Rather than treat Earth as an isolated entity, the systems approach in ESS examines the effect of human activity on Earth's systems (e.g., global environmental change).

Students interested in Environmental Science are well served by our department. With the guidance of an advisor, they would select a coherent plan of ESS courses concerned with the environment, plus a foundation of relevant chemistry and biology courses.

The faculty of the Earth and Geographic Sciences Department is committed to excellent teaching in a challenging yet cooperative atmosphere.

Students utilize scientific methods and hypothesis testing as a way of understanding the natural world. They explore the distribution and interaction of natural and human systems on global, regional, and local scales.

A large part of the learning is experiential and steeped in investigation. This teaches essential content knowledge and skills in critical thinking and problem solving.