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Courses by Learning Goal (153k PDF)
Next to courses we describe how often classes are offered. These are for guidance only and class offerings will occasionally change due to professor availability and departmental scheduling needs. Always check the course offerings for the semester at sis.rutgers.edu/soc/ or you can check with Undergraduate Program Director Deborah Greenwood (dgreenwo@sebs.rutgers.edu) ) to see if the class is being offered as expected.
100 Level Courses
11:374:101 Introduction to Human Ecology (3 credits – typically offered every semester)
Prerequisite: None
Course Syllabus (189k PDF)
Description: The study of complex and varied patterns of interaction between people and the environment, with special attention to concepts, concerns, and methods of human ecology.
11:374:103 Introduction to Science Communication (3 credits – typically offered every spring semester)
Prerequisite: None
Course Syllabus (tba)
Description: Science communication encompasses a range of activities, from the scientific paper to science stories in mass media to informal science in museums, films and social media. This survey course will introduce students to the range of activities that are used to communicate science to a range of audiences. Guest lecturers, in class activities and participation in science communication events will demonstrate the potential opportunities to communicate science, as well as will include students in the creation and production of such activities.
11:374:110 Theories & Reasoning (3 credits– typically offered every fall semester)
Prerequisite: None
Course Syllabus (tba)
Description: How do you “know” climate change is real? Or that ocean is getting more polluted and acidifying? In this class we will arm you with two major skills for assessing the world around you and claims being made: 1) theory and 2) reasoning. A theory, or theoretical model, is a series of propositions of about the possible nature of an object or phenomena to be tested. Reasoning is the process of consciously making sense of things, establishing and verifying facts, applying logic, and adapting or justifying practices, institutions, and beliefs based on new or existing information. In this class, we will practice these skills and learn how to evaluate a theory or hypothesis and come to our own conclusions. This will empower you to persuade and communicate your understanding of environmental problems and solutions with others.
11:374:115 Water and Society (3 credits– typically offered every spring semester)
Prerequisite: None
Course Syllabus (217k PDF)
Description: This course introduces students to fundamentals of water resources issues in the United States and the world, and how they affect the development, design, evolution and sustainability of societies and economic viability. Included will be discussion of case examples where conflicts over water allocations, drought limitations, water quality problems and catastrophic floods are damaging societies and international relations. Students will be exposed to and discuss current and developing methods for reducing such problems in support of more sustainable societies.
11:374:175 Energy and Society (3 credits– typically offered every fall semester)
Prerequisite: None
Course Syllabus (452k PDF)
Description: Examines the social, environmental, economic and political impacts of our past, current, and future human-energy system. Topics investigated include why societies make the energy choices they do, tools for analyzing energy decisions, and strategies and policies for transforming the human-energy system.
200 Level Courses
11:374:201 Research Methods in Human Ecology (3 credits– typically offered every semester)
Prerequisite: None
Course Syllabus (tba)
Description: This course explores how social scientists empirically investigate and quantify behavior within the social world.
11:374:210 (Human Ecology)/ 11:216:210 (Ecology, Evolution, & Natural Resources) [cross-listed] Nature Journaling (3 credits-typically offered every fall semester)
Prerequisite: None. Open to all Rutgers undergraduate students.
Course Syllabus (212k PDF)
Description: The study of life on earth and its biodiversity presents complex, integrated issues and knowledge that spans many disciplines. This intro level class for majors from any curriculum focuses on 2 how to explore, learn to see, describe, and identify, and gain understanding of living organisms and nature present in our everyday lives. We will utilize nature journaling methods (including visual, written, and quantitative data gathering) outdoors and indoors, hands-on exploratory methods, lectures, and readings to provide students with both the fundamentals of natural sciences, its biodiversity, conservation, and structure and function; and a basic understanding of how to communicate science. All students will explore creative representation of biodiversity, both through their own nature journals using both visual, written, and quantitative expression forms, through art and design through history, and its connection to wild living organisms.
