Social Ecology courses are taught by a multidisciplinary faculty that includes psychologists with a variety of specialties, architects, lawyers and judges, urban and regional planners, environmental health scientists, and criminologists. Among issues of long-standing interest are crime and justice in society, social influences on human development over the life span, and the effects of the physical environment on human health and behavior. The faculty also maintains a central interest in human adaptation, and a special, but not exclusive, interest in the study of events in the natural settings in which they occur. The School of Social Ecology is committed to providing students with the breadth of knowledge and experience necessary to enable them to meet the social and environmental challenges of the twenty-first century. An important aspect of all undergraduate major programs in the School of Social Ecology is the upper-division field study requirement.
Field study is an internship completed during the junior or senior year.
Under the supervision of a Social Ecology faculty member, students have the opportunity to test their skills by working in the community. The purpose of the field study experience is to complement classroom education with experiential learning. By working in a field study job, students gain valuable real world experience as well as test the application of classroom theories and personal problem-solving strategies. The settings provided for field study include a wide range of problem-oriented institutions and agencies in both the private and the public sector. The courses which are required for the B.S. degree in Applied Ecology furnish a strong undergraduate background for students interested in how the environment impacts humans from a biological perspective.