Energy and Society

Energy and Society
Academic Bulletin

The Energy and Society minor is an interdivisional minor. Students may choose any major to satisfy the college requirement that the major and minor be in different divisions.

Students who are interested in the following topics may be good candidates in pursuing an Energy and Society minor:

• Natural resources (energy, water, metals, etc.)
• Sustainability
• Climate change
• Domestic and international political systems
• Economics of energy resources (fossil fuels, nuclear, and renewables)
• Community, ethics, and social justice
• Global health and well-being

The Energy and Society minor consists of 20 credit hours with three required courses and a minimum of eight elective credit hours. It is recommended that students begin by taking ENERG 105: Introduction to Energy and Society. ENERG 105 provides a broad overview of society’s energy systems and allows a student to get a feel for the field of energy, and has distribution tags of Quantitative Reasoning (QR) and Social Behavior and Institutions (SB). 

For future course planning purposes, it should be noted the frequency of when the foundational courses (ENERG 105, ENVSC 385, and ENERG 485) will be offered only one time per academic year. Both ENVSC 385 and ENERG 485 have laboratory sections associated with them, so please plan your schedules to accommodate those time periods.  

Elective courses related to the minor are in areas of Ethics and Social Justice, Communication, Economic Systems, and Political Systems. Students may use a credit-bearing internship to fulfill up to 4 credit hours of their 8 credit hour elective requirement.