11:374:220 Environmental Solutions (3 credits- typically offered every spring semester)
Prerequisite: None
Course Syllabus (397k PDF)
Description: The causes of modern environmental problems are complex and multi-faceted. As our understanding of this complexity has grown, societies have begun to explore solutions beyond the traditional government regulatory approaches. This class focuses on understanding the complex causes of environmental problems and the full range of non-regulatory approaches to improving the environment. By focusing on understanding the causes and contexts of environmental problems along with innovative environmental solutions, the class aims to provide students an understanding of under what conditions various environmental solutions are appropriate and should be applied.
11:374:225 Environment in Society and the Mass Media (3 credits– typically offered every fall)
Prerequisite: None
Course Syllabus (203k PDF)
Description: This course will provide an introduction to media representations of the environment and environmental issues. Students will explore how cultural factors such as knowledge, attitude, behaviors, and social structure influence public perceptions and opinions of these topics. We will consider how the depictions of the environment affect the perceptions of those topics, the role of audience and source on communication, and the implications for those working to address environmental and issues.
11:374:240 Visualizing Information: Storytelling with Data (3 credits– typically offered every fall)
Prerequisite: None
Course Syllabus (170k PDF)
Description: The course objective is to build student’s skills in developing visualizations and infographics to tell a science story with data. The activities and discussions will expand abilities to engage with and communicate science more effectively and improve their public science communication skills (general and technical). Students will practice many types of science visualizations, and develop a final visual and presentation relevant to a current research project. We will focus on scientific and non-scientific audiences.
11:374:250 Environmental Justice (3 credits – typically offered every spring semester)
Prerequisite: None
Course Syllabus (tba)
Description: This course examines environmental quality and social justice. It starts from the premise that all people have a right to live in a clean environment and access resources to sustain health and livelihood. We will investigate under what conditions some people are denied this basic right and how some have fought back. How is it that certain groups of people experience the effects of pollution or environmental hazards more than others, or lack basic resources? What are the social relations of production and power that contribute to these outcomes? How have people organized to demand environmental justice?
11:374:279 Politics of Environmental Issues (3 credits-typically offered every semester)
Prerequisite: None
Course Syllabus (246k PDF)
Description: People fight over issues like organic food or natural gas drilling because they have different values, define problems differently, and aim for different goals. In this introductory course, we use environmental issues to learn about political conflicts, government, and policy.
11:374:280 Careers in EPIB (3 credits-typically offered every fall)
Prerequisite: None
Course Syllabus (tba)
Description: Students will gain a broad understanding of the variety of careers available to EPIB majors and minors, create an electronic portfolio with samples of their work, create online professional profiles, prepare and revise resumes, prepare job-appropriate cover letters, prepare for and practice interview skills, and network with professionals regarding job skills, opportunities and professional practices.
11:374:289 Sustainable Food: Politics, Policy and Ethics (3 credits-offered infrequently)
Prerequisite: None
Course Syllabus (214k PDF)
Description: This course explores how food systems can be made more environmentally sustainable and socially just. Specifically, drawing on tools from social and environmental sciences, we undertake an in-depth examination of four major food-related social movements: organic farming, local food, fair trade, and animal welfare. Each of these food evolutions has political, economic, and social dimensions, and is the result of efforts by government, citizen groups, and food producers to accomplish certain goals (and block others). Therefore, for organic farming, local food, fair trade, and animal welfare, we ask: Where does it come from? What are its goals? What problems is it meant to solve? What is working – what is not? Who is benefiting – who is left out? And especially: Give the strengths and weaknesses of existing attempts to transform food systems, what should be the focus of the next generation of responsible, food-literate citizen.
11:374:299 Introduction to Sustainability (3 credits– typically offered every semester)
Prerequisite: None
Course Syllabus (tba)
Description: You see the word “Sustainability” attached to so many things, but what does it really mean? Are bamboo socks really important? Will electric cars save the world from climate change? What makes development sustainable? How do you measure success in sustainability? Given the long term risk of climate change, what management actions provide the most benefit and why aren’t we already doing them?
300 Level Courses
11:374:302 Data Analysis for Human Ecology (3 credits– offered infrequently)
Prerequisite: 11:374:201
Course Syllabus (tba)
Description: This course provides an introduction to the basics of data analysis for social sciences. Because a wide range of social science disciplines are represented within the field of Human Ecology, this course will explore many approaches to the analysis of data, including both quantitative and qualitative. The range of ways in which social scientists study human dimensions of environmental issues will be explored, and students will learn to approach data with multiple analytical tools.
