Major in Political Science, Environmental Politics and Policy Concentration

The Environmental Politics and Policy concentration is designed to help students develop the knowledge and skills to analyze the connections between politics and the natural world, and pursue careers in environmental politics and policy-making. Students will learn about how political forces contribute to environmental degradation, the process for developing environmental policies, strategies to assess the strengths and weaknesses of different policy approaches, and how political forces can be harnessed to develop effective responses to problems such as climate change, water and air pollution, food security, and energy provision. Students will explore these issues from both domestic and global perspectives. Environmental Politics and Policy students are strongly encouraged to complete an internship to gain practical experience working in the field.

Learning Objectives

Students majoring in Political Science shall demonstrate the following:

1. Ability to reason through political claims and assertions by political actors.

2. Skill in recognizing and responding to diverse ideological perspectives.

3. Ability to locate political issues and controversies within their relevant institutional and historical contexts.

4. Familiarity with the institutional processes of politics in numerous global and domestic political arenas.

5. Confidence in expressing opinions and presenting analyses of political problems and their solutions.

Potential Occupations

Graduates may work as policy analysts, advocates, planners, educators or decision-makers in government agencies, non-profit organizations, businesses, and consulting firms at the local, state, national, and international levels.

To change your Major to Political Science, Environmental Politics and Policy Concentration, you can either call the College of Liberal Arts Academic Advising Center at 970-491-3117 or send an email to cla_advising@colostate.edu. More information is available on https://advising.libarts.colostate.edu.

Effective Spring 2025

Political science majors must achieve a minimum grade of C (2.000) in each of the political science (POLS) courses counted toward meeting the requirement of the major.

American Politics and Law, Comparative Politics, or International Relations Course List

Environmental Politics and Policy Course List 

Support Option

Political Science majors must complete one of the following five Support Options.

Minor or Interdisciplinary Minor Support Option

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
Select a minor or interdisciplinary minor in consultation with advisor.		21-24

Student-Selected Course Group Support Option

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
A program of courses proposed by student and approved by advisor containing a minimum of 21 credits, of which at least 12 must be upper-division (300- to 400-level).		21

 Second Major Support Option

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
Select a second major in consultation with advisor. This option may require as much as 36 credits. Credit range shown is approximate, and may require more or less, depending on the second major chosen.		27-36

Foreign Language Support Option

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
A minimum of 5 courses totaling at least 15 credits in a single foreign language, including at least 2 courses of language instruction or in the language at the upper-division level.		15-22

Methods Support Option

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
Methods Support Option		21
POLS 320	Empirical Political Analysis	3
STAT 301	Introduction to Applied Statistical Methods	3
Select two from the following:		6
PHIL 120	History and Philosophy of Scientific Thought (GT-AH3)
PHIL 327	Philosophy of Behavioral Sciences
PHIL 415	Logic and Scientific Method
Select one from the following:		3
STAT 305	Sampling Techniques
STAT 341	Statistical Data Analysis I
STAT 342	Statistical Data Analysis II
Select two from the following:		6
ANTH 441	Method in Cultural Anthropology
AREC 335/ECON 335	Introduction to Econometrics
SOC 210	The Power of Numbers--Statistics in Sociology
SOC 311	Sociological Research Methods

¹

Select a minimum of 12 upper-division (300- to 400-level) credits to fulfill the Environmental Politics and Policy course requirement. Sophomores may take only 300-level courses from this section. Students may substitute a maximum of 3 credits in one of two ways: 1. from non-POLS specified courses shown above in the program; 2. by petitioning the advisor to include a non-POLS upper-division course when at least fifty percent (50%) of the course material and grading are related to environmental politics and policy. A course syllabus will be required for this option.

²

Courses selected to fulfill the American Politics and Law, Comparative Politics, or International Relations course requirements may not also fulfill the Environmental Politics and Policy course requirements, and vice versa. 

³

Sophomores may take only 300-level American Politics and Law, Comparative Politics, or International Relations course courses.

⁴

Students must complete one upper-division course in each of four of the five departmental subfields (American Politics and Law, Political Theory, International Relations, Comparative Politics, and Environmental Politics and Policy) prior to taking POLS 492. 

⁵

Select enough elective credits to bring the program total to a minimum of 120 credits, of which at least 42 must be upper-division (300- to 400-level).

Distinctive Requirements for Degree Program:

Political science majors must achieve a minimum grade of C (2.000) in each of the political science (POLS) courses counted toward meeting the requirement of the major.

Upper-Division course in at least four subfields of Political Science required to register for POLS 492.