About Sewanee's Integrated Program in the Environment
Sewanee's Integrated Program in the Environment (SIPE) is one of the premier collections of environmental offerings in the country. A working farm, a 13,000-acre forest, and well-funded internships offer opportunities to apply classroom learning. An expansive curriculum—including natural and social sciences as well as the humanities and fine arts—offers multiple pathways for appreciating the ecological complexity and wonder of the earth we inhabit.
Majors
- Environmental Arts and Humanities - This major examines environmental issues by integrating the diverse perspectives offered by anthropology, history, literature, philosophy, religion, and visual studies.
- Environment and Sustainability - This major explores issues related to environmental science, policy, and economics in a major with a self-designed focus that is developed during the junior year which leads to a senior capstone research project with a sustainability theme.
- Ecology and Biodiversity - This major track in Biology examines the diversity of life on Earth and the interactions that determine the distribution and abundance of species in ecosystems. This field-oriented major also addresses human impacts on ecological systems and the application of science to help conserve species.
- Forestry - A field-oriented study of forest ecosystems and the environmental components and processes (biological, physical, and chemical) that affect them, including management practices.
- Geology - A study of processes affecting the earth—geological, hydrological, and chemical. With this field-oriented major, students examine past and present-day connections between earth features and processes, including rocks, minerals, and fossils, as well as glaciers, earthquakes, volcanoes, atmospheric gases, surface and subsurface water, and environmental pollutants.
- Natural Resources and the Environment - An interdisciplinary environmental major that integrates coursework in forest ecosystems with geology and a broad range of other environmental classes offered. This program emphasizes the interrelationships between issues such as climate change, land use, sustainable development, food systems, pollution, and human health.
Minors & Certificates
Minors and certificates available within SIPE include Archaeology, Biology, Forestry, Geology, Environmental Studies, Religion and the Environment, and the Watershed Science Certificate.
