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Note: This is the 2010–2011 edition of the eCalendar. Update the year in your browser's URL bar for the most recent version of this page, or click here to jump to the newest eCalendar.
Note: This is the 2010–2011 edition of the eCalendar. Update the year in your browser's URL bar for the most recent version of this page, or click here to jump to the newest eCalendar.
The quest for sustainable paths to economic development requires scholars and practitioners to transcend the boundaries of traditional disciplines. This Domain offers students sufficient depth and breadth of study to acquire a strong grasp of current theories, concepts, and approaches to environment and development. It prepares them for graduate study in interdisciplinary programs (e.g., development studies or environmental studies) as well as in integrative social sciences (e.g., anthropology, geography, etc.).
All B.A. Environment students must take these courses, or their equivalents. These courses should be taken in the Freshman year if possible. Quebec students can take them in U1.
3 credits of calculus from the following, or equivalent (e.g., CEGEP objective OOUN):
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Review of trigonometry and other Precalculus topics. Limits, continuity, derivative. Differentiation of elementary functions. Antidifferentiation. Applications.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Hundemer, Axel W; Drury, Stephen W (Fall)
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Review of functions and graphs. Limits, continuity, derivative. Differentiation of elementary functions. Antidifferentiation. Applications.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Summer 2011
Instructors: Drury, Stephen W; Trudeau, Sidney; Shahabi, Shahab (Fall) Hundemer, Axel W (Winter)
3 credits of basic science from the following, or equivalent (e.g., CEGEP objectives: Biology OOUK, Chemistry OOUL, Physics OOUR):
Biology (Sci) : An introduction to the phylogeny, structure, function and adaptation of unicellular organisms, plants and animals in the biosphere.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Gregory-Eaves, Irene; Dhindsa, Rajinder S; Seizilles de Mazancourt, Claire (Fall)
Chemistry : A study of the fundamental principles of atomic structure, radiation and nuclear chemistry, valence theory, coordination chemistry, and the periodic table.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Butler, Ian Sydney; Fenster, Ariel; Kakkar, Ashok K; Gauthier, Jean-Marc (Fall)
Physics : An introductory course in physics without calculus, covering mechanics (kinematics, dynamics, energy, and rotational motion), oscillations and waves, sound, light, and geometrical optics.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Ragan, Kenneth J (Fall)
For suggestions on courses to take in your first year (U1), you can consult the "MSE Student Handbook 2010-11" available on the MSE website (), or contact Ms. Kathy Roulet, the Program Advisor (kathy.roulet [at] mcgill.ca).
NOTE: Students are required to take a maximum of 30 credits at the 200-level and a minimum of 12 credits at the 400-level or higher in this program. This includes Core and Required courses.
Location Note: When planning their schedule and registering for courses, students should verify where each course is offered because courses for this program are taught at both 9IÖÆ×÷³§Ãâ·Ñ's downtown campus and at the Macdonald Campus in Ste. Anne de Bellevue.
Location Note: Core required courses are taught at both 9IÖÆ×÷³§Ãâ·Ñ's downtown campus and at the Macdonald Campus in Ste. Anne de Bellevue. You should register in Section 001 of an ENVR course that you plan to take on the downtown campus, and in Section 051 of an ENVR course that you plan to take on the Macdonald campus.
