The Minor

The Minor in Environmental Science requires a minimum of 15 credits and 5 courses in environmental topics. Minors are declared in the semester they are being completed or at a later point prior to a student’s graduation date. (Students should be aware that some Environmental Science courses are available to non-majors on a space-available basis only.) In most cases, students are allowed to overlap one course in their major with their minor requirements in ENVIRSCI.

Minor Requirements

  1. Select no more than one (1) of the following three courses:

    ENVIRSCI 101 Introduction to Environmental Science OR
    NRC 100 Environment and Society OR
    GEOGRAPH 110 Global Environmental Change

  2. Select two (2) of the following courses:

    ENVIRSCI 213 Introduction to Environmental Policy (note: restricted enrollment)
    ENVIRSCI 214 Ecosystems, Biodiversity, & Global Change (note: restricted enrollment and prerequisite)
    ENVIRSCI 315 Principles of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (note: restricted enrollment and prerequisite)
    ENVIRSCI 397R Renewable Energy & Sustainability OR NRC 297R Renewable Energy & Sustainability (not both)
    GEOGRAPH 497R Rethinking US Environmental Policy
    RES-ECON 262 Environmental Economics OR RES-ECON 263 Natural Resources Economics (not both)

  3. Select two (2) courses from approved list of Upper-Level (300+) ENVIRSCI elective course, for a total of 15 or more total credits:

    Earth Science

    ENVIRSCI 364 Environ. Soil Science (formerly 390A)
    ENVIRSCI 565  Soil Formation and Classification
    GEOGRAPH 354 Climatology
    GEOLOGY 415 Introduction to Geochemistry
    GEOGRAPH 468 GIS and Spatial Analysis
    GEOLOGY 485 Applied Environ. Geology
    GEOLOGY 494LI Living on Earth
    GEO-SCI 519 Aqueous & Environ. Geochem.
    GEO-SCI 557 Coastal Processes
    GEOGRAPH 560 Geomorphology
    GEO-SCI 563 Glacial Geology
    GEO-SCI 587 Hydrogeology
    GEO-SCI 591CP Colorado Field Trip
    STOCKSCH 570 Soil Physics

    Ecology and Conservation Science

    BIOLOGY 421 Plant Ecology
    BIOLOGY 487H Tropical Field Biology
    BIOLOGY 540 Herpetology
    BIOLOGY 544 Ornithology
    BIOLOGY 548 Mammology
    BIOLOGY 550 Animal Behavior
    SUSTCOMM 335 Plants in the Landscape
    SUSTCOMM 547 Landscape Pattern and Process
    ENVIRSCI 515 Microbiology of Soil
    NRC 528 Forest & Wetland Hydrology
    NRC 540 Forest Management
    NRC 547 Global Change Ecology
    NRC 564 Wildlife Habitat Management
    NRC 565 Dyn. & Mgt of Wildlife Populations
    NRC 570 Ecology of Fish
    NRC 571 Fisheries Science & Management
    NRC 578 Watershed Science & Mgt
    NRC 568 Wetland Soils (formerly 590WS)
    NRC 580 Conservation Genetics
    NRC 590IE Invasion Ecology
    STOCKSCH 326 Insect Biology

    Environmental Policy & Land Use

    ECON 308 Environmental Economics
    SUSTCOMM 553 Resource Policy and Planning
    SUSTCOMM 574 City Planning
    SUSTCOMM 575 Environ. Law and Resource Mgt
    SUSTCOMM 577 Urban Policies
    LANDARCH 580 Sustainable Cities
    LANDARCH 582 Landscape & Green Urbanism
    GEOGRAPH 360 Economic Geography
    GEOGRAPH 362 Conservation Geography
    GEOGRAPH 370 Urban Geography
    GEOGRAPH 372 Urban Issues
    GEOGRAPH 380 Political Geography
    GEOGRAPH 420 Political Ecology
    GEOGRAPH 497E Geography, Policy & Environ.
    GEOGRAPH 497WG Water Geographies: Conflict & Sustainability
    GEO-SCI 510 Natural Hazards
    GEOGRAPH 492NP National Parks & Protected Areas
    NRC 309 Natural Resources Policy & Admin.
    NRC 576 Water Resources Mgt & Policy
    POLISCI 382 Environmental Policy
    REGIONPL 558 Issues in Environmental Mgt
    RESECON 471Benefit-Cost Analysis
    RESECON 472 Advanced topics Resource & Environmental Economics

    Environmental Quality, Planning & Assessment

    CE-ENGIN 370 Intro Environ.& Water Resources
    ENVIRSCI 452 Haz. Waste Operations & Emergency Response
    ENVIRSCI 465 Principles of Environ. Site Assessment
    ENVIRSCI 575 Environmental Soil Chemistry
    ENVIRSCI 585 Inorganic Contaminants in Soil, Water & Sediment
    ENVIRSCI 587 Phytobioremediation
    GEOLOGY 331 Geological Mapping
    GEOGRAPH 352 Computer Mapping
    GEOGRAPH 468 GIS & Spatial Analysis
    GEO-SCI 591CM Introduction to Climate & Environmental Monitoring
    MICROBIO 310 General Microbiology
    MICROBIO 385 Intro Biotechnology Lab
    MICROBIO 562 Environ. Biotechnology
    NRC 534 Forest Measurements
    NRC 575 Case Studies in Land Conserv.
    NRC 577 Ecosystem Modeling & Simulation
    NRC 585 Introduction to GIS
    NRC 586 Natural Resource Inventory of Local Lands
    NRC 587 Digital Remote Sensing
    PUBHLTH 562 Air Quality Assessment
    PUBHLTH 565 Environmental Health Practices
    PUBHLTH 590A Contaminant Fate & Transport in Aquatic Systems
    PUBHLTH 590N Indoor Environment & Health
    REGIONPL 553 Resource Policy & Planning