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Environmental Beta is an experiential course designed to introduce students to the many perspectives from which they can engage with the natural world. The course begins with a week-long river trip down the Missouri River where students and faculty explore the integration of the scientific, social, political, historical and spiritual aspects of a wilderness landscape. Faculty from the Environmental program will be joined by faculty from anthropology, philosophy, English, other humanities and social sciences. Students will develop skills in the observation, description and interpretation of the natural world, building connections with the land, the Carroll faculty, and with each other. The second part of the course includes weekly meetings or field trips exploring the many and diverse environmental careers that students may pursue. From non-profits, to government agencies to outdoor education, student will hear from the different professional who have followed or found careers preserving, protecting, restoring, or teaching about the environment.
A practical exploration of an environmental issue on the Carroll College campus, or encompassing the campus and the local community, through class analysis of the issue and concrete engagement with its resolution. The course may be taken for credit of to three times in different semesters, with an exploration of at least two different topics/projects.
This class will focus on how humans interact with their environment, concentrating on biological, social and economic aspects. The course will investigate the principles of evolutionary theory with special emphasis on human behavior and cultural diversity. The class will examine adaptive design of traits, behaviors, and life histories of humans in an ecological context, including the role of social and cultural factors in the maintenance or disruption of ecosystems, contemporary ecological concerns and conservation ecology.
A course designed to improve the scientific literacy of students interested in solving the conservation/environmental challenges that result from overuse of natural resources. Using concepts and practices from taxonomy, ecology, genetics, and geography, conservation biology seeks the most effective strategies for addressing threats to biological diversity, ecological integrity and environmental health. The course will be divided into roughly 50 percent lecture/discussion and 50 percent laboratory and thus, fulfills the CORE requirements for Natural Science. The course will change geographic focus from year to year to allow students to take the course more than once and explore different bioregions. The neotropics (Latin America) will be the geographic focus in even numbered years and will fulfill a requirement for the Latin American Studies Minor.
With an ever-growing concern about the conservation of biodiversity, there is increasing emphasis on developing skills and techniques to inventory species distributions and to monitor population dynamics. Field sampling techniques and skills in taxonomy are crucial to conservation surveillance. This course is an introduction to basic field and curator skills necessary to collect, manage and maintain specimen data for biological inventory and monitoring. The specific aims for this ten-week experience are: 1) to develop collection techniques in a field setting; 2) to practice processing and management of specimens and associated data; 3) to communicate findings to Montana stake holders. Topics vary and will rotate through Entomology, Ichthyology, Herpetology, Mammalogy, and Ornithology.
With an ever-growing concern about the conservation of biodiversity, there is increasing emphasis on developing skills and techniques to inventory species distributions and to monitor population dynamics. Field sampling techniques and skills in taxonomy are crucial to conservation surveillance. This course is an introduction to basic field and curator skills necessary to collect, manage and maintain specimen data for biological inventory and monitoring. The specific aims for this ten-week experience are: 1) to develop collection techniques in a field setting; 2) to practice processing and management of specimens and associated data; 3) to communicate findings to Montana stake holders. Topics vary and will rotate through Entomology, Ichthyology, Herpetology, Mammalogy, and Ornithology.
Special Topics courses include ad-hoc courses on various selected topics that are not part of the regular curriculum, however they may still fulfill certain curricular requirements. Special topics courses are offered at the discretion of each department and will be published as part of the semester course schedule - view available sections for more information. Questions about special topics classes can be directed to the instructor or department chair.