The environmental studies major provides students with an interdisciplinary opportunity to investigate the relationship between humans and their environment. As distinct from environmental science, the curriculum in environmental studies is based in the arts, humanities, and social sciences, emphasizing the political, economic, and social organization of human cultures in relation to the natural world, as well as the artistic, philosophical, and experiential responses to natural and built environments.

Major Learning Outcomes

Students who graduate with a major in environmental studies will be able to:

1. Demonstrate environmental literacy through studying, from an interdisciplinary perspective, social issues that underlie contemporary environmental problems;
2. Understand the principles of ecology and environmental issues that apply to air, land, and water issues on a global scale;
3. Develop critical thinking and/or observation skills and apply them to the analysis of a problem or question related to the environment;
4. Demonstrate an understanding of ethical dimensions of environmental issues.

Major in Environmental Studies

A minimum of 50 semester hours is required, including:
ESC 105 and ESC 106: Environmental Science: Sustainable Communities with Laboratory
ESC 118: Great Plains River Lab
ESC 209: Field Survey Techniques in Zoology
ESC 223: Organismal Biology
GEO 101/104 or GEO 120: Fundamentals of Geology with Laboratory or Earth’s Weather and Climate
ART 313: Art and Ecology
COM 319: Environmental Communication
HST 365: American Environmental History
PHR 304: Environmental Ethics
ESC/HST/ART 490: Seminar

Choose two of the following:
ART 210: Design I
ART 243: Photography
ART 310: Design II
ART 317: Museum Studies I
ART 325: Imaging Text & Data
ART 343: Photography II
ENG 223: Introduction to Native American Literature
ENG 244: Literature and the Environment
ENG 270: Literature of Montana and the American West
HST 260: Montana and the West:
HST 311: History of Western America
HST 356: Indigenous Resistance and Survival
PHR 378: Philosophy of Technology and Modern Culture
POL 318: Visions of Utopia

Choose one of the following:
BIO 410: Conservation Biology
ESC 314: Range Ecology
ESC 330: Wildlife Management and Conservation
ESC 347: Forest Ecology
ESC 436: Yellowstone Winter Ecology

ART 210 – Design I

Semester: Fall
Semester hours: 3

This studio course closely examines two-dimensional and three-dimensional and four-dimensional design by studying the principles of design and the elements of art using both traditional and digital techniques. Students will create, display, and formally present for criticism to the course academic exercises and works of art.

ART 243 – Photography

Semester: Fall and Spring
Semester hours: 3

This course explores the conceptual and practical principles of photography through lectures, readings, lab, and hands-on assignments. Technical focus is on camera operation, composition, and editing. The class also considers the history of aesthetic and ethical photographic issues around the world. Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop are used to explore possibilities for processing and manipulating photographs.

ART 310 – Design II

Semester: Fall
Semester hours: 3

This studio course continues the principles studied in ART 210: Design I by building on the principles of two-dimensional and three-dimensional and four-dimensional design by studying the principles of design and the elements of art using both traditional and digital techniques. Students will create, display, and formally present for criticism to the course academic exercises and works of art.

Prerequisite: ART 210

ART 317 – Museum Studies I

Semester: Fall
Semester hours: 3

This course critically considers the social, cultural, and practical role of the museum. The history of museums and collections is interrogated, and how this relates to the construction of art history through acquisitions, exhibitions, and circumstance. Students gain hands-on experience with database management and work with art objects through engagement with pieces in the Rocky Mountain College art collection. This is supported by field trips and work with local museums and collections. 

ART 325 – Imaging Text & Data

Semester: Spring; Alternate years
Semester hours: 3

This course considers historic and contemporary approaches to translating language and data into visual form through a series of projects. Topics may include calligraphy, typography, letterpress, bookmaking, text-based conceptual art, poster/chart design, fonts, and data visualization. Fine art, commercial, and scientific context are compared, alongside global traditions and new direction in the form of the written word and data.

ART 343 – Photography II

Semester: Spring; Alternate years
Semester hours: 3

This course builds upon Photography I, continuing exploration of the conceptual and practical principles of photography through lectures, readings, lab, and hands-on assignments. Advanced and experimental camera and studio lighting techniques are covered. The class also considers the history of aesthetic, ethical, and professional photographic issues around the world.

Prerequisite: ART 243

BIO 410 – Conservation Biology

Semester: Spring; Even years
Semester hours: 2-3

Students experience a multi-disciplinary approach to conservation encompassing genetics to ethics. Discussions emphasize biological diversity, extinction probability theory, reserve design, management, and reintroduction strategies. Written and oral presentations are required.

Prerequisite: BIO 306

COM 319 – Environmental Communication

Semester: Spring
Semester hours: 3

This course investigates how symbols are used to construct and reflect nature and its relationship with humans. It examines intersections between the environment and humanity through a variety of communicative lenses, including theories of social-symbolic discourse, mass media, rhetoric, and public advocacy.

