Course Descriptions
M.S. in Environmental Management and Sustainability
Core Courses
EM 501 Environmental Law and Regulation (3 hours)
This course will introduce students to the major federal and state statutes and regulatory programs that govern pollution from industrial, commercial, and public sources. The course will emphasize the organization of the government regulatory agencies, the techniques of environmental regulation, the interplay of federal and state environmental regulation, environmental enforcement, and environmental litigation. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Air Act, Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Endangered Species Act will be the main statutes used to illustrate the workings of the pollution control statutes. The role of environmental law in the international arena will also be discussed.
EM 502 Environmental Law and Compliance (3 hours)
This course begins with an analysis of The Solid Waste Disposal Act (and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, RCRA), Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). It will then familiarize students with an environmental manager’s duties in permitting, reporting, record keeping and sampling. It emphasizes a systematic approach to identifying obligations with respect to regulated media and developing appropriate responses. Obligations under United States environmental laws, their relationship to state and local laws, and state and local obligations are considered as a model for analysis and response. Practical applications of permitting, monitoring, record keeping and reporting will also be included.
Prerequisite: EM 501
EM 506 Environmental Risk Assessment, Management and Communication (1.5 hours)
This course will represent a multi disciplinary approach for identifying, evaluating, and managing risks from environmental contaminants and technological hazards. The use of risk assessment and risk management as tools for setting scientifically sound, risk based priorities is evaluated. In addition a conceptual framework for environmental health risk management is examined as an integrated strategy for addressing multiple sources of risk.
EM 507 Industrial Ecology (3 hours)
This course introduces the students the philosophy of Industrial Ecology, and how this systems-based approach can move society toward a more sustainable future. Industrial Ecology is an interdisciplinary field involving technology (science and engineering), public policy and regulatory issues, and business administration. The major goal of this course is to promote creative and comprehensive problem solving as it might be applied to product, business and systems models. The course introduces tools such as Industrial Metabolism, Input-Output Analysis, Life Cycle Assessment, and Design for the Environment. Individual and team projects are a significant part of the learning experience in this course.
EM 508 Pollution Control and Remediation (3 hours)
This course provides a comprehensive analysis of the pollution prevention and cleaner production processes. Waste minimization, recycling, and reuse options are examined and applicable control technologies to industrial waste minimization and treatment are discussed. Relevant remediation options including effective use of technologies for clean up of contaminated sites are reviewed through extensive use of case studies.
Prerequisite: College level Chemistry and Calculus.
EM 511 Industrial Health and Safety (1.5 hours)
This course provides students with the basic scientific, technical, and philosophical tools to address safety, and the management of safety, in the workplace and with products and practices. It includes elements of: 1) safety ethics, 2) the historical evolution of safety, regulations, standards, and custom and practice; 3) epidemiology as it may be used to identify accident causation and illnesses; 4) toxicology as related primarily to chemical exposures; 5) industrial hygiene identification, evaluation and control of hazards and interpretation of results; 6) OSHA, CPSC, and other regulatory/ standards organization and approaches to safety; and 7) elements of human factors, failure modes and effects analysis, and risk assessment with respect to safety. Case studies are offered that include; products safety, consumer safety, workplace safety, and the litigation of issues associated with safety.
EM 514 Carbon Management and Climate Change (1.5 hours)
This course reviews the carbon economy, including the reasons for the emergence of carbon management strategies in International and National Government Policy, Business Planning and Personal Initiatives related to Non-profit Organizations. Areas covered include: Climate Change and its relationship to carbon management, the Kyoto Protocol, voluntary carbon management programs, sequestration and offsets, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), carbon auditing at the operational level, and calculating carbon footprints.
EM 530 Energy, Environment and Economics (3 hours)
This course deals with the linkage of energy, environmental and economic issues. The impact of energy supply and end-use on human well-being and the ecosystem is covered. It also includes a comprehensive approach to the resolution of resource, technical, economic, strategic, environmental, socio- and geopolitical problems of the energy industries. In addition, pathways to a sustainable global energy system are presented.
