Environmental Studies & Sciences - major

Environmental studies is an interdisciplinary major for students with an abiding interest in the environmental problems faced by humans, with special concern for their humanistic, policy and social science aspects. It has fewer prescribed courses than environmental science and offers greater flexibility for students who wish to double major in a related discipline, such as economics. Themes for this major include:

Environmental science allows students majoring in the natural sciences to add an environmental concentration to another degree. It focuses on the technical aspects of the discipline and is only open to students who also major in biology, chemistry or geology. It is intended to be a complementary major and cannot be declared as a stand-alone course of study. Because of the greater number of prescribed courses in the major, environmental science students should begin coursework toward their major in their first year.

Learn more about major & minor requirements

We always need to think historically when we think about environmental issues. What I’m trying to do is reveal historical patterns and make them relevant to our environmental problems today.

Professor Andrew Stuhl, Environmental Studies & Sciences

As an environmental studies or environmental science major, you'll have access to a modern environmental laboratory supporting scholarship in biology, civil engineering, geology and other disciplines, but your research opportunities will also extend far beyond campus. Our students work with faculty at four natural areas and many other locations in the diverse ridge-and-valley landscape of Central Pennsylvania, including coal mines, state forests and limestone valleys. Many also have opportunities to work with their professors further afield on projects related to Virginia beaches, Florida scrublands and California deserts, or to explore their interest in global landscapes by studying abroad. You'll do the work environmental scientists do every day, and gain a deep understanding of the environment around you that only comes from experience, preparing you to makes a difference in your career, right from the start.

Bucknell Center for Sustainability & the Environment

At Bucknell, we transform our world by finding creative solutions to the most pressing issues facing our society. The Bucknell Center for Sustainability & the Environment confronts one of the biggest challenges of them all — the sustainability of our society and our planet — by investigating our impact and exploring our connections to the environment around us.

Department of Environmental Studies & Sciences
323 Academic West