Environmental Inquiry at ÈÕ±¾ÎÞÂë

Coursework     Ways to Get Involved     Meet Your Professors     Alumni Outcomes

This ultimately creates opportunities to explore innovative, interdisciplinary solutions to Earth’s most pressing environmental issues: climate change, biodiversity, renewable energy, and environmental justice, among many others.

The rigorous, forward-thinking courses across disciplines like urban and environmental policy, biology, geology, and religious studies—coupled with immersive student-led initiatives and extracurriculars—will prepare you to tackle the complexities of the changing environmental landscape. From lab to lecture to internships and fieldwork, the expansive scope of environmental courses and programs at ÈÕ±¾ÎÞÂë will push you to develop both scientific and critical perspectives on social and environmental dynamics. Training in empirical research, quantitative analysis, and interdisciplinary inquiry will provide you with theoretical and practical approaches to understand complex systems and effectively strive for a more just and sustainable world for all of Earth’s inhabitants. 

The academic breadth and flexibility a liberal arts education allows students to create interdisciplinary connections, regardless of chosen academic path. Many students choose to take courses across departments and mix-and-match between   environmental concentrations, minors, and majors. At ÈÕ±¾ÎÞÂë, students can study the environment across a variety of programs, including: 

• Geology and biology, offering students a concentration in environmental science 
• Biology, offering a concentration in marine biology 
• A major in urban and environmental policy 
• A minor in food studies

In addition to the programs listed above and the courses below, many departments at ÈÕ±¾ÎÞÂë offer special topics courses with environmental themes.

Coursework 

Courses that discuss the multifaceted aspects of the environment are offered in several departments every semester, including: 

Biology 

BIO 105: Marine Biology

BIO 110:

BIO 260: Biodiversity and Organization of Marine Ecosystems

BIO 270: Ecology

BIO 275: Flora of Southern California

BIO 360: Avian Biology

BIO 372:

BIO 363:

BIO 103:

Black Studies 

BLST 212:

BLST 218:

BLST 343:

Critical Theory and Social Justice 

CTSJ 201:

CTSJ 375:

Diplomacy and World Affairs 

DWA 351:

Economics

ECON 201:

ECON 304:

ECON 323:

ECON 301:

Geology

GEO 105:

GEO 210:

GEO215:

GEO230:

GEO 225:

GEO245:

GEO255:

GEO380:

GEO 390:

GEO390:

Latino/a and Latin American Studies 

LLAS 390:

LLAS 355:

Physics

PHYS 108:

Politics

POLS 295:

Philosophy

PHIL 231:

Sociology 

SOC 240:

SOC 285: 

Spanish Studies

SPAN 361: Nature and the Environment in Spanish Literature

Religious Studies 

RELS 120:

RELS 205:

Urban and Environmental Policy 

UEP 101:

UEP 120: (FEAST)

UEP 240:

UEP 246:

UEP 247:

UEP 300:

UEP 301: Urban Policy and Politics

UEP 306:

UEP 150:

Ways to Get Involved 

• Participate in undergraduate research in the Anderson Center for Environmental Science with the Moore Lab of Zoology or the Vantuna Research Group, or with the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute (UEPI). Immerse yourself in student-driven sustainability initiatives and clubs, such as Touchdown Thrift, , FEAST Garden, and .
• Explore the complex Los Angeles environmental landscape in community-based learning classes or through UEPI or InternLA internship programs.