Academics

Thanks to Smith’s open curriculum and breadth of classes, it’s easy for students to take sustainability focused and related courses, no matter their major. Students can pick a major with an environmental focus from several departments, select a unique minor, or join the environmental concentration. There are many opportunities to Get Involved beyond the classroom as well, through internships, jobs, research, and more.

Majors & Minors

Environmental Science & Policy

The need for environmentally literate citizens and well-educated professionals able to address increasingly complex and global environmental issues has never been greater. Pollution, ecosystem degradation and unsustainable use of natural resources are just a few examples of how humans are altering the Earth and its atmosphere in unprecedented ways. Smith's Environmental Science and Policy (ES&P) Program seeks to produce future leaders in the environmental field.

Two Smith students stand in tall grass and take specimen samples

Biological Sciences

Biological sciences treats the life sciences in all their breadth and diversity, including the study of molecules, cells, whole organisms, ecosystems, plants, animals and microorganisms. Students interested in sustainability can select the Biodiversity, Ecology and Conservation track.

Environmental Geosciences

Courses in geosciences at Smith highlight hands-on and discovery-based learning through modern field and laboratory techniques, as well as interactive student-faculty research experiences. Majors in the environmental geosciences track take a range of courses within the department, as well as chemistry, ecology and environmental science and policy. A degree in geosciences can lead to a variety of rewarding careers that address pressing issues, including climate change, energy and water resources, environmental stewardship and natural hazards.

Landscape Studies

The Landscape Studies Program links faculty, students and courses in architecture, engineering, and environmental science and policy to study design, ecology, politics and human relationship to the environment. Smith's campus—which includes a botanic garden and an arboretum—and curriculum form a unique, rich archive and laboratory for the study of human interactions with the spaces and places we inhabit.

Engineering

As an engineering major or minor students can take numerous courses and engage deeply in research on topics such as renewable energy, environmental engineering, hydrology, water quality and technology, and more.

The Minor in Marine Science & Policy

The Marine Science and Policy (MS&P) minor permits students to pursue interests in coastal and oceanic systems through an integrated sequence of courses in the natural and social sciences. An introduction to marine sciences is obtained through completion of the two basis courses. Students then choose among upper-level courses that focus on or complement scientific investigation of the oceans and the policy aspects of ocean conservation, exploitation and management.

Environmental Concentration

The Environmental Concentration gives students a way to organize a combination of intellectual and practical experiences, such as internships and service learning, around an environmental area of interest. A concentration allows for more flexibility than is possible within an academic minor, and students can pursue a concentration alongside a minor or a second major.

Learn More

Sustainability Focused & Related Courses

Browse sustainability-related courses offered throughout the curriculum, including classes in anthropology, architecture, English language and literature, government and physics (please note the courses listed are meant to be a sample and some may not be offered every semester).

For more detailed information on course offerings, search the Smith College Course Catalog.

American Studies

AMS 229 Native New England
AMS 245 Feminist & Indigenous Science

Art

ARS 280 Introduction to Architectural Design Studio: Analog Processes - Ground
ARS 153 Drawing Social Justice

English Language & Literature

ENG 237 Colloquium: Environmental Poetry and Ecological Thought
ENG 290sc Colloquium: Topics in Crafting Creative Nonfiction-Writing about Science
ENG 363 Race and Environment

Philosophy

PHI 221 Ethics and Society
PHI 224 Philosophy of Science
PHI 238 Environmental Philosophy

Spanish & Portuguese

SPN 230cv Topics in Latin American and Peninsular Culture and Society-Climate Voices

Women’s Studies

SWG 227 Colloquium: Feminist and Queer Disability Studies
SWG 321 Marxist Feminism
SWG 230 Gender, Land and Food Movements

World Literatures

WLT 340 Problems in Literary Theory Narrating the Anthropocene

Anthropology

ANT 224 Anthropos in the Anthropocene: Human-Environment Relations in a Time of Ecological Crisis
ANT 226 Archaeology of Food
ANT 229 Africa and the Environment
ANT 317 Seminar: The Anthropology of Landscape – Space, Place, Nature

