To get more information about this minor or to officially declare it, please visit the department website.
This minor embraces human diversity and inclusion in natural resources fields, through exploration of how complex and important aspects of diversity serve to shape natural resources and our environment in our modern era. The minor serves students already passionate about natural resources through an exploration of counter-narratives not often thoroughly discussed in seminal works of natural resource history. It provides for a critical examination of historical and current relationships between human diversity, natural resources, and the environment. Students will develop an understanding of the importance of, and types of, diversity in human-environment interactions; how this diversity contributes to vulnerability and/or resilience to environmental change; and the barriers and opportunities for recognizing and protecting human diversity in the context of natural resource conservation and management. The curriculum provides students with the knowledge and skills needed to address diversity and inclusion issues within the natural resource disciplines represented in the Warner College. This includes proposing solutions to environmental injustices, facilitating intercultural environmental communication, integrating multicultural perspectives in assessment of natural resource issues and development of policy and management solutions, and cultivating a deeper understanding and respect for diverse ways of knowing and experiencing the environment.
Learning Objectives
Upon successful completion, students will be able to:
- Reflect on and extend personal knowledge regarding how individual, family, and cultural contexts have shaped past and present human-environment relationships.
- Distinguish and describe multiple dimensions of diversity, including unique contributions of marginalized social and cultural groups in natural resources.
- Critically analyze historic and contemporary perspectives of dynamic interactions and relationships between people and nature, centering experiences of historically marginalized communities.
- Articulate historical and contemporary sources of discrimination and injustice in natural resource conservation and management.
- Apply diverse conceptual and ethical frameworks for evaluating how environmental risks, costs, and benefits are distributed across populations.
- Critically analyze how different forms of environmental governance and institutional arrangements can determine distribution of power and access to resources, and deferentially impact cultural communities.
- Identify and develop critical career resources and skills necessary for respectfully engaging diversity in the natural resources field.
- Apply analytical tools to engage multicultural perspectives in assessment and management of natural resources.
- Demonstrate competency to communicate across social and cultural differences.
Effective Fall 2023
Students must satisfactorily complete the total credits required for the minor. Minors require 12 or more upper-division (300- to 400-level) credits.
Additional coursework may be required due to prerequisites.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| NR 140 | Diversity and Inclusion in Natural Resources | 3 |
| Select Foundational Course | 3 | |
| Please choose one of the following courses. | ||
| Introductory Cultural Anthropology (GT-SS3) | ||
| Introduction to Ethnic Studies (GT-SS3) | ||
| Introduction to Geography (GT-SS2) | ||
| Introduction to Sociology (GT-SS3) | ||
or SOC 105 | Social Problems (GT-SS3) | |
| Select 18 credits from the courses below with a minimum of 3 credits from each elective competency area. The remaining 9 credits may be selected from any elective area. At least 12 credits applied towards the minor must be WCNR courses | 18 | |
| Human-environment relationships and interactions: | ||
| Indigenous Ecologies and the Modern World | ||
| Indigenous Environmental Stewardship | ||
| Global Climate Justice (Online Course only) | ||
| Sustainability of Parks and Protected Places | ||
| African American History (GT-HI1) | ||
| Asian American History (GT-HI1) | ||
| Chicanx History and Culture (GT-HI1) | ||
| Native American History (GT-HI1) | ||
| Introduction to Critical Disability Studies | ||
| Social Aspects of Natural Resource Management | ||
| The Disability Experience in Society | ||
| Natural resource, justice, ethics, and governance: | ||
| Global Perspectives on Sustainability | ||
| International Climate Negotiations | ||
| Global Environmental Justice Movements | ||
| Disability, Race, Gender in the Environment | ||
| Climate Migrants (GT-SS2) | ||
| Cultural and Political Ecology | ||
| Environment, Food, and Social Justice (GT-SS3) | ||
| Environmental Justice | ||
| Skills and applications in Diversity & Inclusion: | ||
| Virtual International Climate Negotiations | ||
| Mapping Diverse Perspectives in Conservation | ||
| Natural Resource Rights and Reconciliation | ||
| International Issues-Recreation and Tourism | ||
| Program Total Credits: | 24 | |