Envs
4950 Integrative Seminar in Environmental Studies, O'Donnell, Spring 2012
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last update: January 12, 2012
Course Information and Description
ENVS 4950 Integrative Seminar in Environmental Studies sec. 001
MWF 9:20-10:15am, Brown 476
Class meets on Mondays and
Wednesdays. Except for the first class
meeting (Fri, Jan 13), we will not meet on Fridays, though the course is
officially scheduled on MWF.
This course is a
"capstone" experience for Environmental Studies minors who are
preparing to graduate. The purpose is to
help students synthesize what they've learned in the courses they've taken for
the environmental studies minor, and to define their own niche, or area of
interest, within the broad field of environmental studies.
Students in the class will read
and discuss three books in common. In
addition, each student will work with the instructor to arrange a service
activity, project, or placement related to the the student's particular
interest within the broad field of environmental studies. Each student will also then select additional
readings that directly relate to their service placement. Thus, each student will design a customized
course syllabus, built around the service placement. (See links under "Requirements,"
below, for more on the service activity and the customized syllabus.)
Instructor Information
Dr. Kevin O'Donnell, http://faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/,
odonnell@etsu.edu 423 439-6679
Office:
Burleson Hall 313
Spring 2012 Office Hours: TR 10:30-12:30; W 11:30-1:30
Requirements
1.
Syllabus
and course materials: Students will
submit a customized syllabus by the third week, to be posted on the web.
2.
20 to
30 hours service activity or project.
3.
Readings, discussion, and written responses: Students will read three books in common with
other students, plus other readings selected in consultation with the
instructor. Informal, written responses
will be assigned.
4.
Writing project: Students will
produce approximately 10 pages of formal writing--form, audience, and purpose
to be related to service activity or project and determined by the student in
consultation with instructor. Students
will read drafts of each other's writing, and will present work to each other
in a class forum at the end of the semester.
Final Grade Breakdown
- 20-30 hours of service work: 25%
- Major writing project, related
to service work: 30%
- Weekly assignments, including
customized syllabus; reading responses; reading quizzes; etc: 30%
- Presentation to classmates,
based on major writing project: 10%
- Miscellaneous--participation in
draft workshops; informal in-class writing, etc: 5%
Required Texts
- Freeman Dyson, ed. The
Best American Science and Nature Writing 2010. Mariner Books, 2010. $14.95.
ISBN: 0547327846
- Charles Mann. 1493:
Uncovering the New World Columbus Created.
Knopf, 2011. $30.50. ISBN: 0307265722
- Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. M.
Conway. Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on
Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming. Bloomsbury, 2011. $18.00.
ISBN: 1608193942
- Other readings chosen by each
student, in consultation with instructor, for customized syllabus.