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Academics / Undergraduate Programs / Major Requirements

Major Requirements

UK Core Requirements

The UK Core requires 21 credit hours across a number of areas of inquiry.

College of Arts & Sciences Requirements

The UK College of Arts and Sciences requires 18 credit hours across a number of areas and a foreign language, which can be satisfied in several different ways.

ENS Core Requirements

Check out the ENS Core Courses page for more details!

  • ENS 201 Environmental & Sustainability Studies I: Humanities and Social Sciences
  • ENS 202 Environmental & Sustainability Studies II: Natural Sciences and Policy
  • ENS 300 Special Topics in Environmental & Sustainability Studies
  • PHI 336 Environmental Ethics
  • Choose one of the following:
    • ENG 425 Environmental Writing
    • WRD 304 Writing in the Social Sciences
    • WRD 305 Public Science Writing
    • WRD 310 Writing in the Natural Sciences
  • ENS 400 Capstone Course in Environmental & Sustainability Studies

ENS Major Requirements: Areas of Expertise

You will take 24 credit hours across three areas of expertise: 1) economics, 2) environment, and 3) society.

You'll select a primary, secondary, and tertiary area and take a different number of courses for each:

  • Primary area: 5 courses (15 credit hours)
  • Secondary area: 2 courses (6 credit hours)
  • Tertiary area: 1 course (3 credit hours) 

As you are meeting with your advisors to plan your Spring 2025 course schedules, here's a resource for you! 

Spring 2025 ENS Core & Elective Course Offerings

This spreadsheet lists all the ENS Core courses being taught in Spring 2025, as well as all the courses being taught that are pre-approved to count towards your economics, environment, and society areas of expertise.

NOTE: If you would like a course that isn't pre-approved to count towards one of these areas of expertise, please schedule an appointment with Dr. Sandmeyer or Dr. Cagle to request an exception.

PS You can also access this information on the ENS Curriculum page in Canvas.

Optional: Thematic Concentrations

You may create your own Thematic Concentration by selecting a group of related elective courses from the three Areas of Expertise. You might identify a theme based on your own interests, subjects for which there is significant career potential, or to prepare for a particular experience, such as a study abroad or internship.

Read more about examples of thematic concentrations here.