Major changes are coming to the environmental studies program at Washington University.

The program will be divided into three new majors: environmental biology and environmental earth sciences, which are pending final approval, and environmental social science, which is still in development. Current students will be grandfathered into the old major but can opt for one of the new majors if they prefer.

The environmental studies major has grown in popularity, with 166 environmental studies majors graduating in 2010. But it has been eight years since the program was last evaluated, and students, faculty and administrators want to modernize it.

“We should always be thinking about changing the curriculum when we have a dynamic field like environmental studies…or we won’t be providing you with the most contemporary education,” said Tiffany Knight, the director of the environmental studies program.

A forum on Wednesday addressed the new changes to the environmental studies program.

According to Knight, the previous program options had too much breadth, and the new division into three majors will allow students to study an area in depth while still being exposed to all major aspects of environmental studies.

The difference between the environmental biology major and the ecology and evolution track of the biology major is that the environmental biology major has more of a geoscience concentration. Furthermore, there are fewer general science requirements—students are required to take only one semester of physics and can choose options to replace organic chemistry.

“I think it’s a terrific major,” Knight said. “I’m really proud of it.”

The new major should give environmental studies students more research opportunities in the biology fields.

The second new major option is environmental earth sciences.

“It is very science-heavy, but it is very interdisciplinary,” said David Fike, assistant professor of earth and planetary sciences. “It also ties in a very organic way to some social science aspects.”

The environmental earth sciences major is more hard science-intensive than the old geoscience track of environmental studies. It affords more options in its basic requirements than does earth and planetary sciences. But students only have to complete one semester of physics and are not required to take Calculus III. More of an emphasis is placed on environmental ethics than on the hard science of the environment. Students can choose to focus their studies in one of three areas: climate and energy, human-altered environments and life in its environments.

The final major option, environmental social science, will be housed in the political science department. “Our focus is to try to think about a major that would allow you to study human interactions with the environment,” said William Lowry, associate professor of political science.

While the major will be in the political science department, it will also include classes from other departments, including anthropology and economics.

According to Lowry, the foundation courses for this track may be Earth and the Environment, Introduction to Environmental Biology, Introduction to Environmental Policy, Ethics and Environmental Policy and Culture and the Environment. There should also be research and other upper-level requirements.

But the department has not yet finalized the new major so its requirements have not been offically established.

“The meeting [Tuesday] was very positive,” Lowry said. “I’m excited that my colleagues in the political science department are being so thoughtful about considering this major.”

Students are also looking forward to the new major.

“I think it’s definitely a major that can prepare students to go into the world and make really tough policy decisions on environmental issues,” junior Arielle Klagsbrun said.

Lowry expects his department to finalize the new major by the end of the month.

Students should be allowed to declare the biology and earth sciences majors by October after the full College of Arts & Sciences faculty meeting votes on the approval of the majors.

While the three majors will be housed in different departments, the environmental studies program is working on a way to connect the three majors.

Suggestions to connect the majors include a seminar series and student and faculty gatherings.

Students are very pleased with the new major options.

“Before I was thinking about doing environmental studies in the University, but I saw all these courses that are very mixed so I didn’t know which to choose,” freshman Wantong Li said.

“I think that student opinion was definitely taken into account and the process this summer was pretty transparent and open,” Klagsbrun said.

Senior Tristan Sopp, who coordinated the forums for students to familiarize themselves with the changes, likes the new options.

“I’m definitely really pleased with the new majors. My reaction is mostly that they greatly improved the focus on each of them,” Sopp said. “Before, with the different tracks, they were a little more open and you kind of made your own path through them, which is good and bad. Now with the new ones you’re able to focus on a more specific area and get the depth and rigor that wasn’t in the old ones.”

The panelists at the forum urge students to check the new major requirements online at: www.enst.wustl.edu.