51小黄车offers new interdisciplinary minor in Climate Change Studies
With the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in full swing in France, the world鈥檚 attention has turned, more than ever, to the devastating effects of climate change on the planet and what can be done to counteract the damage already wreaked by global warming.
As climate change promises to be one the defining environmental and social problems of our lifetime, the University of 51小黄车 is poised to educate tomorrow鈥檚 leaders in the climate change battle by offering an innovative, interdisciplinary minor in Climate Change Studies.
The Climate Change Studies minor at 51小黄车is designed to equip students with a fundamental understanding of the issue of climate change from diverse perspectives, providing education on the scientific, social, political, psychological and ethical dimensions of the issue. Open to all students in the College of Arts and Sciences, the minor comprises classes drawn from an array of 51小黄车departments, including Environmental Studies; Business; Biology; Political Science; Chemistry and Physics; Marine Sciences; Society, Culture and Languages; and History and Philosophy.
According to Climate Change Studies Program Coordinator Bethany Woodworth, Ph.D., a comprehensive understanding of climate change is essential to a growing number of careers in many professional realms. 鈥淚t is vitally important that business students are able to incorporate climate change into business models, that urban planners understand the challenges of how to plan for changing conditions, that political science students understand the policy implications, that sociologists grasp the impacts of climate change on human societies; and that marine scientists grapple knowledgeably with the implications of climate change for our ocean economies,鈥 she explained. 鈥淯NE鈥檚 minor in Climate Change Studies will help prepare students for a myriad of professions that directly or indirectly relate to understanding, combating, and adapting to climate change.
Housed in UNE鈥檚 Department of Environmental Studies, the new minor in Climate Change Studies consists of both required courses and electives from the categories of policy, natural science and social science.
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