11:374:305 Globalization, Development and Environment (3 credits- typically offered every semester)
Course Syllabus (91k PDF)
Description: This course examines the processes at play in globalization and development and the impacts of these processes on the environment. Relevant histories, policies, and institutions are examined, with a focus on such issues as poverty, trade, migration, and inequality, among others. Emphasis of the course will be on understanding the social, political and economic factors that have contributed to globalization and development, and the environmental impacts of these trends, and the degree to which communities, nations and global institutions have the ability to manage these problems, and with what solutions.
11:374:307 Sustainability in Action; Modeling the Value of Ecosystems Services (3 credits – offered infrequently)
Prerequisite: None
Course Syllabus (tba)
Description: How can we defend the landscapes and non-human systems that sustain us against the juggernaut of development? How can we advocate for conservation in a world of increasing human need? Combining the tool of environmental science and economics, we can make a convincing case for preserving and growing the world’s “non-human” systems. This course introduces students to the evolving field of Ecosystems Services Value Modeling. Ecosystems Services Valuation can support decisions at scales as small as back yard plantings, as large as regional land use and environmental planning. Ecosystems Services Valuation Modeling provides mathematically supported methods of evaluating land use choices applicable in engineering, planning, advocacy and public finance assessments among others. Students will trace the evolution of ecosystems services valuation modeling, discover current ecosystems services valuation modeling techniques, and learn to apply ecosystems valuation modeling to urgent sustainability issues. In this class, models we will be working with are the InVest suit of Models from Stanford University and the Itree models built by the National Forestry Service.
11:374:311 Environmental Writing: Rhetorical Strategies for Complex Ecological Issues (3 credits; approved for writing in the Discipline requirement (WcD, WCR)typically offered every spring semester)
Prerequisite: Expository Writing 01:355:101 or its equivalent
Prerequisite: None
Course Syllabus (238k PDF)
Description: Given the accelerating language of environmental disaster—airpocalypse, ecocide, global collapse—is optimism still required or desirable in environmental writing? In this course, we will examine the range of rhetorical strategies that environmental writers have used to create a sense of urgency or even doom, and students will practice their own nonfiction writing in the critical essay and research essay forms. Our overarching question will be: What is effective environmental writing? Can there be a new mode of environmental writing that escapes the rhetorical eddies of the past—the mourning of the disaster, the turn toward hope? How might we write ourselves into the age to follow the Anthropocene?
11:374:312 Environmental History (3 credits– typically offered every semester; not offered Fall 2023)
Prerequisite: None
Course Syllabus (tba)
Description: This course examines environmental problems from a historical perspective. We will begin with the dawn of agriculture, but most of the course focuses on our two centuries-long experiment with industrial civilization. The first two-thirds of the course sketches out the broad historical patterns in the ways that people have used natural resources. The last third of the course looks at the history of pollution generated by industry and considers important historical features of the American environmental movement, in particular the way that the movement has changed in response to changes in environmental problems. Throughout the course we will consider the following question: to what extent are individuals, households, and local communities contributing to our, as yet largely unsuccessful, collective efforts to control and stabilize the global environment? This question will lead us into an historical examination of sustainable development in both developed and developing countries.
11:374:313 US Environmental Policy (3 credits– typically offered every fall semester)
Prerequisite: None
Course Syllabus (300k PDF)
Description: Course objectives: To further develop your capacity to evaluate environmental policy issues, including: how policy issues rise to national action; the science and scientific controversies; major actors in U.S. environmental policy creation and their roles; the relationship between environmental policies and the context in which they operate; how budgets and public administration affect environmental policies; and how environmental policy issues reflect or do not reflect regional or factional differences. Given the enormous variety of environmental issues active at any one time, this course will focus on four high-profile issues as examples for learning about environmental policy development.
