The Environmental Studies program can help students use the resources of the entire University to gain an interdisciplinary understanding of such increasingly serious issues as pollution, wildlife and wilderness preservation, land use, biodiversity loss, resource depletion, energy conservation, and a generally healthful relationship between nature and society. The program offers both a major and a minor and also assists students in constructing special majors and identifying programs and individual courses in various departments that concern themselves with environmental questions.

Environmental Studies students find work primarily in research, analysis, and enforcement activities in state, federal, and local governments. Others work for nonprofit organizations such as The Nature Conservancy, Audubon Society, and Sierra Club. Some work as consultants to private firms, and some graduates become teachers in primary schools, secondary schools, and universities. A few have created their own careers in such areas as organic farming, managing cooperatives, and social action.

Environmental Studies students often go on to professional and graduate schools in such fields as law, ecology, engineering, journalism, economics, public health, political science, public administration, special education, environmental policy, and human ecology.

Special Features

• Sacramento, as the state capital, offers excellent opportunities for study and employment. One of several ways to incorporate these opportunities into a student's academic program is through Environmental Studies internship experiences.
• The faculty also carries on a field study program to introduce students to as many features as possible of the extraordinarily varied Northern California region.
• Faculty in the Environmental Studies Department represent disciplines including Biology, Ecology, Toxicology, Political Science, Environmental Engineering, among others.