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Outdoor Studies
Minor Offered
The outdoor studies minor is designed to enrich students’ understanding
and appreciation of nature with a significant emphasis on experience
in the outdoors. Through observation and ecological study, it seeks to
stimulate contemplative introspection concerning the psychological, social
and spiritual effects on humans of intimate contact with nature.
As these goals suggest, outdoor studies is a multidisciplinary approach
to the study of nature, one that brings together scientific inquiry, physical
exercise, moral analysis, self-reflection and literary and artistic representation.
These goals will be met through activities both inside and outside the classroom
that have a strongexperiential component. Minors will need to learn
basic outdoor skills such as first aid and orienteering, but the minor is
not aimed at producing qualified outdoor guides.
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*.
325. Mycology.
227. Mammalogy.
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.
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 101,201,202,203,304.
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
