Learning Outcomes
Upon completing School of the Environment baccalaureate programs students will be able to:
- Use critical and creative thinking to understand, formulate, or apply ethical responses to contemporary issues and challenges associated with global change and life on a dynamic Earth.
- Use scientific methods, quantitative and symbolic reasoning, and decision-making processes as individuals or teams to explore complex environmental issues and analyze problems in the natural and social sciences.
- Understand the foundations of contemporary science, including the scientific method, hypothesis formation and testing, objectivity, and peer review and evaluation.
- Locate, interpret, synthesize, and apply relevant scientific information sources to address information needs for problem analysis and reporting.
- Use technical media as needed and communicate clearly in verbal and written modes as appropriate for public or professional science audiences.
- Expand awareness of self in a global society and effectively engage diverse perspectives, values, and cultures, ranging from local to global, in dealing with environmental and social issues.
- Achieve entry-level expertise in a professional specialty or academic field in the natural sciences while retaining the ability to effectively engage in broader, cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural activities.
Earth Science Major
When you have completed your Earth Science major you will be able to:
- Describe the fundamental concepts of geology, including the origin, composition, structure, and evolution of the Earth, and how the Earth system responds to internal and external forces.
- Identify and describe rocks, minerals, and fossils in the field, in hand samples, and under the microscope.
- Describe and discuss geologic time, including the principles and methods of absolute and relative dating.
- Be capable of applying field observations to the construction of geologic maps and cross sections.
Environmental & Ecosystem Science Major
When you have completed your Environmental and Ecosystem major you will be able to:
- Demonstrate understanding of the complex interactions of humans and ecological systems in the natural world.
- Interpret and apply basic statistical analysis or systems modeling methodology in environmental analysis.
- Interpret, synthesize, and apply a wide range of scientific literature in the ecological and environmental sciences, particularly dealing with both climate change and global change.
- Interpret a wide range of scientific literature in biology, ecology, and environmental science and apply this information to problem-solving analysis, specifically in the realms of environmental and natural resource sciences and sustainability.
- Prepare technical reports and analyses of environmental, resource ecology, and sustainability issues and present analytical results and conclusions effectively in both written and oral communication.
- Interpret environmental, resource management, and sustainability conflicts from multiple perspectives.
- Effectively analyze and integrate the social and natural sciences to understand diverse environmental and sustainability challenges ranging from local issues to global environments
When you have completed your Forest Ecology and Management major, you will be able to:
In preparation for in-demand careers, forest ecology and management students will find themselves equipped with a strong set of knowledge and skills in:
- Plant and Ecosystem Sciences
- Silviculture
- Resource Economics
- Wildland Fire
- Forest Measurements
- Terrestrial Ecosystem Sampling
- Geospatial Analysis and remote sensing
- Environmental Policy
When you have completed your Wildlife Ecology & Conservation Sciences major you will be able to:
- Demonstrate understanding of core ecological principles affecting organisms and the ecosystems in which they live.
- Apply basic statistical and quantitative methodology in ecological analysis.
- Independently locate and apply relevant ecological literature to assigned problems.
- Interpret a wide range of scientific literature in animal and community ecology and apply this information to problem-solving analysis, particularly related to the conservation of biological diversity of species, populations, and ecosystems.
- Prepare technical biological reports and ecological analyses with supporting documentation for both scientific and popular audiences.
- Interpret species conservation and resource management conflicts from multiple perspectives.
- Effectively analyze diverse conservation challenges ranging from ecology of individual species to global ecosystems and ecological functions on Earth.