Environmental Studies

College of Behavioral and Social Sciences
Dean: Joel Kassiola

Director: Barbara Holzman

Programs

B.A. in Environmental Studies: Concentration in Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice
B.A. in Environmental Studies: Concentration in The Urban Environment
B.A. in Environmental Studies: Concentration in Humanities and the Environment
B.S. in Environmental Studies: Concentration in Earth System Science
B.S. in Environmental Studies: Concentration in Natural Resource Management and Conservation

Program Scope

The Bachelor of Science and the Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies are interdisciplinary degrees for students interested in studying and working within the environmental field. The objective of the program is to produce exceptional graduates who are grounded in the study of contemporary environmental problems and solutions that transcend the existing academic disciplines and programs at San Francisco State University. The program provides students with the knowledge and skills required for understanding relationships between humans and the physical world. It examines how the environment is being used, abused, and perceived, and what individuals and organizations are doing and can do to protect it for themselves, future generations, and other living beings and ecosystems.

The major offers two degrees: a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies. The major consists of a group of courses that will be required for all students declaring this major (36-46 units) and five areas of concentration from which the student will choose one. Two of these concentrations will lead to the Bachelor of Science (82-95 units in the major) and three will lead to the Bachelor of Arts (57-66 units in the major).

Career Outlook

The environmental studies field is diverse and includes opportunities for employment at many different venues. Private industry opportunities include solid waste management, resource recovery and recycling, hazardous waste management, water treatment and delivery, and air pollution control. Major local corporations have employment opportunities in environmental health and safety and environmental management. Environmental consultants who specialize in creating or reviewing environmental impact reports and statements and environmental regulations are needed at the federal and state agency level as well as in the private sector. Other employment opportunities include government agency level resource scientists and planners. In addition, local nonprofit activist groups provide a small number of full time positions in the environmental field.

BACHELOR OF ARTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Online course descriptions are available.

Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies: Concentration in Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice

This concentration enables students to participate in the conceptualization and design of institutions and social practices appropriate for an environmentally sustainable and just future. The communication of the role of values in the environmental crisis and the required transformation of both dominant values and social structures are objectives in this concentration.

Note: Fifteen units from the core curriculum must be completed prior to beginning courses in this concentration.

Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies: Concentration in The Urban Environment

This concentration provides students with a strong interdisciplinary theoretical and empirical foundation for understanding and dealing with environmental issues in urban settings. Courses provide students with the knowledge, information, skills, and fieldwork experience needed to establish this foundation. The concentration is designed to build on the university's mission as the city's urban university by developing linkages between students in the concentration and institutions in the San Francisco Bay Area. Students graduating with an urban environment concentration will have the opportunity to prepare themselves to work in the public, private, and non-profit sectors on local, national, and global environmental issues related to urban environments.

Note: Fifteen units from the core curriculum must be completed prior to beginning this concentration.

Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies: Concentration in Humanities and the Environment

This concentration has two parts: Ways of Viewing the Environment and Communicating About the Environment. The first explores the varied and complex ways that different cultures--past and present--view the environment. In the second, students will develop a forum for communicating ecological knowledge and wisdom. Each has its own requirements and goals.

Ways of Viewing the Environment examines questions such as: What do we mean by the word "nature" and what attitudes does it reveal about our surroundings? How has the concept of wilderness changed over time? How has it been possible for some cultures to idealize nature on one hand yet neglect the environment on the other? How do metaphors of the land influence the way we treat it? To what extent does our view of culture impede ecological progress? How do different arenas of public life--politics or the media, for example--view the environment? How is science open to the kind of analysis practiced in the Humanities? What cross-fertilization is possible between cultural and scientific studies?

The goal of Communicating About the Environment is to prepare students to educate, enlighten, or persuade others regarding environmental issues. Working closely with an adviser, students develop an individualized study plan in a form of verbal or visual communication, including a culminating project in that same discipline. Students might choose to work in speech and communication studies, technical and professional writing, creative writing, journalism, photography, design and industry, cinema, or any other discipline dealing with verbal or visual communication.

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Online course descriptions are available.

Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies: Concentration in Earth System Science

This concentration is for students interested in using scientific tools to address environmental issues. It provides students with a solid background in both quantitative and qualitative problem-solving techniques. Required courses provide basic skills in chemistry, physics, mathematics, and environmental regulations. Elective courses are chosen to reflect students' specific academic goals. Students completing this concentration will be familiar with a broad range of scientific approaches and will also obtain depth in a specific field by appropriate selection of electives. A goal of the concentration is to produce graduates who can understand our planet as an integrated system, and who can address environmental issues in this context.

Elective Courses for Sample Specializations:

Some examples of possible electives for specialization within the concentration are provided. Students consult with a faculty adviser in selecting appropriate courses.

Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies: Concentration in Natural Resource Management and Conservation

This concentration is for students interested in using natural science and geographic tools to address environmental issues. It provides students with a solid background in both quantitative and qualitative problem-solving techniques. This concentration is designed to provide students with the theoretical and applied biological, geographic, and technical information and skills they will need to tackle problems and issues that involve natural resource use and management. Students completing the concentration will be familiar with a broad range of scientific approaches and will also obtain depth in a specific field by appropriate selection of courses. A goal of the concentration is to produce graduates who can understand our planet as an integrated system, and who can address environmental issues in an ecological and political context.

Note: Fifteen units from the core curriculum must be completed prior to beginning courses in this concentration.

¹This choice is appropriate for those pursuing the B.S. degree.