Climate Change Studies - Policy Track, BA
Introduction
Please click here to see Climate Change Studies program information.
The Climate Change Studies program offers BS and BA degrees, and three tracks (e.g., natural science, society and policy) that includes a range of courses across multiple departments, colleges, and schools at CU Denver.
These degree requirements are subject to periodic revision by the academic department, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences reserves the right to make exceptions and substitutions as judged necessary in individual cases. Therefore, the College strongly urges students to consult regularly with their major advisor and CLAS advisor to confirm the best plans of study before finalizing them.
Program Delivery
- This is an on-campus program.
Declaring This Major
- Click here to go to information about declaring a major.
General Requirements
To earn a degree, students must satisfy all requirements in each of the three areas below, in addition to their individual major requirements.
- CU Denver General Graduation Requirements
- CU Denver Core Curriculum
- College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Graduation Requirements
- Click here for information about Academic Policies
Program Requirements
- Students must complete a minimum of 47 credit hours and of those 33 will be upper division credit hours from the approved courses.
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A minimum of 30 credit hours must be completed in courses taught by faculty in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, at CU Denver.
- Students must earn a minimum grade of C- (1.7) in all courses that apply to the major and must achieve a minimum cumulative major GPA of 2.0. Courses taken using P+/P/F or S/U grading cannot apply to major requirements.
Program Restrictions, Allowances and Recommendations
- Only three credits of Travel Study may be counted toward graduation requirements.
- Undergraduate students may count up to 6 credit hours of independent study or internship (any combination of CCST 3840 Independent Study: CCST 4840 Independent Study: CCST 4880 Directed Research, or CCST 3939 Internship) towards elective credit in the major as approved by the undergraduate coordinator. Students may not receive more than three credit hours per independent study section. No more than three credit hours of independent study may be taken with the same instructor or in the same term.
- CCST 3939 Internship: Community/Professional Experience optional, but highly recommended.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Complete the following required courses: | ||
| CCST 1001 | Climate Change Seminar | 1 |
| CCST 4001 | Climate Change Capstone | 3-4 |
| Complete the following climate literacy courses: | ||
| ENVS 1044 & ENVS 1045 | Introduction to Environmental Sciences and Introduction to Environmental Sciences Laboratory (Courses can fulfill CU Denver Core Natural/Physical Sciences lab science and/or non-lab science course requirement.) | 4 |
| or GEOG 1202 | Introduction to Physical Geography | |
| GEOG/ENVS 3232 | Weather and Climate | 3 |
| Complete the list of the following foundations of climate policy courses: | ||
| COMM 2082 | Introduction to Environmental Communication | 3 |
| ECON 4540 | Environmental Economics | 3 |
| GEOG 4720 | Climate Change: Causes, Impacts and Solutions | 3 |
| HIST 3616 | Global History of Energy | 3 |
| PSCI 2365 | Politics of Climate Change | 3 |
| Complete one of the following environmental justice courses: | 3 | |
| Climate Justice | ||
| Indigenous Political Systems | ||
| Indigenous Politics | ||
| Complete one quantitative methods course from the following list: | 3-4 | |
| Quantitative Methods in Anthropology | ||
| Biostatistics | ||
| Environmental Modeling with Geographic Information Systems | ||
| Applied Spatial Statistics | ||
| Data Wrangling & Visualization | ||
| Applied Statistics | ||
| Research Methods | ||
| Complete one qualitative methods course from the following list: | 3 | |
| Critical Analysis of Communication | ||
| Research Methods: Qualitative | ||
| Hazard Mitigation and Vulnerability Assessment | ||
| Theory and Practice of History: An Introduction to the Major | ||
| History at Work: Public and Community History | ||
| Community Health Assessment | ||
| Ethnographic Research In Public Health | ||
| Project Management and Program Evaluation | ||
| Complete one course from the following natural sciences list (methods courses can substitute): | 3-4 | |
| Principles of Ecology | ||
| Advanced Ecology | ||
| Conservation Biology | ||
| Applied Microbial Ecology | ||
| Biogeography | ||
| Colorado Climates | ||
| Anthropocene Futures | ||
| Landscape Biogeochemistry | ||
| Earth Environments and Human Impacts | ||
| Applied Geomorphology | ||
| Glacial Geomorphology | ||
| Mountain Biogeography | ||
| Beeography: Geography of Bees | ||
| Urban Climate and Air Quality | ||
| Complete two courses from the following policy list: | 6 | |
| Environmental Communication | ||
| The Politics of Nature | ||
| Science, Policy and the Environment | ||
| Introduction to Environmental Health | ||
or PBHL 3070 | Perspectives in Global Health | |
| Policy and Advocacy | ||
| Managing and Leading in Environmental Organizations | ||
| Community Resilience, Climate, and Emergency Response | ||
| Sustainable Energy Policy | ||
| Transportation, Planning and Policy | ||
or URPL 4555 | Transportation, Land Use and the Environment | |
| Complete one course from the following society list: | 3 | |
| History of Human Environmental Impacts | ||
| Environmental Communication | ||
| Economics of Natural Resources | ||
| Environmental Economics | ||
| Climate Change & Society | ||
| Urban Sustainability and Resiliency: Perspectives and Practice | ||
| Nature and Power in American History | ||
| Science, Technology, and Society in the Modern World | ||
| Ethnicity, Health and Social Justice | ||
| Health in the City: Urban Health | ||
| Global Ecological Crises | ||
| Total Hours | 47-50 | |
To learn more about the Student Learning Outcomes for this program, please visit our website.
To review the Degree Map for this program, please visit our website.