Below are approved cognates for students matriculated Fall 2018 or later, as well as for students matriculated pre-Fall 2018 who have selected to follow the current ES major requirements. 

See previous approved cognates.

Overview

Two cognate courses must be selected from the approved list of cognates, subject to the following:

For ES majors with a focus in the Natural Sciences (ESBI, ESSC, and ESCH):  

1 cognate from the approved list in the Social Sciences or Integrated Courses
1 cognate from the approved list in the Humanities/ARTS or from the Integrated Course list

For ES majors with a focus in the Social Sciences (ESEC, ESGG, ESEP, ESEJ, ESAN, ESCP)

1 cognate from the approved list in the Natural Sciences with a lab
1 cognate from the approved list in the Humanities/ARTS OR from the Integrated Course list

For ES Majors with a focus in the Humanities or Arts (ESAE, ESDA, ESHI, ESAT, ESTH, ESET, ESLI, ESWR):

1 cognate from the approved list in the Natural Sciences with a lab
1 cognate from the approved list in the Social Sciences OR from the Integrated Course list

Divisions

Because integrative courses represent more than one academic division, they inherently represent an academic division outside the division of the student’s focus; therefore, all integrative courses can be counted by all majors toward completion of the cognate requirement, subject to the rules above. Not all approved cognates are offered each semester. Please check with the relevant department to determine course offerings.

  • Arts division foci: Architecture, Dance, Studio Art, Theatre
  • Humanities division foci: History, Literature, Writing, Religion/Philosophy
  • Natural Science division foci: Biology, Chemistry, Earth and Climate Sciences
  • Social Science division foci: Psychology, Economics, Policy, Geography, Sociology/Anthropology

The academic division or “integrative” designation is indicated for each approved cognate below. Natural science courses are divided into those that satisfy the lab science requirement for students focusing outside the natural sciences and those that do not.

Current Approved Cognates

See the list of approved cognates.

Previous Approved Cognates

These are approved cognates for students matriculated prior to Fall 2018 who have selected to continue to follow the previous ES major requirements.

Two cognate courses must be selected from the approved list of cognates, with the restrictions that: (1) students focusing in an environmental science (biology, chemistry, or geology) must take both of their cognates outside of the natural sciences; (2) students focusing in an area other than environmental science must take both cognates as science courses with laboratory. Not all of these courses are offered each year; check with the relevant department to determine course offerings.

Natural Science

Any winter term course explicitly labeled ENVS and explicitly described in the Winter Term Catalogue as counting as a natural science lab cognate for Environmental Studies majors with a focus outside of the natural sciences.

BIOL 0140 Ecology & Evolution
BIOL 0302 Vertebrate Natural History
BIOL 0304 Aquatic Ecology
BIOL 0323 Plant Community Ecology
BIOL 0392 Conservation Biology
CHEM 0270 Environmental Chemistry & Health
ENVS 0240 The Science of Climate Change
GEOG 0326 GIS Applications in Environmental Science & Management
GEOL 0105 Energy & Mineral Resources
GEOL 0112 Environmental Geology
GEOL 0161 Elements of Oceanography
GEOL 0222 Remote Sensing in Environmental Science
GEOL 0250 Arctic & Alpine Environments
GEOL/GEOG 0251 Geomorphology
GEOL 0255 Surface & Ground Water
GEOL 0257 Soils, Geology, & the Environment
GEOL 0323 Environmental Geochemistry

Arts, Humanities, and Social Science

Any winter term course explicitly labeled ENVS and explicitly described in the Winter Term Catalogue as counting as a cognate for Environmental Studies majors with a focus in the environmental sciences.

AMST 0214 Mastodons, Mermaids, and Dioramas: Capturing Nature in America
AMST 0245 American Landscape 1825-1865
AMST 0300 Reclaiming the Swamp: History, Science, & the Challenge of the Everglades
ARBC 0431 The Environmental Middle East: Forests, Rivers, & Peoples
ART 0309 Landscape Re-imagined
DANC 0277 Body & Earth
ECON 0265 Environmental Economics
ECON 0365 Climate Change Economics
ECON 0465 Special Topics in Environmental Economics
EDST 0206 Environmental Education
EDST 0420 Education for Sustainability
ENAM 0108 Animals in Literature & Culture
ENAM 0227 Encounters with the Wild: Nature, Culture, Poetry
ENAM 0243 Maritime Literature & Culture
ENAM/ENVS 0303 Shakespeare, Nature Poet
ENAM 0311 Nature’s Renaissance
ENAM 0445 Recent Novels of Environmental Justice
ENVS 0208 Anthropocene Environ. Justice
ENVS 0209 Gender Health & the Environment
ENVS 0210 Social Class & the Environment
ENVS/ARBC 0245 Human Environment Relations: Middle East
ENVS 0330 Conserving Endangered Species
ENVS 0332 The Perennial Turn in AG and Culture
ENVS 0385 Global Political Ecology
ENVS 0395 Religion, Ethics, & the Environment
ENVS 0444 The New West
ENVS/HARC 0327 Photography & the Environment
FMMC 0285 Sustainable TV: Producing Environmental Media
GEOG 0207 Resource Wars: A Geopolitical Perspective
GEOG 0208 Land & Livelihoods
GEOG 0209 Human Geography of Hazards
GEOG 0210 Geographic Perspectives on International Development
GEOG 0213 Population Geography
GEOG 0216 Rural Geography
GEOG 0225 Environmental Change in Latin America
GRMN 0445 Contemporary Germany & Sustainability
HARC 0231 Architecture & the Environment
HARC 0264 Art, Change, & the Global Environment
HIST 0222 Nature & Inequality: United States Environmental History
HIST 0411 Readings in U.S. History: American Environmental History
HIST 0441 Readings in African History: Environmental History
INTD 0403 Settling the Mind in Wilderness
INTD 0280 Middlebury’s Foodprint: Introduction to Food Systems Issues
INTD 0281 Food, Power, & Justice
INTD 0310 Agroecology
PHIL 0356 Philosophy & the Environment
PSCI 0209 Local Green Politics
PSCI 0214 International Environmental Politics
PSCI 0421 American Environmental Politics
PSCI 0452 Global Environmental Justice
PSYC 0233/0333 Environmental Psychology
PSYC 0416 Environmental Problems & Human Behavior
SOAN 0159 Human Origins, Culture, & Biodiversity
SOAN 0209 Environmental Sociology
SOAN 0211 Human Ecology
SOAN 0236 Sociology of Food & Agricultural Systems
SOAN 0320 Environmental Justice US
SOAN/LNGT 0395 Language & the Environment