Note: The information contained on this website is for informational purposes only. The Undergraduate Record and Graduate Record represent the official repository for academic program requirements. Details on ETP may be found here.
Requirements for the Major
The Environmental Thought and Practice interdisciplinary major requires five core classes and six electives. At least 12 credits (or 4 courses of at least 3 credits) must be at the 3000 level or higher.
Core courses
The following core courses are required of all majors.
A shared introductory course
EVSC 2030/ETP 2030/PLAP 2030 Politics, Science, and Values: Introduction to Environmental Policy
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I. Values, Culture, and History (one class)
Either ANTH 2160 Culture and the Environment, HIST 2150 Global Environmental History, HIST 2152 Climate History, or RELG 2210 Religion, Ethics, & Global Environment.
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II. Policy, Planning, and Society (one class)
Either AAS 2500 Intro to Race, Class, Politics & the Environment, ECON 2010 Microeconomics, or GSVS/ARCH 2150 Global Sustainability.
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III. Natural Science (one class)
Either EVSC 1010 Introduction to Environmental Science, EVSC 1080 Resources and the Environment, EVSC 1450 Climate, You and CO2, EVSC 2200 Plants, People and Culture or EVSC 2220 Conservation Ecology: Biodiversity and Beyond.
A shared final course
ETP 4010 Environmental decisions (majors only, taken in spring of 4th year) (spring only)
Electives
Each student must also choose six (6) classes distributed across three areas. At least one (1) class must be taken in Values, Culture, and History and at least one (1) class must be taken in Policy, Planning and Society. At least two (2) classes must be taken in Natural Sciences. We recommend checking SIS frequently for environmentally-themed courses, as courses often come and go. Students who wish to have classes not specified here counted against their ETP elective requirements must submit their request plus the full course syllabus to Professor Freedman by email. ETP elective courses must be upper-level or graduate three- or four-credit classes and they must have environmental concerns as the central focus. Requests to count courses that do not meet these basic requirements will not be considered.
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I. Values, Culture, and History
Students may fulfill their one-class requirement for this track by taking any one of the following specific 3-credit classes. If approved by the ETP Director, students may count one related 3-credit 3000-, 4000-, or 5000-level class in History, Anthropology, Philosophy, English, Religious Studies, Landscape Architecture, or Science, Technology, and Society to meet the overall six-course elective requirement, but not to meet the basic one-class requirement for this area. The College allows students to count 18 credits of classes in other schools toward the 120-credit graduation requirement.
AAS 3250 MotherLands
AAS 3500 Black Environmental Thought
AMST 2711 AM Environmental History
ANTH 2850 American Material Culture
ANTH 2890 Unearthing the Past
ANTH 3100 Indigenous Landscapes
ANTH 3130 Disease, Epidemics and Society
ANTH 3240 The Anthropology of Food
ANTH 3340 Ecology and Society
ANTH 3580 Science and Culture
ANTH 3685 Austronesia: World of Islands
ANTH 3870 Archaeology of Virginia
ANTH 3880 African Archaeology
ANTH 3885 Archaeology of Europe
ANTH 3890 Arch American Southwest
ANTH 4060 UVA in Southern Africa
ANTH 5590 The Nature of Nature
ENGL 3438 Realism & Naturalism in American Lit
ENGL 3560 Jungle Stories
ENSP 3500 Climate Fiction
ENSP 3559 Plants and Empire
HIAF 3112 African Environmental History
HILA 4511 Env Hist of Latin America
HIST 2210 Epidemics, Pandemics, and Hist
HIST 3112 Ecology and Globalization
HIST 3112 Ecology and Globalization
HIST 4501 Modern Environmental History
HIST 4501 Water, Development, Global History
HIUS 2711 American Environmental History
ITTR 4010 Narrating (Un-)sustainability
MDST 3584 Global Cinema: Screening Nature
MDST 4210 Global Environmental Media
MESA 3110 Sustainable Environments ME&SA
MUSI 3400 Ecoacoustics
PHIL 2500 Animal Minds
PHIL 2500 Environmental Ethics
PHIL 3652 Animals and Ethics
PHYS 1090 Galileo and Einstein
RELC 3795 Theology Spirituality Ethics
RELG 3820 Global Ethics & Climate Change
SPAN 4500 Latin Am Jungle Literature
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II. Policy, Planning, and Society
Students may fulfill their one-class requirement for this track by taking any one of the following specific 3-credit classes. If approved by the ETP Director, students may take one related 3-credit 3000-, 4000-, or 5000-level course in Economics, Politics, Sociology, Statistics, McIntire School of Commerce, Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, Engineering, the Law School, Darden, or Urban and Environmental Planning to meet the overall six-course elective requirement, but not to meet the basic one-class requirement for this area.
AAS 3500 Environ Justice Mid-Atlantic
AAS 3500 RaceClassPolitics&Environment
ECON 3430 Sustainability Economics
ECON 4430 Environmental Economics
EVSC 3020 GIS Methods
EVSC 4070 Advanced GIS
PLAD 2500 Politics, Poverty, and Health
PLAP 3160 Politics of Food
PLAP 4500 GIS in the Social Sciences
PLCP 3500 Environmental Pol. in China
PLCP 4500 Politics of Air Pollution
PLIR 3500 Global Environmental Politics
PPOL 3280 Urban Environmental Policy
SOC 2630 Environment & Society
SOC 3559 Environment, Global & Developm
Any statistics class at the 1000, 2000, or 3000 level
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III. Natural Science
Two 3000-, 4000- or 5000-level 3-credit courses in Environmental Sciences or one 3-credit course at the 3000- 4000- or 5000-level in Environmental Sciences plus a second course from the following list. If approved by the ETP Director, students may take one related 3000-, 4000-, or 5000-level class in Biology, Chemistry, or Environmental Engineering to meet the overall six-class elective requirement, but not to meet the basic two-class requirement for this area. (Note: upper-level Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Sciences and Environmental Engineering classes can have several prerequisites.)
BIOL 3020 Evolution and Ecology
BIOL 3450 Biodiversity and Conservation
BIOL 3660 Marine Bio/Coral Reef Ecology
BIOL 4100 Management of Forest Ecosystem
BIOL 4130 Population Ecol & Consv Biol
BIOL 4510 Stream Ecology
BIOL 4850 Envir & Conservation Biology
CHEM 3559 Anthrochemistry
EVSC 2800 Fundamentals of Geology
Any EVSC class at the 3000, 4000, or 5000 level
Credit/No Credit Grades
Please note that the ETP program adheres strictly to the College of Arts and Science’s policy regarding classes taken for CR (credit) or NC (no credit). Courses counting towards the ETP area requirements and core courses may NOT be taken on a CR/NC basis. The College does not permit students to take courses on a CR/NC basis in interdisciplinary programs, nor does it permit students to count courses taken on a CR/NC basis towards a major, minor, or College area requirements.
Distinguished Majors Project (DMP)
Majors with a minimum 3.6 GPA in the major (and 3.4 GPA overall) are eligible for a distinguished majors program (DMP) in their fourth year. DMPs take a year-long independent study with a faculty advisor, with the goal of producing a thesis. To participate in the ETP distinguished majors program, set up an appointment with Professor Freedman during the spring semester of your third year.
Study Abroad
The ETP program does not have any official positions on overseas programs. We also recommend that ETP students interested in studying abroad go to other universities’ websites for ETP-like majors and see if there are recommended programs through those universities. In the course approval process, students must go to the UVa departments for which they seek credit. For example, if you would like credit for a civil engineering class taken abroad, you must go to the Engineering Department to file for this credit. Unless it is an ETP course, we cannot approve it for credit.