What classes will be offered?

All students in the ROKS program will take:

Ecology/Ecology Lab (ZOL 355/355L)
Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GEO 221)
Science, Technology, & Society (LBS/SOC 368)
Applications in Environmental Studies (NSC/ANR 292)

and one of the following:

Environment and Society (SOC 452)
People and the Environment (ISS 310)

What's the Integrated project?

Ecology and Ecology Lab     ZOL 355 (3 cr) and 355L (1 cr)

Interrelationships of plants and animals with the environment. Principles of population, community, and ecosystem ecology. Application of ecological principles to global sustainability.  Population, community, and ecosystem ecology, utilizing plant and animal examples to demonstrate general field principles.

Pre-requisites: BS 110 or LBS 144 or LBS 148H and completion of Tier I writing requirement.

Click here to view the Fall 2008 course syllabus for ZOL 355.

Click here to view the Fall 2008 course syllabus for ZOL 355L (lab).

People and the Environment     ISS 310 (4 cr) OR

Environment and Society SOC 452/452L (4 cr)

Contemporary issues related to the interaction of socio-cultural and ecological systems. Global, regional, national and local environmental problems and responses.

Pre-requisite: ISS 210 or ISS 215 or ISS 220 or ISS 225

Click here to view the Fall 2008 course syllabus.

Applications in Environmental Studies     ANR/NSC 292 (2 cr)

Community engagement project. Projects vary depending on student's major and area of environmental interest.

Pre-requisite: NSC 192

Click here to view the Fall 2008 course syllabus (PDF)

Introduction to Geographic Information     GEO 221 (3 cr)

Principles and methods of spatial data collection, handling, analysis, and display. Introduction to remote sensing, geographic information systems, and cartography.

Click here to view the Fall 2007 course syllabus.

Science, Technology, & Society     LBS/SOC 368 (3 cr)

Role of science and technology in social change. Values and ethics in contemporary perspectives, controversies, and cases. Science and technology as forms of knowledge.

Recommended Background:  LBS 133 or some familiarity with basic concepts and methods in sociology.

Click here to view the Fall 2008 course syllabus (PDF)

ROKS Integrated Project

ROKS courses are integrated--instead of having 4 completely unrelated courses, your classes will overlap in projects and topics. The instructors actually collaborate to plan out your semester and learning experience.

The Integrated Project for 2008 will focus on global warming. 

Here's a description of the 2007 ROKS Integrated Project:

“In the ROKS Ecology labs, we will visit the Kalamazoo river and its floodplain to learn how this complex ecosystem functions, to see firsthand the legacy of industrial uses, to ponder their ecological impacts, and to project what could be gained by restoration of a free-flowing river with a natural flow regime.

The ensuing Geography labs will include analysis of the field observations in a spatial data analysis framework, generating maps and spatial data layers of the river and floodplain system in its present condition and in a fully restored condition.

Meanwhile, the two social science courses will overlap to examine a few social dimensions of this case study. In the first session, People and the Environment will introduce students to political ecology and will give them basic training in survey and interview methods. In the second session, Science, Technology, and Society will engage students on environmental inequality and justice and give them a general understanding of how environmental issues are presented in American mass media.

Over the course of the semester, students will utilize this new knowledge and training to gather primary and secondary data about the Kalamazoo River case study.

Click here to view a PowerPoint picture show describing the 2006 integrated project between ZOL 355/Ecology and GEO 221/Introduction to Geographic Information.  You can click here to view the project proposal.