Initial Publication Date: April 30, 2012

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

Information for this profile was provided by Jonathan Tomkin, School of Earth, Society and Environment, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Information is also available on the program website. Students in this program are pursuing a bachelors degree.

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

ESE Introductory Core (12-14 hours total)

ESE Introductory Core: Students take one approved introductory course from at least four of the following five areas:
  • 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
and
  • Introduction to Geographic Information Systems
  • Choose one concentration: either SAE or SES
Society and the Environment (SAE) Concentration (15-18 hours):
  • Statistics
  • Microeconomics
  • Three of Introductory Anthropology, Political Science, Geography, Philosophy, Sociology.
Science of the Earth System (SES) Concentration (16-18 hours)
  • 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