Earth, Society and Environmental Sustainability, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Program Design & Assessment

Overview

The ESE major is an interdisciplinary major with two concentrations; one that specializes in social issues (policy, economics, humanities) and one that specializes in science issues (earth science, ecology, informatics). All students receive a BS.

Impetus

Student demand.

Program Goals

Our program provides a flexible, liberal arts and sciences education that gives students a sophisticated, multi-perspective view of environmental issues, while also enabling students to learn deep technical skills in an area of their choice. Students who take the requisite course-work should be competitive for careers in the field.

Alumni Careers

Our program is designed to prepare graduates for these career paths:

• Environmental consulting
• Sustainability consulting
• Business consulting
• Public advocacy
• Environmental Restoration
• GIS specialists and related fields
• Education
• Scientist

Other careers our alums have pursued:
Banking, environmental engineering

Program Assessment

Assess career outcomes with post-graduation tracking, assess course learning with internal outcome assessment and program assessment tests (administered throughout the 4 years).

Courses and Sequencing

Entry into the program

• Earth Systems

Core courses

• Environment and the Human Response
• Sustainability, Policy, and Global Change
• Earth's Physical Systems, Resources, and Hazards
• Visualizing the Earth System
• Earth's Biosphere and Ecology

• Introduction to Geographic Information Systems
• Choose one concentration: either SAE or SES

• Statistics
• Microeconomics
• Three of Introductory Anthropology, Political Science, Geography, Philosophy, Sociology.

• Chemistry with Lab
• Physics with Lab
• Statistics
• Calculus

Electives

Students are required to take 5 advanced courses, chosen in conjunction with the advisor, from the following lists:

Environment and the Human Response

• ENSU 301 Soc Impacts Weather & Climate
• ESE 381 Environmental Perspectives
• GEOG 384 Population Geography
• GEOG 455 Geography of Sub-Saharan Africa
• GEOG 483 Urban Geography
• AGCM 330 Environmental Communications
• AGCM 430 Communication in Environmental Social Movements
• CHLH 469 Environmental Health
• LA 450 Ecology of Land Restoration
• NRES 340 Environmental Social Sciences Research Methods
• NRES 472 Environmental Psychology
• SOC 447 Environmental Sociology
  

Sustainability, Policy, and Global Change

• ENSU 303 Sustainable Business I
• ENSU 310 Renewable & Alternative Energy
• ESE 465 Transp and Sustainability
• ESE 466 Environmental Policy
• ESE 481 Intl Environ Cooperation
• ESE 482 Challenges of Sustainability
• ATMS 447 Climate Change Assessment
• ATMS 449 Biogeochemical Cycles
• ACE 310 Natural Resource Economics
• ACE 406 Environmental Law and Policy
• ACE 411 Environment and Development
• CPSC 431 Plants and Global Change
• CPSC 336 Tomorrow's Environment
• LA 370/ENSU 300 Environmental Sustainability
• NPRE 480 Energy and Security
• NRES 325 Natural Resource Policy Management
• NRES 439 Environment and Sustainable Development
• NRES 449 Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy
• TSM 311 Humanity in the Food Web
• UP 405 Watershed Ecology and Planning
• UP 442 Seminar in Environmental Policy and Law
• UP 446 Sustainable Planning Seminar
• UP 480 Sustainable Design Principles
  

Earth's Physical Systems, Resources, and Hazards

• ENSU 302 Air Pollution to Global Change
• ESE 320 Water Planet, Water Crisis
• ESE 333 Earth Materials and the Environment
• ESE 411 Geomorphology
• ESE 445 Earth Resources Sustainability
• ESE 470 Introduction to Hydrogeology
• ATMS 420 Atmospheric Chemistry
• GEOG 401 Watershed Hydrology
• GEOG 406 Fluvial Geomorphology
• GEOG 408 Watershed Analysis
• GEOG 467 Dynamic Sim. of Nat. Res. Problems
• GEOL 380 Environmental Geology
• GEOL 460 Geochemistry
• ABE 436 Renewable Energy Systems
• CEE 330 Environmental Engineering
• CHEM 360 Chemistry of the Environment
• CHEM 460 Green Chemistry
• MSE 489 Matl Select for Sustainability
• NRES 351 Environmental Chemistry
  

Visualizing the Earth System

• ESE 421 Earth System Modeling
• ATMS 305 Computing and Data Analysis
• ATMS 411 Satellite Remote Sensing
• GEOG 371 Spatial Analysis
• GEOG 412 Geospatial Tech & Society
• GEOG 468 Biological Modeling
• GEOG 469 Spatial Ecosystem Modeling
• GEOG 476 Applied GIS to Environ Studies
• GEOG 477 Introduction to Remote Sensing
• GEOG 460 Analysis and Interpretation of Aerial Photos
• GEOL 451 Geophysical Methods for Geology, Engineering, and Environ. Sciences
• GEOG 479 Advanced Geographic Information Systems
• GEOL 450 Introduction to Geophysics
• NRES 454 GIS in Natural Resource Management
  

Earth's Biosphere and Ecology
-- Note: IB 150, MCB 150, and IB 203 are required as pre-requisites.

• ESE 439 Biogeography
• ANTH 378 Plants and Their Uses
• IB 362 Marine Biology
• IB 405 Ecological Genetics
• IB 444 Insect Ecology
• IB 445 Chemical Ecology
• IB 451 Conservation Biology
• IB 452 Ecosystem Ecology
• IB 453 Community Ecology
• IB 449 Limnology
• IB 461 Ornithology
• IB 485 Environmental Toxicology
• NRES 348 Fish and Wildlife Ecology
• NRES 419 Environment and Plant Ecosystems
• NRES 420 Restoration Ecology
• NRES 431 Plants and Global Change

Capstone

• ESE Capstone