Prerequisite: any 200-level COM course

ENG 223 – Introduction to Native American Literature

Semester: Fall; Alternate years
Semester hours: 3

This course is an examination of selected literature produced by such Native American writers as Momaday, Welch, Erdrich, McNickle, Silko, and others. Students will consider issues of genre, history, and politics, as they relate to American literature. Special emphasis is given to the oral tradition and its relationship to contemporary American writing.

ENG 244 – Literature and the Environment

Semester: Spring; Alternate years
Semester hours: 3

This course is a comparative study of the environmental imagination as expressed in literature. By reading and discussing a wide range of literary texts, students investigate timeless and more urgent questions, such as “What is nature?”; “What is our responsibility to the environment?”; “How do various cultures express their relation to the natural world?”.

ENG 270 – Literature of Montana and the American West

Semester: Spring; Alternate years
Semester hours: 3

This course examines literature written by and about people living in Montana and the western United States, including American Indians, women, and immigrants.

ESC 105 – Environmental Science: Sustainable Communities

Semester: Fall and Spring
Semester hours: 3

An introductory course designed for students entering the environmental sciences and studies program and for other students who would like to take an ecology course. Topics address the central concepts of ecology including the physical environment in which life exists. Students will explore the properties and processes of populations and communities, ecosystem dynamics, biogeography and biodiversity, as well as issues in conservation and restoration ecology. Three hours of lecture per week. This course may fulfill a natural lab science core curriculum requirement if taken concurrently with ESC 106.

ESC 106 – Environmental Science: Sustainable Communities Laboratory

Semester: Fall and Spring
Semester hours: 1

In the laboratory, students will apply environmental science concepts to ecological studies in the natural environment and learn how to present their results in a scientific report. One two-hour laboratory session per week.

Corequisite: ESC 105

ESC 118 – Montana Rivers

Semester: Fall
Semester hours: 3

This integrative, field-based course introduces students to the environmental programs at Rocky Mountain College and is a required course for geography, environmental science, and environmental studies. Through hands-on experiences in the outdoor classrooms of the Yellowstone and Missouri River watersheds, students will gain a geographic perspective on key regional environmental issues. Activities include a multi-day canoe trip on the Missouri River or Yellowstone River and outdoor service learning activities, such as the annual Yellowstone River Cleanup. Students will read and keep journals, write papers, examine basic ecology and geology, analyze and communicate effectively about patterns of landscape change and management, and work as part of a team of outdoor professionals. Students will learn basic GPS and mapping (GIS) skills.

Corequisite: ESC 105 and 106; or permission of instructor

ESC 209 – Field Survey Techniques in Zoology

Semester: Spring; Even years
Semester hours: 4

A field and laboratory course covering basic field techniques to survey and inventory areas to assess biodiversity, with an emphasis on Montana mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, and fish fauna. Topics include species identification, survey and trapping, experimental design, data analysis, and report completion. Once identification and survey skills are learned, field teams will be formed and assigned to survey and inventory local habitats of concern with the goal of helping guide local management and restoration of these habitats. An additional fee is required.

Prerequisite: ESC 105 and 106, or BIO 120

ESC 223 – Organismal Biology

Semester: Spring
Semester hours: 4

This course provides students with an overview of general evolutionary principles, systematics, and biological diversity, primarily in multicellular organisms. Topics include evolution and biodiversity, the structure and function of plant and animal forms, and the physiology of plant and animal systems. Weekly laboratory sections will provide a hands-on introduction to the major groups of living organisms, evolution, and systematics. Students will also design and conduct a semester-long independent research project. Three hours of lecture and one two-hour laboratory per week.

Prerequisite: BIO 120 or ESC 105

ESC 314 – Range Ecology

Semester: Fall; Alternate years
Semester hours: 4

This course is the study of mixed grass prairies of the West and an introduction to ecological concepts applicable to that area. Topics include historical and current land use, ecosystem responses to change, methods for maintaining natural prairie habitats, the use of prairies as rangelands, and determinations of ecological conditions and trends on rangelands. The laboratory focuses on identification of common prairie plant species and their importance for both wildlife and domestic animals. Three hours of lecture and one two-hour laboratory session per week.

Prerequisite: BIO 120 or ESC 223

ESC 330 – Wildlife Management and Conservation

Semester: Fall
Semester hours: 4

A multidisciplinary approach to conservation and management issues encompassing genetics to ethics. Topics include population genetics, evolutionary mechanisms, biodiversity, reserve design, and re-introduction strategies. Written reports and oral presentations are required. An additional fee is required.

Prerequisite: BIO 120 or ESC 223; and ESC 105 and ESC 106

ESC 347 – Forest Ecology

Semester: Spring; Alternate years
Semester hours: 4

This course is designed to introduce students to the forest ecosystems of the West. Topics include the forest environment, biotic and abiotic components of a forest, forest compensation, tree physiology, forest production, patterns across space and time, disturbance, urban ecology, forest ecosystem services, and the role and impact of humans on forest communities. The laboratory focuses on identification of common Montana tree species, forest ecosystems in Montana, and the importance of these species and systems. Three hours of lecture and one two-hour laboratory session per week.

