight (8) credits of which must be at the 300-400 level, or
• A second major
  • Students who wish to apply a second major toward satisfaction of depth requirement must take an additional 8 ENST or ENST cross-listed credits within their depth ENST track

Breadth Requirements

Breadth Requirement: Eight (8) Credits of ENST or ENST Cross-Listed Courses consisting of four (4) credits from each of the two tracks not used to fulfill the depth requirement.

ENST Seminar Requirement

Students must complete ENST 490 Environmental Studies Junior Seminar*

*Should be taken in the junior year prior to enrolling in the capstone experience.

Capstone Requirement

The capstone experience must consist of 8 credit hours, a student can satisfy it one of the following ways:

• ENST SMP (ENST 493 and ENST 494)

OR

• ENST 495 Environmental Studies Capstone plus 4 credit hours of any upper-level ENST course not used to satisfy any other ENST requirement

OR

• 8 credit hours of SMP in another program

OR

• Capstone Experience in another major with additional upper-level ENST course (not used to satisfy any other ENST requirement) as needed to reach 8 credit hours.

Credit Requirements

• A minimum of 59 credits is required to fulfill the major.
• Students must earn a grade of C- or better, and maintain an overall GPA of 2.0 or better, in courses used to satisfy the major.

* See the SMCM Catalog for additional information on major credit count, courses offered, and other information on major.

Environmental Tracks

The following courses, as well as other identified, occasional, ENST cross-listed course offerings, can be used to satisfy the elective requirements of the major and minor:

Environmental Science Track

BIOL 271 – Ecology & Evolution (4 credit hours)

BIOL 316 – Tropical Biology (4 credit hours)

BIOL 383 – Biological Oceanography (4 credit hours)

BIOL 432 – Limnology (4 credit hours)

BIOL 463 – Ecology of Coastal Systems (4 credit hours)

BIOL 435 – Plant Physiology (4 credit hours) 

CHEM 301 – Marine Chemistry (2 credit hours)

CHEM 302 – Geochemistry (2 credit hours)

CHEM 306 – Instrumental Analysis (4 credit hours)

ENST 265 – Earth Systems (4 credit hours)

ENST 295 – Topics in Environmental Science (4 credit hours)

ENST 222/MRNE 222 – Environmental Data Science (4 credit hours)

ENST 392/MRNE 392  – Field Research Methods (4 credit hours)

ENST 393/MRNE 393  – Coastal Ecosystem Management (4 credit hours)

ENST 365/MRNE 365 – Marine Environmental Toxicology (4 credit hours)

ENST 394 – Earth and Space Science for Educators (4 credit hours)

ENST 395 – Advanced Topics in Environmental Science (4 credit hours)

ENST 382 – GIS Applications (4 credit hours)

MRNE 110  – Introduction to Marine Science (4 credit hours)

MRNE 220  –  Physical Oceanography (4 credit hours)

Environmental Policy & Social Sciences Track

ANTH 243 – Biological Anthropology (4 credit hours)

ANTH 302 – Food and Culture (4 credit hours)

ANTH 337 – Atlantic World Archaeology (4 credit hours)

ANTH 341 – Economic and Ecological Anthropology (4 credit hours)

ANTH 352 – People and Cultures of Senegambia & Sights and Sounds of Senegal Study Tour

(4 credit hours)

ECON 350 – Environmental Economics (4 credit hours)

ECON 354 – Natural Resource Economics (4 credit hours)

ECON 372 – Economics of Developing Countries (4 credit hours)

ENST 285 – Topics in Environmental Policy & Social Sciences (4 credit hours)

ENST 283 – Race and Place (4 credit hours)

ENST 383 – Race, Gender, and Environmental Justice (4 credit hours)

ENST 385 – Advanced Topics in Environmental Policy & Social Sciences (4 credit hours)

POSC 311 – Public Policy (4 credit hours)

POSC 385 – Topics in Political Science & Public Policy: Maryland Energy Politics (4 credit hours)

POSC 385 – Topics in Political Science & Public Policy: The Endangered Species Act (4 credit hours)

POSC408/PPOL408 – International Public Policy: Energy Challenges in Development (4 credit hours)

SOCI 315 – Environmental Sociology (4 credit hours)

SOCI 355 – Demography (4 credit hours)

Environmental Arts and Humanities Track

ART 233 – Nature Form (4 credit hours)

ART 239 – Painting and Drawing from Life: Fieldscape (4 credit hours)

ART 240 – Landscape Drawing and Painting (4 credit hours)

ART 390 – The Artist Naturalist (4 credit hours)

ENGL 106 – Introduction to Literature: Nature (4 credit hours)

ENGL 130 – Literary Topics: Reading Nature (4 credit hours)

ENGL 201 – Topics in Writing: Writing about Science (4 credit hours)

ENGL 201 – Topics in Writing: Environmental Storytelling (4 credit hours)

ENGL 365 – Studies in American Literature: American Environmental Literature (4 credit hours)

ENGL 390 – Topics in Literature: Humans and Other Animals (4 credit hours)

ENGL 395 – Advanced Topics in Writing: Nature Writing Workshop (4 credit hours)

ENGL 395 – Advanced Topics in Writing: Slackwater (4 credit hours)

ENGL 430 – Environmental Literature (4 credit hours)

ENST 275 – Topics in Environmental Humanities (4 credit hours)

ENST 375 – Advanced Topics in Environmental Humanities (4 credit hours)

ENST 380 – Environmental Humanities Study Tour (4 credit hours)

–01 Greek Study Tour

–02 Andean Study Tour

PHIL 321 – Environmental Ethics (4 credit hours)

Summary of Environmental Studies Major Requirements

General College Requirements

Beyond all General College requirements and all requirements for a major discipline, the minor requires six (6) courses with at least 22 credit hours in courses as specified below. ENST minors may not complete a major in ENST. Students must earn a grade of C- or better in each required course for the minor and maintain an overall GPA of 2.0 or better. Pre-approved study abroad may fulfill certain minor requirements.

Required Courses

Six (6) courses with at least 24 credit hours in courses having an environmental focus as specified under a., b., and c. Students must earn a grade of C- or better in each required course for the minor and maintain an overall GPA of 2.0 or better in these required courses.

Foundational Course Requirements

• ENST 100 Environment and Society

Science Requirement (one (1) of the following):

• ENST 250 Introduction to Environmental Science with lab

OR

• ENST 265 Earth Systems

Elective Course Requirements

Minor requires sixteen (16) additional credit hours in ENST or ENST cross-listed courses:

• Four (4) credit hours must come from each of the three Tracks (Sciences, Social Sciences/Policy Track, Arts/Humanities Track) – see Track List. 
• At least eight (8) credit hours must be ENST coded courses.
• At least eight (8) credit hours must be at the 300-400 level. 

No more than four (4) credit hours can come from an ENST independent study or ENST directed research.

*See the SMCM Catalog for additional information on major credit count, courses offered and other information on major

Summary of Environmental Studies Minor Requirements