11:374:322 Behavior and The Environment (3 credits – typically offered every fall, not offered fall 2022)
Prerequisite: None
Course Syllabus (tba)
Description: This course is designed to help you understand the role played by the environment, genes, and culture in shaping human behavior. We will explore some of the most important theories from Anthropology, Biology, and Psychology that study how individuals behave, adapt to their environment, and interact among each other. At the beginning of the class we will focus on identifying the different levels of explanation, the role of genetic approaches, and the contribution of evolutionary and cultural theories. We will then investigate how adaptation to environmental stressors (i.e.: temperature, altitude) can help us understand current patterns of human variation. The course will end with a consideration of environmental and ecological psychology and its relation to risk behavior.
11:374:399 Practicum in Sustainability (3 credits– typically offered every semester)
Prerequisite: Introduction to Sustainability
Course Syllabus (tba)
Description: You have learned the complex interrelationships between environment, economy, and social issues. You are ready to put your thoughts into action. The practicum is an opportunity to work collaboratively with your peers and with the wider community on a project which enhances the culture of sustainability at Rutgers. Projects offered will change over the years, as various partners become available. Projects may involve policy issues such as debris in the ocean, microplastics in the rivers of New Jersey, rain gardens, sustainability in the curriculum, working on an app to reward student sustainable behaviors, enhancing sustainable behaviors through the arts, etc. The possibilities are endless. Students will learn to be sustainability leaders, work within diverse and interdisciplinary groups, critically analyze data, demonstrate systems thinking, and understand the significance of a local action to a global perspective.
400 Level Courses
11:374:416 Environmental Education (3 credits-typically offered in the spring semester)
Prerequisite: None
Course Syllabus (90k PDF)
Description: An opportunity to foster ideas and discussion about environmental and scientific literacy while developing plans to target and assess learning goals for all audiences. Students will learn best practices for improving environmental literacy in informal and formal contexts.
11:374:420 – 11:374:429 Topics in Environmental and Resource Policy
Prerequisite: None
Course Syllabus (tba)
Description: Policy issues associated with a selected environmental and/or resource problem, focusing on risk and risk communication, science and policy, institutions, comparative national approaches, and policy implications of environmental change.
11:374:426 Climate Change Policy (3 credits – offered infrequently)
Course Syllabus (tba)
Description: This course is an advanced seminar that examines topics in social, cultural and political aspects of climate change policy. We will look at the science of climate change and why it has been so contested in some quarters; the existing and predicted physical, cultural and societal impacts of climate change and how policies are developed to avoid or adapt to these; how vulnerability to climate change is measured and whether societies will be able to adapt to forecasted changes; multiscale policies from local levels to international levels to mitigate or adapt to climate impacts; and the ethical and social justice dimensions of policies for climate change.
11:374:428 Marine Fisheries Policy: GLOBAL FISHERIES: Human-Environment Interactions in Marine and Coastal Ecosystems (3 credits – offered infrequently)
Prerequisite: None
Course Syllabus (tba)
Description: During this course, we will explore major theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of human environmental interactions in coastal and marine landscapes. We will explore classic, contemporary, and cutting-edge research articles from different disciplines such as Anthropology, Sociology, Human Geography, Economics, Fishery Sciences, and Natural Resource Management. Our goal will be to identify the major approaches that have been proposed to understand how societies and environments can reciprocally influence each other. Through this process, we will also examine the status of key issues in the management of coastal and marine resources we rely on, challenges to their sustainable use, and potential pathways into the future.
11:374:430 – 11:374:439 Topics in Health and Environment
Description: Policy issues associated with a selected problem in human health and disease, food and hunger, or environmental and occupational health. The social sources of disease and malnutrition, and interventions to improve health.
11:374:430 Risk, Heath and Safety (3 credits– typically offered every fall semester)
Prerequisite: None
Course Syllabus (tba)
Description: In this course, students will explore many scientific, cultural, and perceptual aspects of environmental risk issues. We will discuss, in depth, toxicological and epidemiological concepts, psychological aspects of risk perception and coping, and influences on self-protective behavior. We will also spend time discussing risks and the media, and how to communicate with the public about risks.
