Environmental Policy and Decision Making at a Glance
Minor Curriculum (5 units)
The Environmental Policy and Decision Making Program (ENVR) is an interdisciplinary minor program designed
to help students integrate their major area of study with an understanding of how individual and collective
decisions interact with the environment. The term “environment” is considered critically with recognition of the
often blurry and even indistinguishable boundary between natural and human-built or managed environments.
Environmental issues for study thus range from those related to non-human species and habitats to those
concerning social and human health problems associated with population density and industrialization. While
environmental issues reflect certain empirical realities about the physical world and its limits, they also engage
contests among competing human values and visions for the future. Environmental issues are strategically defined,
managed, promoted and challenged by a complex and often conflicting array of social actors. In a word,
environmental problems are political.
Students who minor in Environmental Policy and Decision Making 1) develop an understanding of the multiplicity
of values, norms, interests, incentives, and scientific information that influence decisions on environmental issues,
2) learn to critically examine the social, political, and economic contexts for decisions on environmental issues,
and 3) engage in interdisciplinary dialogue and apply systems thinking to address current and projected
environmental problems.
Introductory Course (1)
Policy Elective (1)
General Electives (2)
Senior Seminar (1)
ENVR 101: Introduction to the Environment
ECON 325, Environmental Economics and Policy
ECON 326, Natural Resource Economics and Policy
ENVR 201, Environmental Policy Tools and Topics
ENVR 310, Environmental Decision Making
ENVR 322, Water Policy
ENVR/PG 326, People, Politics, and Parks
ENVR/PG 382, Global Environmental Politics
IPE 331, International Political Economy of Food and Hunger
PG 305, U.S. Environmental Policy
PG 309, Applied Environmental Politics and Agenda Setting
Two additional units selected either from the policy courses above or the following general
elective courses.
BIO 370, Conservation Biology
ENGL 380, Literature and the Environment
ENVR/GEOL 315, Energy Resources
ENVR/GEOL 324, Tools and Topics in Environmental Science
ENVR 325, Geological and Environmental Catastrophes
ENVR 335, Thinking about Biodiversity
ENVR 340, Climate Change
ENVR 350, Puget Sound Environmental Issues 1: Politics and Public Participation (.25 units)
ENVR 351, Puget Sound Environmental Issues 2: Laws and Land use Designation (.25 units)
ENVR 352, Sustainability in Everyday Life (.25 units)
ENVR 495/496, Independent Study
ENVR 498, Internship Tutorial
GEOL 310, Water Resources
HIST 364, American Environmental History
HIST 369, History of the West and the Pacific Northwest
INTN 497, Internship Seminar
PHIL 285, Environmental Ethics
SOAN 230, Indigenous Peoples: Alternative Political Economies
SOAN 316, Social and Cultural Change
SOAN 407/IPE407, Political Ecology
SOAN 481, Special Topics: Environmental Anthropology
STS 341, Modeling the Earth’s Climate
STS 344, History of Ecology
ENVR 400: Senior Seminar in Environmental Policy and Decision Making
Environmental Policy and Decision Making at a Glance
Faculty
Faculty Members with Dedicated Units to ENVR
Daniel Sherman (3 teaching units, 2 community engagement units, 1 administration unit)
Rachel DeMotts (5 teaching units, 1 grant administration unit)
Kena Fox-Dobbs (3 teaching units)
Peter Hodum (3 teaching units)
Executive Committee
In fall 2007 we instituted a collaborative leadership model; the program is run by an Executive
Committee. The executive committee meets regularly during the semester and calls
meetings/retreats/seminars with a broader group of affiliated faculty and staff for the purposes of
presenting proposals relevant to the program, getting feedback (advice), stimulating collaboration,
maintaining communication, and building a community.
Daniel Sherman, ENVR and Politics & Government
Rachel DeMotts, ENVR and Politics & Government
Kena Fox-Dobbs, ENVR and Geology
Peter Hodum, ENVR and Biology
Emelie Peine, International Political Economy
Affiliated Faculty
Affiliated Faculty include all faculty teaching ENVR courses and other faculty members who are
interested in the program or have expertise or capabilities that the program values.
Dan Burgard (Chemistry)
Monica DeHart (Sociology and Anthropology)
Rachel DeMotts (ENVR and Politics & Government)
Joel Elliott (Biology)
Kena Fox-Dobbs (ENVR and Geology)
Andrew Gardner (Sociology and Anthropology)
Barry Goldstein (Geology)
Peter Hodum (Biology)
Kristin Johnson (Science, Technology, and Society)
Lisa Johnson (Business & Leadership)
Betsy Kirkpatrick (Biology)
Nick Kontogeorgopoulos (International Political Economy)
William Kupinse (English)
Steven Neshyba (Chemistry)
Emelie Peine (International Political Economy)
Doug Sackman (History)
Daniel Sherman (ENVR and Politics & Government)
David Sousa (Politics & Government)
Stacey Weiss (Biology)
Peter Wimberger (Biology)