SPRING 2022 COURSES

AH 351C Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Ecologies of Medieval & Renaissance Art     Instructor: N. Thebaut

An eco-critical approach to the study of Medieval and Renaissance art and architecture, ca. 500-1650. Topics will include representations of the natural world (including animals, rocks, trees, plants, and landscapes), the sourcing of raw materials, the effects of medieval art making on animals, and the fundamental role of Nature in religious images and texts. Students will also explore the relationship between climate change and early modern art as well as consider the stakes of both studying and exhibiting art objects in the wake of our own climate crisis.

Prerequisites: 1 Art History course or permission of instructor.

AN 208 Southwest Archaeology                                             Instructor: K. Baustian

An introduction to archaeological discoveries of prehistoric and protohistoric populations in the ancient American Southwest. To learn about the origins of agriculture, architectural and ritual change, and conflict in the region, students will examine cultural diversity from Paleoindians to pre-contact Puebloan populations, hunter-gatherers to agriculturalists, and indigenous groups ranging from northern Mexico to southern Utah. Students will also discuss and debate archaeological data regarding themes such as occupation patterns, migration, material culture, violence, and adaptations to climate change in arid environments.

ES 252D Regenerative Environmental Systems                    Instructor: Kris Covey

Shifting land use and a changing climate presents humanity with unprecedented global scale challenges threatening ecosystem integrity, resource productivity, and human health. Combating widespread ecosystem degradation requires developing regenerative models for managing dynamic environmental systems across the local and global scales. In this course, we’ll apply basic ecological concepts, theoretical principles, and advanced analytical techniques to regenerative systems design and assessment. We’ll use an interdisciplinary solutions-oriented framework to explore the benefits and challenges of regenerative systems in both developing and developed nations for urban, terrestrial, and marine ecosystem management. Students will build their understanding during discussions, problem sets, and labs evaluating solutions to our most pressing environmental challenges. This course stands in for the ES 206 core requirement for the Environmental Science Major.

Pre-requisites: ES 100 and BI 108 and placement at the AQR level or prior completion of an FQR course, or instructor permission.

ES 352C Urban Planning                                                                Instructor: T. Fabozzi

This course will examine the theory and practice of urban planning in the United States, the evolving structure of cities and suburbs and the ways they can be designed and developed. It will include a review of the dominant planning paradigms and how they have changed over time in response to social, economic and environmental conditions within the American political framework. The course will examine planning as a community process and professional activity, including an evaluation of its successes, failures and possibilities for shaping sustainable metropolitan regions.

Prerequisite: ES 100

GE 203 Introduction to Natural Resources                                             Instructor: J. Cholnoky

Introduces students to rock and mineral resources; how they form and how they are explored and extracted. Students learn about the geologic processes that concentrate earth materials into economically viable deposits and use of that knowledge to locate and extract those materials for use. Students also consider how the evolution of Earth and earth processes such as plate tectonics affect the distribution and concentration of these materials. Students will examine environmental issues associated with the extraction, use, and disposal of mineral resources and learn about approaches to environmental remediation through a case study. Students will also independently study a material resource deposit and present findings to peers.

HI 151D Plagues and Contagion                                                                 Instructor: J. Delton

An interdisciplinary social-cultural and environmental history of plagues and contagion, with an emphasis on understanding how people reacted to, dealt with, politicized, and learned from (or not) pandemics in the past. We will examine the social, scientific, environmental, and political factors that shaped concepts of “contagion” and illness. Includes units on quarantine and vaccines. The aim is to help us understand our current situation.  

MB 341 Sustainable Finance                                                                                        Instructor: T. Li

An overview of the latest developments in the theory and practice of sustainable and responsible finance. Students will develop an understanding of the challenges and opportunities of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues facing businesses and investors, and of how they can address these challenges through sustainable investing. This course covers the following dimensions for studying management and business in context:

Pre-requisite:  EC 237, ID 210, MS 104, PL 202, SO 226 or SO 227. An understanding of finance will be useful.

MB 351C Sustainability in the Business Context                                                       Instructor: P. Olmsted

Ever wonder who makes your clothes, where your food comes from and how companies such as Ben & Jerry’s and Patagonia have managed to build extremely successful companies all while keeping sustainability as a core value? In this course, students will explore a variety of sustainability related topics, including environmental and social sustainability issues in managing supply chains, sustainable marketing, standards for measuring and certifying sustainable operations and sustainability efforts in our local community. The course will introduce students – through a series of case studies, projects and guest lectures from industry leaders – to concepts, theories and models related to sustainability. Sustainable and ethical business practices will also be a major theme in the course.

WLS 325 Advanced Studies: Environmental Perspectives                                Instructor: O. Perez

Focused study of a single dimension of the relationship between culture and the environment in the Spanish-speaking world. The theoretical approaches, forms, social and cultural perspectives, periods, and geographies will vary each semester.

Pre-requisite: WLS 211 or WLS 212