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Outdoor Studies
Minor Offered
Outdoor Studies is concerned with nature, ideas about nature (including those of modern science) and ideas about the relationship of humans with nature both actual and ideal. Academically, it includes the study of natural history, ecology and geology; study of philosophical, religious, historical and anthropological traces of the way people have thought about nature and human relations with it; expression of one’s own thoughts and feelings about nature; and refinement of one’s capacity for such expression. Experientially, it encourages close contact with the natural world through field study as well as recreational activities that bring one into close contact with the wild. The immediate goal is to complement more scientific study of environmental problems with appreciation of the place of nature in human lives and of humans in the natural world. The ultimate goal is to help prepare students to make the momentous decisions about the natural world and proper human relationships with it that we must confront in the 21st century.
Minor Requirements
To complete a minor in outdoor studies, students may choose between
two tracks, the on-campus track or the Adirondack Semester intensive
off-campus track. Both tracks require the acquisition of certain
elementary outdoor skills.
On-Campus Track
1. ODST 100, Core course (see description below).
2. ODST 101, MORE course (see description below).
3. One field course emphasizing scientific observation. Current courses include:
Biology
121. The Natural World.
209. Vertebrate Natural
History.
215. Invertebrate Biology.
221. General Ecology*.
227. Mammalogy.
325. Mycology.
360. Marine Ecology.
380. Tropical Ecology.*
*Dual-listed with Environmental Studies.
Geology
350. Structural Geology.
4. Two courses emphasizing environmental philosophy or literature, one with a component emphasizing writing. Current courses include:
English
243. Creative Non-Fiction
Writing.+
295. Nature and Environmental
Writing.
308. Advanced Creative
Non-Fiction Writing.+
328. English Romanticism.
346. American Literature
and the Environment.*
352. Contemporary Literature
and the Environment.*
*Dual-listed with Environmental Studies.
+Only sections including experiences in nature satisfy this requirement.
Environmental Studies
310.
Philosophy and the Environment.*
335. Foundation
of Environmental Thought.
*Dual-listed with Philosophy.
Fine Arts
256. Art and Nature.
Any appropriate Special Topics course. See the director of outdoor studies for approval.
5. Two additional courses from the above listing
or participation in a relevant FYP (Outdoor and Environmental Colleges).
Intensive Off-Campus Track
1. Four and a half units taken during the Adirondack Semester, including ODST 101,201,202,203,310.
2. One elective from the scientific observation or environmental philosophy or literature categories as described above.
Professor
Baylor Laurence Johnson, B.S., Tennessee; M.A., Ph.D., Northwestern
Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of Outdoor Studies
