FALL 2020 & COVID-19 FAQs: Last updated June 16 Learn More >

Quick Links

Home
On Campus
CJP
Graduate
Seminary
Lancaster, PA

Environmental Science

Section Links

Environmental Science* major

STEM at EMU

STEM at EMU

Explore the world with STEM majors at EMU.

Students use campus space for capstone course

Students use campus space for capstone course

For their spring environmental sustainability capstone course, six Eastern Mennonite University students and professors Jim Yoder and Jenni Holsinger focused on the 13-acre Park Woods nestled on campus.

EMU senior’s Soil Cycles business by cycle collects compost

EMU senior’s Soil Cycles business by cycle collects compost

Soil Cycles HVA – “Compost Collection on Two Wheels” – offers food scrap pick-up services to residential and business subscribers.

Restoration Ecology at Shenandoah National Park

Restoration Ecology at Shenandoah National Park

Students in environmental science and sustainability study in Shenandoah National Park and other local parks and forests.

Earthkeepers

Earthkeepers

Earthkeepers is an EMU student group to encourage environmentally-friendly practices and exploring ideas around simplicity and sustainable lifestyles.

 

Learn from – and do research with – professors who are experts in their fields and who invest their time in you, so that you can understand the complex, real-world issues related to environmental science. Studying the environment inevitably means studying the ways we interact with it. At EMU we focus on how to improve our interactions toward conservation and sustainability.

At EMU, environmental science majors learn by doing. They build resumes that include environmental research and that boast coursework in a variety of disciplines. Biology, sociology and peacebuilding professors work together on environmental science courses that weave forward-thinking sustainability practices with issues of international and community development and conservation.

  • Distinctives
    • Study at a university that practices sustainability as a core value
    • We study modern concerns like global warming from both scientific and social perspectives, and take an interdisciplinary approach to understanding contemporary issues such as local hydrofracking and wilderness preservation.
    • Job-related, practical experiences in a wide variety of organizations through practicums or internships in private businesses, farms and government agencies are an important step in developing a career in environmental sustainability.
    • Research opportunities and student-faculty collaborations have included projects such as a grant-funded steam restoration in a local mountain community.
    • EMU cross-cultural study abroad trips focus on sustainability issues, as did recent trips to New Zealand, Bolivia and the Galapagos, and Kenya.
    • The Oregon Extension offers a unique opportunity to spend a semester in the mountains of southern Oregon exploring sustainability.
  • Student Internships and Opportunities

    Internships in environmental science and social sustainability

    Washington D.C. internships through WCSC:

    Local internships in Harrisonburg, Virginia:

    Student clubs and opportunities focused on sustainability

    Research and Capstone projects

    The capstone course centers around activities that help students reflect on their knowledge about sustainability and bring together threads from diverse disciplines to create an integrated understanding of contemporary sustainability issues.

    In addition to their capstone experience, students often collaborate with faculty on long-standing research projects, sometimes presenting research at the Virginia Academy of Sciences.

  • Outcomes

    Careers

    • Campus sustainability coordinator
    • Communication and policy coordinator
    • Conservation program coordinator
    • Assistant professor
    • Quality control manager
    • Director of community development
    • Farm manager
    • Data entry
    • Feeding manager
    • Garden manager
    • Land use coordinator
    • Environmental health specialist
    • Horticulture research technician
    • Native plant corp project leader
    • Research scientist
    • Park ranger
    • Teacher assistant
    • Transportation/GIS planner
    • Waste water engineer
    • Watershed specialist
    • Wildlife technician

    Organizations

    • Brown County Planning Commission
    • Bluffton University
    • James Madison University
    • California State University
    • Stamford Museum and Nature Center
    • Kish View Farm
    • Imboden Environmental Services, Inc.
    • Mountain Breeze Farm
    • North Carolina State University
    • Project GROWS
    • PA Soil and Water Conservation District
    • Secure Futures, LLC
    • Student Conservation Agency
    • Watershed Management Group
    • Wisconson Dept of Natural Resources

    Graduate Programs

    • University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
    • The Evergreen State College
    • Ohio State University College of Public Health
    • University of Idaho
    • University of British Columbia
    • University of New Hampshire
    • Virginia Commonwealth University
    • Florida State University
    • Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
    • University of the Witwatersrand

     
  • Affordability

    • Nearly 100% of undergrads receive financial aid
    • The average assistance package is over $36,000
    • Over $16 million in aid was awarded by EMU in 2019-20

    Financial aid packages often include:

    Learn more by contacting  EMU's Financial Assistance Office or checking out our net price calculator.

Our graduate program in peacebuilding is also an asset to any undergrad in the fields of development and sustainability. Dozens of grad-level international scholars flock to EMU each year to study at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, and many professors around campus have decades of experience working and living overseas advocating for those in the margins.

*The environmental science major will begin in fall 2020. Prior to the 2020-2021 academic year this major was called environmental sustainability, with two tracks, environmental science and environmental and social sustainability. 

