Environment & Sustainability Undergraduate Programs


Majors

Two majors are offered, providing a full-complement of opportunities available to students interested in the environment and in sustainability. All majors provide career opportunities to baccalaureate level graduates, and further opportunities for advanced study in graduate and professional programs (including preparation in pre-medicine and pre-law).

Environmental Policy and Analysis is available for students with a commitment to environmental quality and an interest in the administrative, legislative and organizational problems that result from human impact on the natural and the constructed world. Each student selects an area of emphasis keyed to individual career goals in environmental planning, sustainable management, outdoor recreation, environmental education and interpretation, environmental laws, or other appropriate fields.

Environmental Science is the study of the biological and physical world as it is affected by natural and man-made activities. It is a field that has become increasingly important as we recognize our responsibilities for pollution, resource depletion, and land abuse. Our program places priority on the natural sciences. Students develop the skills needed to investigate, document, and solve environmental problems. Each student selects an area of emphasis and selects from a series of advanced courses in such fields as restoration ecology, watershed management, geospatial analysis, and sustainable management.

Academic Minors

The program offers three minors to enhance students’ opportunities in their majors and to recognize understanding of specialized environmental knowledge.

FEATURED

Renovated Moseley Hall Re-opens as Science Complex

When it re-opens after a major renovation in Fall 2017, Moseley Hall will contain laboratory classrooms for the departments of Geology, Chemistry, Biology and Medical Lab Science.

News and Stories

Remey Schneider ’21 is well-prepared for high stakes internship with Ho-Chunk

Remington “Remey” Schneider is used to being involved in a variety of activities and pursuing a wide range of interests.

That’s one reason the 2021 spring graduate excelled at his recent internship with Ho-Chunk, Inc. Other reasons were his double major at Bowling Green State University and his involvement in the Sidney A. Ribeau President’s Leadership Academy (PLA).

Schneider, who is originally from Cincinnati, was involved in a leadership development program during his junior and senior years of high school. The program director, who happened to be a graduate of BGSU, encouraged him to apply for the PLA. After an intensive interview day, Schneider was accepted into the PLA, which was one of the major factors that led him to choose Bowling Green for his undergraduate studies.  Read more...

BGSU researcher asks, 'Is dredge material good for soil?'

A Bowling Green State University researcher hopes to impact Lake Erie’s water quality by using dredged sediments from the lake and adding them to farm soils.

Each year, more than a million cubic yards of sediment are dredged from Lake Erie in an effort to keep shipping channels and commodities moving in and out of the Port of Toledo. Within those dredged materials are some important soil nutrients.

Dr. Angélica Vázquez-Ortega, an assistant professor in the BGSU School of Earth, Environment and Society, is working with the agricultural community to answer a question that is at the root of her research: “Is dredge material good for soil?”  Read more...

Alumna advocates for environmental justice

As a young person growing up in Detroit's central city, Diamond Spratling ’18 thought the world around her was also everyone else's reality — the air often had an offensive odor and there was pavement everywhere, with precious few patches of green and even fewer parks.  

When she was about 15 years old, her father's strong work ethic had enabled the family to move to the suburbs, and there, Spratling discovered a universe she had not known existed. The air was cleaner, the sky brighter and there were expanses of green space where the outdoor environment was both attractive and comfortable.  Read more...

Updated: 03/11/2024 03:31PM