EM 540 Environmental Economics (1.5 hours)
The underlying theme of the course is to provide an overview of the modeling market process while focusing on the environmental problems and environmental quality. Course examines modeling solutions to environmental problems focusing on the command and control approaches, economic implication of using standards, and assessment of marginal social costs and benefits of abatement. Economic solution to environmental problems is discussed using a market approach focusing on modeling of emission charges and pollution permit trading systems and practices. Procedures used to measure benefits and costs for environmental decision making such as economic analysis of the clean air act, global warming control policies, improvement of water quality, clean water act, and management of solid and hazardous waste and waste sites are discussed.
Prerequisite or Co-requisite: College Calculus, Introduction to Microeconomics.
Electives
Two MBA core courses totaling 6 hours
Plus Any Two (2) of the following for a total of 3 hours
EM 515 Decision Tools and Modeling Applications for Environmental Managers (1.5 hours)
The course applies the integration of model-based decision support methodologies and tools with specialized model-based knowledge developed for handling complex environmental problems. The use of computers to access environmental information, understand screening application models and programs for analyzing data and results is conducted through the entire course. Ground Contamination, Drinking Water, Air Emissions and Dispersion Models, in addition to GIS are utilized in the course.
EM 516 Water Policy and Management (1.5 hours)
This course provides an overview of the primary elements involved with the global use of water resources focusing on issues such as irrigation, water supply system management, sanitation, flood control, and hydropower. An analysis of the underlying issues associated with effective use and adoption of water policies including implementation, operation, and potential social problems are presented and environmental concerns with effective management of water resources are discussed. Methods and techniques used for design and adoption of a comprehensive policy framework that facilitate the consideration of relationships between the ecosystem and socioeconomic activities, and the treatment of water as an economic good is presented. The analysis focuses on social, environmental, and economic objectives.
Prerequisite: EM 508
EM 525 Sustainable Communities (1.5 hours)
Sustainable communities are defined as places that meet the diverse needs of existing and future residents, are sensitive to their environment, and contribute to a high quality of life. This course examines the environmental, economic, and social dimensions of sustainability in communities -- large and small, urban and rural. Sustainability principles, policies, and programs that encourage and guide community initiatives are analyzed. Case studies on a variety of topics from community energy, to green development, to sustainable business are studied and compared. Innovative strategies are researched for creating communities that are more environmentally sound, economically prosperous, and socially equitable. Some of the major themes explored in the context of sustainable communities are indicators of sustainability, green buildings, urban sprawl, air quality, water efficiency, climate change, sustainable energy and transportation policies, security and disaster planning, and demographic trends.
EM 535 Environmental Communications (1.5 hours)
This course introduces students to the basics of managerial communications – from developing and making effective presentations to building strategies to engage internal audiences and external stakeholders in achieving the organization’s environmental objectives. Surveys both traditional and new viral methods of communicating via the web. Course also emphasizes effective use of communications in the regulatory environment as well as for impacting public policy. Emphasis will also be placed on Corporate Social Responsibility in terms of clarity and transparency to the stakeholders and the community.
EM 597 Independent Study (1.5 or 3 hours)
This full semester or half-semester course allows a student to conduct research on a project proposed by the student, an outside organization or by the supervising professor. The student is required to submit a proposal that includes the research plan and expected outcomes. Regular meetings with the professor are required as well as a final report at the end of the eight- or 16-week period, depending on the scope of the project.
Capstone
EM 590 Business Strategy: The Sustainable Enterprise (3 hours)
This course integrates environmental management issues with use of strategic planning tools for assessing and responding to the driving forces of the “next” economy: globalization, technology, demographics and the environment. The course looks at the challenge of corporations competing in the global economy of the new millennium in such a way that will allow the planet to support them indefinitely. Emphasis is on the company's ability to build and sustain a competitive advantage utilizing traditional management concepts as well as new sustainability practices. Topics include: The Natural Step, the "Base of the Pyramid" strategy, the "servicizing" concept, and biomimicry; and various case studies showing how an enterprise can meet the “triple bottom line” while guest speakers present real world examples.
Prerequisite: Capstone course requires enrollment in the last semester of program or approval of program director.