Text Here...
✕ CLOSE

Environmental Sustainability Faculty

Jenni Holsinger
Associate Professor of Sociology

Jenni Holsinger

Specialties: Environmental equity, demography, social movements, immigration

Teaches Courses Like: Methods of Social Researchm, Urban Sociology

Learn More
Jim Yoder
Professor of Biology

Jim Yoder

Specialties: Environmental Sustainability Stream Restoration

Teaches Courses Like: Ecology

Learn More
Doug Graber Neufeld
Professor of Biology; CSCS Director

Doug Graber Neufeld

Specialties: Water monitoring, Water quality and provision in developing countries, Toxicology

Teaches Courses Like: Natural History of the Shenandoah Valley, Environmental Risk and Policy, Environmental Ethics

Learn More

Compare Concentrations

Environmental Science Concentration Environmental and Social Sustainability Concentration
Core Courses

Introduction to Sustainability (11 SH)
BIOL 173 Concepts in Biology: Unity and Diversity of Life (4 SH) 
BIOL 235 Ecology: Adaptation & Environment (4 SH) 
SOC 245 Environment and Society (3 SH)

Integration (18 SH)
*ENVS 205 Environmental Applications of GIS  (3 SH)
*ENVS 385 Conservation Biology (4 SH) 
*ENVS 325 Environmental Ethics  (2 SH) 
*ENVS 365 Environmental Risk and Policy (2 SH) 
STAT 120 Descriptive Statistics (2 SH)
OR
STAT 220 Inferential Statistics. (2 SH)
ENVS 429 Environmental Sustainability Internship  (3 SH) 
ENVS 430 Environmental Sustainability Capstone (2 SH)

Required Supporting Courses (9 SH)
BIOL 255 Biology Research Seminar  1
CHEM 223 General Chemistry I (4 SH) 
*CHEM 285 Environmental Chemistry (4 SH) 

Introduction to Sustainability (11 SH) 
BIOL 173 Concepts in Biology: Unity and Diversity of Life (4 SH)
BIOL 235 Ecology: Adaptation & Environment  (4 SH)
SOC 245 Environment and Society (3 SH)

Integration (18 SH) 
*ENVS 205 Environmental Applications of GIS  (3 SH) 
*ENVS 385 Conservation Biology (4 SH) 
*ENVS 325 Environmental Ethics  (2 SH) 
*ENVS 365 Environmental Risk and Policy (2 SH) 
STAT 120 Descriptive Statistics (2 SH)
OR
STAT 220 Inferential Statistics. (2 SH)
ENVS 429 Environmental Sustainability Internship  (3 SH) 
ENVS 430 Environmental Sustainability Capstone (2 SH)

Required Supporting Courses (6 SH):
SOC 225 Theories of Social Change (3 SH)
SOC 336 Methods of Social Research (3 SH)

Electives

Environmental Science electives (5 SH) 

Choose 5 SH of the following courses:
BIOL 225 Molecules, Genes, and Cells (4 SH) 
*BIOL 327 Advanced Microbiology. (3 SH)
*BIOL 358 Natural History of the Shen. Valley (4 SH) 
*BIOL 378 Plant Ecophysiology (3 SH)
*BIOL 388 Entomology  (3 SH)
*BIOL 465 Topics in Advanced Ecology (2 SH) 
CHEM 224 General Chemistry II (4 SH) 
*CHEM 305 Alternative Energy (2 SH)
CHEM 315 Organic Chemistry I  (4 SH) 
CHEM 316 Organic Chemistry II (4 SH) 
*CHEM 325 Analytical Chemistry I (2 SH)
*CHEM 345 Analytical Chemistry II  (2 SH) 
ENVS 135 Earth Science (2 SH) 
*ENVS 235 Sustainable Food Systems (2 SH) 
*ENVS 335 Soil Science (2 SH)


Environmental and Social Sustainability electives (6 SH)

Choose 6 SH of the following courses:
SOC 101 Introduction to Sociology (3 SH)
SOC 225 Theories of Social Change (3 SH)
SOC 336 Methods of Social Research (3 SH)
*PXD 261 Community & Conflict Analysis Tech (3 SH)
PXD 375 Globalization & Justice (3 SH)
SOC 210 Social Stratification (3 SH)
SOC 255 Social Movements (3 SH)
*SOC 350 Urban Sociology (3 SH)
SOWK 360 Race & Gender (3 SH)
BUAD 221 Principles of Management (3 SH)
BUAD 465 Project Management and Grantwriting (3 SH)
ECON 201 Survey of Economics (3 SH)
ECON 211 Principles of Microeconomics (3 SH)
ECON 212 Principles of Macroeconomics (3 SH)
*ECON 300 Environ. and Ecological Economics (3 SH)
*ECON 311 Contemporary Economic Issues (3 SH)
*ECON 401 Development Economics (3 SH)
*ECON 411 International Economics  (3 SH)
PXD 365 Social and Political Economy (3 SH)
PXD 485 International Development (3 SH)

Economics electives (6 SH)

Choose 6 SH Economics electives: 
ECON 201 Survey of Economics  (3 SH)
OR
ECON 211 Principles of Microeconomics (3 SH)
OR
ECON 212 Principles of Macroeconomics (3 SH)
*ECON 300 Environ. and Ecological Economics (3 SH)
*ECON 401 Development Economics (3 SH) 
PXD 365 Social and Political Economy (3 SH)

Sociology electives (6 SH)

Choose 6 SH Sociology electives:
SOC 210 Social Stratification (3 SH)
SOC 255 Social Movements. (3 SH)
SOC 350 Urban Sociology (3 SH)
SOWK 360 Race & Gender  (3 SH)

Environmental Science elective (2-4 SH)

Choose one environmental science elective:
BIOL 225 Molecules, Genes, and Cells (4 SH) 
*BIOL 327 Advanced Microbiology (4 SH) 
*BIOL 358 Natural History of the Shen. Valley. (4 SH) 
*BIOL 378 Plant Ecophysiology (4 SH) 
*BIOL 388 Entomology  (3 SH)
CHEM 155 Matter and Energy  (3 SH)
CHEM 223 General Chemistry I (4 SH) 
*CHEM 305 Alternative Energy (2 SH)
ENVS 145 Environmental Science (2 SH)
ENVS 135 Earth Science (2 SH)
*ENVS 235 Sustainable Food Systems (2 SH)

visit graphicVisit
apply graphicApply