11:374:437 Culture & Health (3 credits-typically offered every spring semester)
Prerequisite: None
Course Syllabus (tba)
Description: This seminar will provide an overview of the rapidly growing area of culture and health. As the U.S. grows more diverse, issues of culture and cultural competence have become more important to health care institutions and providers. The course will be grounded in medical anthropology, but is relevant for students in a wide range of health-related disciplines. There are a number of excellent texts and specific studies of culture and health.
We will begin with reading through Helman’s Culture, Health and Illness that provides an excellent introduction to the broad array of issues in culture and health. We will then read Kleinman’s Patients and Healers in the Context of Culture, which is a classic study that proposed many of the core concepts of medical anthropology. Next we will read Fadiman’s The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down that provides an in-depth examination of the collision of cultures between a Hmong immigrant family and the U.S. health care system.
11:374:460 Environmental Law : Nature, Law and Society (3 credits– typically offered every fall semester – not offered fall 2023; will be offered spring 2024 instead)
Prerequisite: **This course does not have a prerequisite course. However, you will need to know, before the course starts, the basics of how the government of the United States works. The New Jersey Citizen’s Guide to Government that the League of Women Voters publishes annually, free, is a good source. This is essential knowledge for you to make sense of the law and policy that we will be studying.
Course Syllabus (tba)
Description: This course is an introduction to US law and policy governing air, water and other natural resources, species and public health, and the human activities that affect them and are influenced by them. We consider environmental law and policy at local, state, regional and transnational scales, with a primary focus on US federal law statutes: the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act, CERCLA (Superfund) and the Endangered Species Act. These statutes are representative of varied approaches to regulation and students who pursue a range of environmental careers will most likely be working with them. The class will examine sources of law, including the common law, the US Constitution, legislation, administrative rulemaking, formal and informal law and evolving negotiated and market-based approaches to regulation. You will develop basic skills in legal research, case analysis, statutory interpretation and regulatory design. The course is intended to prepare students entering environmental professions to understand the laws, regulations and court decisions you will encounter; introduce you to related history and regulatory theory; and to introduce you to legal studies.
11:374:462 International Environmental Law & Policy (3 credits– typically offered every spring semester)
Prerequisite: None
Course Syllabus (tba)
Description: When states choose to cooperate, they have choices over whether to use a written instrument and, if so, over the form and legal nature of that instrument. (Shaffer and Ginsburg, AJIL 2012).
This course explores the role of formal and informal law in the management of international environmental problems. The course will begin with a brief introduction to public international law as it relates to the environment and a discussion of what international environmental law means. Participants in the course will study a range of environmental issues, legal sources, and institutions. The course will include consideration of international environmental treaties, the role of the International Court of Justice in identifying and establishing international environmental law, international regulation of private conduct that affects the environment, trade and the environment, human rights and the environment, and the relationship between domestic and international law.
11:374:481 Internship in Watershed Management (Raritan Scholars) (4 credits)
Prerequisite: By permission only please contact Dr. Van Abs (vanabs@sebs.rutgers.edu).
Course Syllabus (tba)
Description: The course incorporates two distinct but integrated components.
First, all students will undertake internships in the water resources field with organizations and agencies that have programs and activities focused on the Raritan River Basin. Students must expect to work a minimum of 125 hours in the internship, plus maintain a journal and present project conclusions to the class. Internship opportunities will be identified for student consideration and applications, but each student is responsible for receiving approval from both the internship sponsor and Dr. Van Abs prior to the first week of class, resulting in a signed internship contract. Internships will provide opportunities for real-world engagement with water resources issues, using field work, research, communications or other substantive activities. Internships are professional development experiences, and are not intended as opportunities for sponsoring organizations to acquire inexpensive office help.
Second, students will participate in one 60-minute class per week. The class will incorporate a combination of guest presentations and class discussions regarding the internships and water resource management concepts. The class will provide a structured understanding of water resources management issues that are being addressed through the internships and more generally by the sponsoring organizations. The class will focus on Raritan River Basin issues, but will relate those issues to broader water resources issues in New Jersey and beyond.
11:374:482 Internships in Climate Action (3 credits)
Prerequisite: No prerequisites, but may register only by permission by contacting Dr. Angela Oberg (angela.oberg@rutgers.edu).
