The IPE Minor

The Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Environment (IPE) minor is designed to enable students to develop knowledge and skills in areas related to environmental issues and to expose them to the inherently interdisciplinary nature of environmental inquiry. By making students aware of the range of approaches to the environment, the IPE minor prepares them for the multidisciplinary teamwork that is central to many environmental careers.

The IPE minor also provides undergraduate students with a way to organize some of their general education requirements into a coherent package. Many, though not all, of the courses approved for the IPE minor fulfill general education or upper division course requirements.

Minors are available to all students within the University of Oklahoma. Minors that are officially declared and successfully completed will be entered on the student’s transcript at the time the degree is posted after graduation.

Minor Requirements: 15 semester credit hours are required to complete a minor--two core courses and three electives.

The core courses are:
IPE 1013 Consumption and the Environment [III-SS]
IPE 4003 Senior Practicum

The three electives consist of one course each from approved lists of humanities, social science, and natural science courses.

APPROVED HUMANITIES COURSES

ENGL 4453 Literature and Landscape
ENGL 4723 Emerson, Thoreau and Whitman
HIST 3493 American Environmental History [IV-WC]
HSCI 3473 History of Ecology and Environmentalism [IV-WC]
NAS 3113 Native American Philosophy [IV-NW]
PHIL 3293 Environmental Ethics [IV-WC]

APPROVED SOCIAL SCIENCE COURSES

ANTH 4103 People and Plants [III-SS]
ANTH 4533 Human Ecology of the Humid Tropics
GEOG 3253 Environmental Conservation [III-SS]
GEOG 3563 Geography of Natural Resources
P SC 3233 Environmental Policy & Administration
P SC 4233 Science, Technology, & Public Policy

APPROVED NATURAL SCIENCE COURSES

BOT 2404 Ecology & Environmental Quality [II-Lab]
BOT 3453 Principles of Plant Ecology
BOT 4553 Plant Geography
ES 4463 Environmental Evaluation and Management
GEOG 1114 Physical Geography [II-Lab]
GEOG 4283 Biogeography
GEOL 3154 Environmental Geology
GEOS 2004 Evolution of the Earth System [II-Lab]
METR 1014 Introduction to Weather and Climate [II-Lab]
ZOO 3403 Principles of Ecology
ZOO 4093 Behavioral Ecology

Note that some of these courses may have prerequisites. On a semester-by-semester basis, IPE may also allow ad hoc courses to fulfill a humanities, social science, or natural science requirement. Ad hoc courses are special topics courses or other types of experimental courses that may be offered once in a particular semester. If you have questions regarding a course being suitable as an ad hoc, please contact ipe@ou.edu.

Students are expected to contact the IPE program by email and officially declare their intention to complete a minor in Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Environment. Students outside the College of Arts & Sciences must contact the Arts and Sciences Dean’s Office for certification of completion of a minor before it will be authorized on the transcript.

If you want to sign up for the IPE minor, or for more information, contact the director of the program: Professor Deborah W. Dalton, 556 Monnet Hall. Phone: 325-3828, email: Dalton@ou.edu

To see course descriptions, click courses.