Environmental and Urban Studies

Botanist and UChicago professor Henry Cowles founded the science of ecology with his landmark studies of the Lake Michigan dunes.Today, UChicago’s Environmental and Urban Studies program addresses the complex entanglements of urbanism, environments, and humans. Courses incorporate models and methods from the humanities and social and natural sciences. The program brings together faculty and courses from Anthropology, Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Economics, English, Geographical Studies, Geophysical Sciences, Physics, Political Science, and Public Policy Studies.The curriculum is organized around required elements that include a thesis and an internship or field studies component. Students have worked at an environmental law firm in New Mexico with a focus on indigenous communities, measured and addressed lead levels in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago, and advocated on water shortage issues in Mumbai, India. Stipends are available from the Environmental and Urban Studies program for otherwise unpaid summer field experience.Students can choose between three tracks within the Environmental and Urban Studies program:Students have the chance to apply this education first-hand through the Chicago Studies Quarter: Calumet. The quarter features integrated courses, projects, field trips, guest lectures, and presentations, all in an effort to study the culture, politics, and history of the Calumet Region, just south and east of Chicago. Courses are taught by Chicago specialists across a range of disciplines. Chicago Studies Quarter: Calumet is offered every other year. Courses taken as part of this program can be used to satisfy requirements in all three tracks of the major.Students in other programs may choose to minor in Environmental and Urban Studies.