Changing Courses Majors that keep up with the times By Matthew Bey
These majors at St. Edward’s aren’t new, but they’ve grown more popular with today’s students. Here’s why.
Environmental Science and Policy The Appeal
The environment has become such a popular subject of study that some students take courses about it in high school. “Students who want to make a difference are really drawn to this major,” says Peter Beck, assistant professor and coordinator of Environmental Science and Policy.
The Coursework Beck says the major’s introductory
courses are the most popular, especially Environment and People and Environmental Science and one of the ENSP classes had the students audit the greenhouse gas output of St. Edward’s itself. “The administration is very interested in sustainability,” says Beck. “And this course allowed students to gain research experience while examining ways to help achieve this goal.”
The St. Edward’s Touch The only program of its
kind available to undergraduates in the area, ENSP requires classes in Social Science as well as the Natural Sciences. Dana Squires ’08 initially expected more science when she entered the ENSP program until she “discovered you can’t separate the environment from the policy and economic issues surrounding it.” She’s gone on to graduate environmental study at Texas State University, where she’s ahead of the curve: Her fellow students were learning policy issues that St. Edward’s had already covered.
The Student View Jarymar Arana ’11 received the Morris
K. Udall Scholarship, created to aid future leaders across a wide spectrum of environmental fields. She was also one of 15 students nationally to receive the Greater Research Opportunities Undergraduate Fellowship from the Environmental Protection Agency. The prestigious two-year fellowship pays for her tuition during her junior and senior year as well as her environmental research at an EPA lab during a summer internship.
Graduate in Action Lauren Smitherman ’07 works at
the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, enforcing compliance with environmental law for agricultural, storm water, wastewater, public drinking water and unauthorized discharges, among other areas. “The program at St. Edward’s gave me the tools to face both a scientific and political area of work and feel confident that I could succeed in a job focused on either topic,” Smitherman says. “The one I have focuses on both.”
Can This Environment be Saved? “The
environment has been improving in a number of areas,” says Beck. “Air and water quality, at least in the United States, is better than ten or 20 years ago.” But it’s not an entirely rosy outlook. “Problems related to increasing consumption such as resource depletion and habitat loss continue to increase.”
Is Al Gore Being Overly Dramatic?
“There’s always the dilemma of overstating the situation, between being dramatic or more cautious,” says Beck. “Sometimes people are unwilling to act on a problem until the impacts become serious, and then it may be too late. So there is a tendency to be more dramatic to stimulate action when the effects may be irreversible, as in species loss or climate change.”
Molly Thuhin ’12 Environmental Science and Policy Minor
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