Prerequisite: ESC 223 or BIO 120

ESC 436 – Yellowstone Winter Ecology

Semester: Spring; Alternate Years
Semester hours: 4

This course focuses on the ecology of Yellowstone National Park, emphasizing the complex interactions of large mammals with the forest and range plant communities. Students explore the methods used by the National Park Service to establish natural resource policies and examine the Park’s scientific research priorities. Two extended weekend laboratories provide research opportunities that include topics in winter ecology and aspects of the role of large mammals in the Yellowstone ecosystem. An additional fee is required.

Prerequisite: ESC 330; and ESC 314 or ESC 325 or ESC 347; or permission of the instructor

ESC 490 – Seminar

Semester: Offered at discretion of department
Semester hours: 2-3

Selected topics in environmental sciences or environmental studies are explored.

GEO 101 – Fundamentals of Geology

Semester: Fall and Spring
Semester hours: 3

This course provides an introduction to the science of earth minerals, earth systems, and earth history, including the study of minerals, rocks, volcanoes, earthquakes, rock deformation and metamorphism, weathering, and erosion within the modern paradigm of plate tectonics. Special emphasis is placed on interpreting the geologic landscape and history of the Rocky Mountains through an understanding of Earth processes. Three hours of lecture and one recommended two-hour laboratory per week, plus field trips. This course fulfills a natural science core curriculum requirement, and if taken with GEO 104, may fulfill the natural science with lab requirement.

GEO 104 – Fundamentals of Geology Laboratory

Semester: Fall and Spring
Semester hours: 1

Focus on description of the earth materials and earth systems within the framework of plate tectonic theory. Introduction to identification of minerals, rocks, geologic maps, and structures.

Corequisite: GEO 101 or GEO 218

GEO 120 – Earth’s Weather and Climate

Semester: Fall
Semester hours: 3

This course introduces students to weather and climate patterns and phenomena from across the globe. Students will be exposed to the forcing mechanisms that drive weather and climate systems including the sources of energy and the interactions among the atmosphere, the behavior of air masses and atmospheric circulation, severe weather, and climate change including human-induced climate modification. Activities will include regular discussions about relevant topics drawing on the scientific literature.

HST 260 – Montana and the West

Semester: Spring; Odd years
Semester hours: 3

Students survey the history of Montana in its regional context from its indigenous origins through 19th and 20th century economics, social, and political developments.

HST 311 – History of Western America

Semester: Spring; Even years
Semester hours: 3

Students will study the history of the trans-Mississippi West from the region’s indigenous origins into the 21st century, with a focus on environmental, social, and political developments.

Prerequisite: any lower-division humanities course as listed in the humanities core curriculum requirement of the course catalog

HST 356 – Indigenous Resistance and Survival

Semester: Fall; Even years
Semester hours: 3

This course is an exploration of the variety of military, political, and cultural responses by indigenous people to colonialism, especially in response to settler societies such as those in the Americas, South Africa, Australia, or New Zealand. Topics will include violence, strategies of resistance and accommodation, the formation of racial identities, environmental degradation, and ongoing struggles for autonomy in a global context.

Prerequisite: any lower-division humanities course as listed in the humanities core curriculum requirement of the course catalog

HST 365 – American Environmental History

Semester: Fall; Odd years
Semester hours: 3

This course examines the interrelationship of human society and nature in American history. Topics will include ecology as it relates to European conquest of the Americas, Native American peoples, public lands policies, American national character, technological society, conservation, and the modern environmental movement.

Prerequisite: any lower-division humanities course as listed in the humanities core curriculum requirement of the course catalog

HST 490 – Seminar

Semester: Fall
Semester hours: 3

This seminar explores such topics as the methods and materials of research, trends in historical research and writing, and a survey of historiography and the philosophy of history. A major research paper is required. This course is cross-listed with POL 490.

PHR 304 – Environmental Ethics

Semester: Fall; Even years
Semester hours: 3

This course will address issues such as whether natural beings and the natural world have rights or whether only humans have rights. Students will determine what is ethically appropriate for humans in their relationship with the environment as well as what environmental ethics must take account of to be consequential in the world today.

PHR 378 – Philosophy of Technology and Modern Culture

Semester: Spring; Even years
Semester hours: 3

It is often a difficult task to understand one’s own culture and age. Recent philosophical work offers profound insights into our age and places these insights within a much wider context.

POL 313 – Environmental Politics

Semester: Spring; Even years
Semester hours: 3

This course explores the political problems associated with the human impact on the natural environment: pollution, natural resources, public lands, land use, energy, cultural/social justice, and population.

Prerequisite: POL 101 or ESC 105

POL 318 – Visions of Utopia

Semester: Offered at discretion of department
Semester hours: 3

This course is an exploration of the persistent, yet elusive, quest for the ideal system of governance. The course explores how “perfect” systems have been visualized in theory, attempted in practice, and often lamented in retrospect. Readings are drawn from a variety of historical examples, dating back to the ancient world, and include several utopian and dystopian novels that illuminate the inherent conflict between necessary order and perfect freedom.

Prerequisite: POL 101 or ESC 105

• Tim Lehman, Professor
• Kayhan Ostovar, Professor
• Todd Forsgren, Associate Professor
• Megan Poulette, Associate Professor