Envs
4950 Integrative Seminar in Environmental Studies, Spring 2022
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Policies
last update: January 13, 2022
I. Course Information and Description
ENVS 4950 Integrative Seminar in Environmental Studies
MW 12:35-1:30pm, Burleson 303
This course is a "capstone" experience for
Environmental Studies minors who are preparing to graduate. The purpose is to
help you synthesize what you've learned in the courses you've already taken for
the minor, and to help you identify your own niche, or area of interest, within
the broad field of environmental studies. Students in the class will read and
discuss two books and a range of articles in common. In addition, you will work
with me, individually, to arrange a service activity, project, or placement
related to your area of interest. You will also then select additional readings
(one full-length book, or the equivalent) that relate specifically to your interests.
II. Instructor Information
Dr. Kevin O'Donnell, http://faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/,
odonnell@etsu.edu 423 439-6679
Office Hours: Tues and Thurs at 11:15am-12:35pm in Burleson 313 or on zoom at 491 423 6356.
III. Assignments and Activities
- 20 to 30 hours service activity or project.
- Readings, discussion, and written responses: You will
occasionally write responses to the readings, either as assigned ahead of time,
or in class on the day readings are due.
- Syllabus
and course materials: You will submit a customized syllabus by the fifth
week of class, to be posted on the web.
- Written final project: You will produce approximately 10
pages of formal writing--the form, audience, and purpose of which will be
related to your service project, and which will be determined by you, in
consultation with me.
IV. Final Grade Breakdown
- 20 to 30 hours of service work: 30%
- Written final project: 30%
- Midterm
exam: 15%
- Weekly assignments, including customized syllabus; reading
responses; reading quizzes; etc: 10%
- Presentation to classmates, based on final project: 10%
- Miscellaneous--participation in draft workshops; informal
in-class writing, etc: 5%
V. Required Texts
- Ed Yong, editor. Best American Science and Nature
Writing 2021. Mariner Books, 2021. $16.99. ISBN: 978-0358400066. Note that
the publisher has declined the ETSU bookstore's request for this title, so
you'll have to order it yourself online. Click
here for the amazon link.
- David George Haskell. The Songs of Trees: Stories
from Nature's Great Connectors. Penguin Books,
2018. $18.00. ISBN: 978-0143111306
- Various reading selections posted on the web.
- In addition to the above texts, which we will all read in
common, you will select an additional text--typically one book or a book-length
work--related specifically to your area of interest, and to your service
placement. You will choose this text in consultation with me.
For this course, you will spend 20-30 hours, over the course
of the 15-week semester, engaged in a service activity or project related to
your area of interest within environmental studies. You will work with me to
arrange your placement with an institution or group.
VI. Service Placements
I will talk to you during the second week of classes about
which placement could work for you. Covid presents some challenges, but right
now I know I have these possibilities for placements:
- Appalachian Trail Maintenance (TN Eastman Hiking Club)
- Roan Mountain State Park
- Bays Mountain Park (City of Kingsport)
- Johnson City Parks