Degrees & Requirements

Minor Requirements

• ENVS 100 Introduction to Environmental Studies or CVIN 100 Introduction to Civic Innovation or SOCI 230 Environmental Sociology
• ENVS 225 Sustainable Agriculture in Appalachia or CVIN 224 Skills Seminar: Innovative Leadership, CVIN 225 Skills Seminar: Funding Innovation, and CVIN 226 Skills Seminar: Program Development
• SOCI 230 Environmental Sociology or SOCI 250 Food and Justice (required if SOCI 230 already taken)
• ENVS 206 Organic Food Production
• ENVS 207 Advanced Organic Food Production
• ENVS 470 Internship I or CVIN 470 Civic Project or SOCI 470 Internship I

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Course Descriptions

ENVS 100: Introduction to Environmental Studies

Study of the earth’s environmental systems and of the role of humans in those systems. Focus on the major policy and scientific developments and debates, including such topics as nuclear waste disposal, depletion of stratospheric ozone, global climate change, water pollution, and loss of biodiversity.

ENVS 206: Organic Food Production

This course covers the basic principles and methods of organic production of crops, including composting, crop rotation, soil fertility, crop planning and seed ordering for organic production. Students will work in the college vegetable garden as part of the course, practicing all aspects of commercial garden management.

ENVS 207: Advanced Organic Food Production

This course will focus on the implementation of plans developed in ENVS 206 for the organic production of crops, including soil management and preparation, seed starting, seeding and transplanting, irrigation, harvest and post-harvest handling, and seed saving. Students will work in the college vegetable garden and greenhouse as part of the course, in all aspects of farm management.

ENVS 225: Sustainable Agriculture in Appalachia

Agriculture is the largest single land use on our planet. This course examines both conventional and unsustainable agriculture and their impacts on our environment. We review design and management of plant crops and animal husbandry systems and the sustainability of these procedures for our region and for our planet.

Pre-requisite: ENVS 100

ENVS 470: Internship I

Although the usual internship will carry either three or six hours credit, a student may elect to arrange an internship carrying between two and six hours credit with the permission of the department. Each hour of credit will require forty hours at the internship site.

Pre-requisites: junior or senior status, permission of program director, and completion of coursework appropriate to the field work

CVIN 100: Introduction to Civic Innovation

Students understand the distinguishing characteristics of innovation and innovative practice, and work with peers building effective collaborations that address a community need. Students identify and analyze the root causes of the need they are addressing, propose creative outcomes, and outline the innovative practices to achieve those outcomes.

Civic Project: Entry level project work.

CVIN 224: Skills Seminar: Innovative Leadership

Students apply best practices of innovative leadership to nonprofit organizational issues, including governance, board structure and effectiveness, staff development, volunteer recruitment. Students use GIS technology to support prototyping and programming.

CVIN 225: Skills Seminar: Funding Innovation

Students understand the difference between conventional funding such as grants from foundations and funders who act as investors in innovative responses to problems, questions, and issues, looking for a return on the investment. Students accommodate and address both opportunities.

CVIN 226: Skills Seminar: Program Development

Students will learn how to prototype innovative responses to community needs and issues, and acquire skills for assessing those efforts by learning from successes, failures, and mistakes with an emphasis on knowledge creation for further innovation.

CVIN 470: Civic Project

Civic innovative work focused on achieving identified outcomes for an organization, agency, or community, jointly supervised by department and a proven civic innovator. A Civic Project, depending on scope of work and ambition of outcomes, may carry between two and six hours credit with the permission of the program director. Credit hours will be determined before the launch of the civic project and will reflect the scope of work required to achieve the identified outcomes.

SOCI 230: Environmental Sociology

Development of a global sociological perspective on environmental issues and investigation of relationships between various environmental and social problems and the role of political, social, and economic factors in shaping our interation with the natural world. Examination of key environmental problems may include environment and health, disaster, environmental policy, environmental risk, human and animal interactions, environmental justice and social movements.

SOCI 250: Food and Justice

Examine the contemporary food system by looking at food production, distribution, preparation and consumption through the lens of food justice. Apply diverse theoretical, applied and ethical perspectives, including gender, race and ethnicity, social class, economic, environmental and health to an analysis of the food system. Examine food justice organizations/movements working to create healthy and sustainable food systems, with a particular focus on rural food systems.

SOCI 470: Internship I

Applied research experience jointly supervised by the department and a professional in the field. Although the usual internship will carry either three or six hours credit, a student may elect to arrange an internship carrying between two and six hours credit with the permission of the department. Each hour of credit will require forty hours at the internship site.

Pre-requisites: junior status; departmental permission; completion of 330 and 334