Economics

ECO 150 Introductory Microeconomics
ECO 224 Environmental Economics
ECO 271 The Economics of Climate Change
ECO 324nr Seminar: Topics in the Economics of the Environment-Natural Resources

Government

GOV 239 Social Justice Movements in Latin America
GOV 242 International Political Economy

Latin American Studies

LAS 201 Colloquium in Latin American and Latino/a Studies: Climate and Conflict
LAS 201 Colloquium in Latin American and Latino/a Studies: Environmental Legacies and Ecological Futures of Latin America
LAS 301 Topics in Latin American and Latino/a Studies: Deep History of Water

Sociology

SOC 230 Sociology of Food
SOC 233 Sociology of Climate Change

Biological Sciences

BIO 130 Biodiversity Ecology and Conservation
BIO 206 Plant Physiology
BIO 207 Plant Physiology Laboratory
BIO 268 Marine Ecology
BIO 269 Marine Ecology Laboratory
BIO 364 Plant Ecology
BIO 365 Plant Ecology Laboratory

Chemistry

CHM 108 Environmental Chemistry
CHM 111 Chemistry I: General Chemistry
CHM 346 Environmental Analytical Chemistry

Engineering

EGR 100 Engineering for Everyone: Energy and the Environment
EGR 314 Seminar: Contaminants in Aquatic Systems
EGR 315 Seminar: Ecohydrology
EGR 325 Seminar: Electric Power System
EGR 326 Dynamic Systems and Introduction to Control Theory
EGR 390ge Seminar: Advanced Topics in Engineering-Geothermal Engineering

Environmental Science & Policy

ENV 101 Sustainability and Social-Ecological Systems
ENV 201 Researching Environmental Problems
ENV 202 Researching Environmental Problems Laboratory
ENV 311 Interpreting and Communicating Environmental Information
ENV 312 Sustainable Solutions
ENV 323 Climate and Energy Policy
ENV 326 Seminar: Environmental Justice and Natural Resource Management
ENV 327 Seminar: Environmental Justice & Decolonial Aspirations in an Urbanizing World

Landscape Studies

LSS 230 Urban Landscapes
LSS 250 Studio: Landscape and Narrative
LSS 255 Art and Ecology
LSS 300 Seminar: Rethinking Landscape
LSS 315 Seminar: Urban Ecological Design

Geosciences

GEO 101 Introduction to Earth Processes and History
GEO 104 Global Climate Change: Exploring the Past, the Present and Options for the Future
GEO 108 Oceanography: An Introduction to the Marine Environment
GEO 150 Mapping our World: An Introduction to Geographic Information

Physics

PHY 110 Energy, Environment and Climate

Statistical & Data Sciences

SDS 201 Statistical Methods for Undergraduates
SDS 220 Introduction to Probability and Statistics

Recent Sample Courses

IDP 316: Critical Design Thinking

In spring 2020, the IDP 316: Critical Design Thinking course tackled issues related to climate change. Inspired by the College’s Year on Climate Change Initiative, Instructor Emily Norton worked with the Center for the Environment (CEEDS) to identify meaningful projects for students to apply their design thinking knowledge and skills. While the course is always hands-on and collaborative with students working in teams on projects, the students also worked with CEEDS staff to develop their design solutions. Projects included investigating how to better communicate the college’s carbon neutrality efforts, storytelling around climate change and its impacts, creating better indoor environments for informal learning, and turning a maker-space zero waste.

PSY 240 Collquium: Health Promotion

During the fall 2020 semester, students in Professor Benita Jackson’s PSY 240 Colloquium: Health Promotion class drafted policy memos addressed to President McCartney that proposed sustainable initiatives to address environmental issues on campus. The students’ policy memos were informed by the annual UN Climate Change Report and psychology research on how emotion and motivation can effectively frame messages and promote behavior change. Jackson’s goal for the course was for students to have “broadened their idea of health promotion to include work to halt the climate crisis and appreciate how psychology—identity, motivation, emotion—is so central to this project that affects all life.”