Course Syllabus (tba)
Description: Internship with the Rutgers Office of Climate Action where students will work on a project related to developing and implementing the Rutgers climate plan.
11:374:483 Internships in science communication (3 credits)
Prerequisite: none
Course Syllabus (149k PDF)
Description: All students will undertake internships in science communication with internship mentors from Rutgers University, sponsoring organizations and agencies. Students must expect to work a minimum of 125 hours in the internship, plus maintain a journal and present project conclusions to the class. Internship opportunities will be identified for student consideration and applications, but each student is responsible for receiving approval from both the internship sponsor and instructor prior to or during the first week of class, resulting in a signed internship contract.
11:374:490/491 Readings and Practicum in Human Ecology (By Arrangement)
Prerequisite: None but you must contact the professor you would like to work with and make arrangements and then they will provide you a special permission number.
Description: Advanced interdisciplinary reading and independent research in human ecology under the guidance of a faculty member.
11:374:492 Environmental Studies Internship (By Arrangement)
Prerequisite: By permission of department faculty or staff See the environmental studies internship section on experiential learning page for instruction on how to arrange credit for an outside internship.
Credits: By Arrangement
Description: Internships involving environmental research and policy with faculty at Rutgers and other institutions, with public agencies, with non-governmental organizations, or with businesses.
11:374:499 Capstone in Human Ecology (3 credits- typically offered in the spring semester)
Prerequisite: Seniors only
Course Syllabus (tba)
Description: This class will help students prepare to ‘exit’ their undergraduate career by: improving their resumes/personal statements/career portfolio; reflecting on their strengths/weaknesses in preparation for future careers; providing an opportunity to create a final project to showcase their training in EPIB. This seminar provides a forum for reflecting on the learning goals of EPIB for seniors who are majors or minors in the department. Students will draw on knowledge from our interdisciplinary program of study to demonstrate their ability to make meaningful contributions to crucial debates concerning the themes of EPIB. According to the student’s individual interests and needs, the student will develop an individual “Capstone Project,” which may take the form of a research paper, a freestanding project proposal, a proposal directed at a particular funding opportunity, a policy report or “white paper”, an informative website, a creative piece such as a video or artistic portfolio, etc., which will be decided on in discussion with faculty. During the Capstone course the students will engage in research, writing, peer review, editing drafts, presenting ideas, and produce a final project that will be shared with the Human Ecology community.
Graduate Level Courses
16:378:501 The Human Dimensions of Environmental Change (3 credits)
Prerequisite: None
Course Syllabus (tba)
Description: In this course we try to add to students’ intellectual toolkit by introducing them to the variety of approaches used by social scientists to understand the human dimensions of environmental change. Effective applied and theoretical work on environmental problems often requires that social scientists work closely with natural scientists. To do so effectively, we must be minimally conversant in the life sciences and able to use an array of social scientific approaches to understand environmental problems. This course tries to contribute to the latter end by introducing students to the variety of intellectual approaches used by social scientists to study environmental issues.
16:378:502 Theory, Research and Writing (3 credits)
Course Syllabus (tba)
Description: This is a research practicum. The purpose of this course is to give you the opportunity, in a structured and supportive environment, to develop a compelling and realistic proposal to conduct research into the social dimensions of environmental change. In the first half of class, we’ll work through several stages of project evolution, from clarifying a motivating question, to connecting your proposed work to important ideas in your field, to designing and implementing an actual study using one or more research methods, to writing it all up. Instead of a big final paper, short weekly assignments will keep you moving along this path.
34:833:686:02 Climate Governance (3 credits)
Prerequisite: None, but courses in law, government, political science, applied policy and/or international relations are recommended.
Course Syllabus (tba)
Description: Climate governance is a sweeping term for measures aimed at providing tolerable climate conditions for life on earth as we know it. It raises classic issues of distributional justice, law and science, risk, uncertainty and precaution, technology policy, and international relations. Students will leave this course with an understanding of the sources and impacts of climate change, the key state, national and international policies, and the role of law.
This course is intended for graduate students in any discipline who wish to improve their understanding of governance options in managing mitigation of and adaptation to climate change, and who wish to apply their knowledge to analyze and develop recommendations for a particular aspect of climate governance.