Environment : A systems approach to study the different components of the environment involved in global climate change: the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere. The interactions among these components. Their role in global climate change. The human dimension to global change.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: McCourt, George; Fyles, James W; Fabry, Frederic; Rhemtulla, Jeanine; Atallah, Eyad Hashem (Fall)
Environment : This course deals with how scientific-technological, socio-economic, political-institutional and behavioural factors mediate society-environment interactions. Issues discussed include population and resources; consumption, impacts and institutions; integrating environmental values in societal decision-making; and the challenges associated with, and strategies for, promoting sustainability. Case studies in various sectors and contexts are used.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Badami, Madhav Govind; Bennett, Elena; Purdon, Mark; Kosoy, Nicolas (Fall)
Environment : Formation of the Earth and the evolution of life. How geological and biological change are the consequence of history, chance, and necessity acting over different scales of space and time. General principles governing the formation of modern landscapes and biotas. Effects of human activities on natural systems.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: de Blois, Sylvie; McCourt, George; Wheeler, Terry A; Lechowicz, Martin J; Paquette, Jeanne; Chapman, Colin Austin (Winter)
Environment : Introduction to cultural perspectives on the environment: the influence of culture and cognition on perceptions of the natural world; conflicts in orders of knowledge (models, taxonomies, paradigms, theories, cosmologies), ethics (moral values, frameworks, dilemmas), and law (formal and customary, rights and obligations) regarding political dimensions of critical environments, resource use, and technologies.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011
Instructors: Goodin, David; Johns, Timothy A (Fall) Sieber, Renee; Purdon, Mark; Hirose, Iwao (Winter)
Environment : Techniques used in design and completion of environmental research projects. Problem definition, data sources and use of appropriate strategies and methodologies. Principles underlying research design are emphasized, including critical thinking, recognizing causal relationships, ideologies and bias in research, and when and where to seek expertise.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011
Instructors: Vaccaro, Ismael; Sengupta, Raja; Reyna Hurtado, Rafael Angel (Fall) Chapman, Colin Austin; Sengupta, Raja; Vaccaro, Ismael; Marshall, E Joan (Winter)
Environment : Students work in interdisciplinary seminar groups on challenging philosophical, ethical, scientific and practical issues. They will explore cutting-edge ideas and grapple with the reconciliation of environmental imperatives and social, political and economic pragmatics. Activities include meeting practitioners, attending guest lectures, following directed readings, and organizing, leading and participating in seminars.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011
Instructors: Goodin, David; Isabel, Mariève (Fall) Goodin, David; Purdon, Mark; Hirose, Iwao; Mikkelson, Gregory Matthew; Isabel, Mariève (Winter)
Only 3 credits will be applied to the program; extra credits will count as electives.
Agriculture : Geared for solving real-world environmental problems related to water at the local, regional and international scale in Barbados. Projects to be designed by instructors in consultation with university, government and NGO partners and to be conducted by teams of 2 to 4 students in collaboration with them.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Alli, Inteaz (Fall)
Environment : Students work in an interdisciplinary team on a real-world research project involving problem definition, methodology development, social, ethical and environmental impact assessment, execution of the study, and dissemination of results to the research community and to the people affected. Teams begin defining their projects during the preceding spring.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Fabry, Frederic; McCourt, George; Roulet, Kathryn (Fall)
Environment : Research projects will be developed by instructors in consultation with Panamanian universities, government agencies and non-governmental organizations. Project groups will consist of four to six students working with a Panamanian institution. Topics will be relevant to Panama: e.g., protection of the Canal watershed, economical alternatives to deforestation, etc.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Anthropology : Intensive study of theories and cases in ecological anthropology. Theories are examined and tested through comparative case-study analysis. Cultural constructions of "nature" and "environment" are compared and analyzed. Systems of resource management and conflicts over the use of resources are studied in depth.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Scott, Colin Hartley (Winter)
Economics (Arts) : Microeconomic theories of economic development and empirical evidence on population, labour, firms, poverty. Inequality and environment.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Summer 2011
Instructors: Kurien, John C; Chemin, Matthieu (Fall)
Economics (Arts) : Macroeconomic development issues, including theories of growth, public finance, debt, currency crises, corruption, structural adjustment, democracy and global economic organization.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011
Instructors: Cortella Marone, Heloisa (Fall) Martens, André (Winter)
Geography : An ecological analysis of the physical and biotic components of natural resource systems. Emphasis on scientific, technological and institutional aspects of environmental management. Study of the use of biological resources and of the impact of individual processes.
Terms: Fall 2010, Summer 2011
Instructors: Meredith, Thomas C (Fall)
21 credits of complementary courses are chosen from various domains as follows:
one of:
Agricultural Economics : The field of economics as it relates to the activities of individual consumers, firms and organizations. Emphasis is on the application of economic principles and concepts to everyday decision making and to the analysis of current economic issues.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Naseem, Anwar (Fall)
Economics (Arts) : A university-level introduction to demand and supply, consumer behaviour, production theory, market structures and income distribution theory.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Summer 2011
Instructors: Dickinson, Paul; El-Attar Vilalta, Mayssun (Fall) Dickinson, Paul (Winter)
3 credits, one of the following statistics courses or equivalent:
Note: Credit given for statistics courses is subject to certain restrictions. Students should consult the "Course Overlap" information in the "Course Requirements" section for the Faculty of Arts.
