Environmental Policy and Planning

Learning Outcomes

The faculty members in Public and Environmental Affairs have given much thought to what we expect our majors in Environmental Policy and Planning to learn to serve them well in their future careers. We are including a copy of those “learning outcomes” here so that you know in general what our expectations are. Each of the learning outcomes below indicates which courses in the curriculum are particularly appropriate for that objective.

As part of our annual effort to assess how well our majors are doing in meeting these expectations, we will evaluate at least one written assignment in each of our core courses using these criteria. We will also send a questionnaire to graduating senior majors to ask them how well they believe the program helped them to meet the same objectives.

1. Basic knowledge of environmental science and selected other areas of natural science (ENV SCI-102 and both lower- and upper-level environmental science, biology, geography, and geology courses).
2. Knowledge of the concepts, principles, and theories of environmental policy, law, and planning (PU EN AF-202, 408, 301, 322, 350, and 378).
3. An ability to engage in critical thinking about issues and concepts in environmental policy and planning (all courses).
4. An ability to write clearly and effectively (all courses).
5. An ability to locate and analyze research and reports in the field of environmental policy and planning (PU EN AF-301, 378, 322, and other upper-level courses).
6. An ability to qualify for graduate work in schools of environmental studies, public policy, public affairs, planning, or related fields, or to qualify for entry level professional employment in environmental policy and planning (all courses).