Mathematics (Agric&Envir Sci) : Measures of central tendency and dispersion; binomial and Poisson distributions; normal, chi-square, Student's t and Fisher-Snedecor F distributions; estimation and hypothesis testing; simple linear regression and correlation; analysis of variance for simple experimental designs.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011
Instructors: Dutilleul, Pierre R L; Bona, Kelly Ann (Fall) Dutilleul, Pierre R L (Winter)
Geography : Exploratory data analysis, univariate descriptive and inferential statistics, non-parametric statistics, correlation and simple regression. Problems associated with analysing spatial data such as the 'modifiable areal unit problem' and spatial autocorrelation. Statistics measuring spatial pattern in point, line and polygon data.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Berrang Ford, Lea (Fall)
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Examples of statistical data and the use of graphical means to summarize the data. Basic distributions arising in the natural and behavioural sciences. The logical meaning of a test of significance and a confidence interval. Tests of significance and confidence intervals in the one and two sample setting (means, variances and proportions).
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Summer 2011
Instructors: Khalili Mahmoudabadi, Abbas; Correa, Jose Andres (Fall)
Psychology : The statistical analysis of research data; frequency distributions; graphic representation; measures of central tendency and variability; elementary sampling theory and tests of significance.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Summer 2011
Instructors: Amsel, Rhonda N (Fall) Ostry, David J (Winter) Zangenehpour, Shahin (Summer)
6 credits from:
Agricultural Economics : The course deals with economic aspects of international development with emphasis on the role of food, agriculture and the resource sector in the economy of developing countries. Topics will include world food analysis, development project analysis and policies for sustainable development. Development case studies will be used.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Naseem, Anwar (Winter)
Anthropology : Advanced study of the environmental crisis in developing and advanced industrial nations, with emphasis on the social and cultural dimensions of natural resource management and environmental change. Each year, the seminar will focus on a particular set of issues, delineated by type of resource, geographic region, or analytical problem.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Geography : Examines the geographical dimensions of development policy, specifically the relationships between the process of development and human-induced environmental change. Focuses on environmental sustainability, struggles over resource control, population and poverty, and levels of governance (the role of the state, non-governmental organizations, and local communities).
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Unruh, Jon (Fall)
Geography : An examination of the cultural, political, and economic mechanisms and manifestations of contemporary underdevelopment and the response to it from different regional and national peripheral societies within the dominant world economic system.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Akman, Geraldine (Winter)
3 credits from:
Agriculture : Contrast theory and practice in defining agricultural environmental "challenges" in the Neotropics. Indigenous and appropriate technological means of mitigation. Soil management and erosion, water scarcity, water over-abundance, and water quality. Explore agro-ecosystem protection via field trips and project designs. Institutional context of conservation strategies, NGO links, and public participation.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Biology (Sci) : Principles of population, community, and ecosystem dynamics: population growth and regulation, species interactions, dynamics of competitive interactions and of predator/prey systems; evolutionary dynamics.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Guichard, Frederic (Fall)
Biology (Sci) : Discussion of relevant theoretical and applied issues in conservation biology. Topics: biodiversity, population viability analysis, community dynamics, biology of rarity, extinction, habitat fragmentation, social issues.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Green, David M; Gonzalez, Andrew (Fall)
Biology (Sci) : Ecology revisited in view of tropical conditions. Exploring species richness. Sampling and measuring biodiversity. Conservation status of ecosystems, communities and species. Indigenous knowledge.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Potvin, Catherine (Winter)
Environmental Biology : Interactions between organisms and their environment; historical and current perspectives in applied and theoretical population and community ecology. Principles of population dynamics, feedback loops, and population regulation. Development and structure of communities; competition, predation and food web dynamics. Biodiversity science in theory and practice.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Buddle, Christopher (Winter)
Geography : Discussion of the major properties of soils; soil formation, classification and mapping; land capability assessment; the role and response of soils in natural and disturbed environments (e.g. global change, ecosystem disturbance).
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Geography : Quantitative, experimental study of the principles governing the movement of water at or near the Earth's surface and how the research relates to the chemistry and biology of ecosystems.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Lehner, Bernhard (Winter)
Nutrition and Dietetics : Sociocultural and economic influences on food choice and behaviour; health promotion and disease prevention through nutrition, particularly in high risk populations; the interaction of changing environment, food availability and quality as they affect health.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011
Instructors: Marquis, Grace; Gray-Donald, Katherine; Egeland Hovda, Grace (Fall) Johns, Timothy A (Winter)
Nutrition and Dietetics : This course will cover the major nutritional problems in developing countries. The focus will be on nutrition and health and emphasize young children and other vulnerable groups. The role of diet and disease for each major nutritional problem will be discussed.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Marquis, Grace (Fall)
Parasitology : Infectious pathogens of humans and animals and their impact on the global environment are considered. The central tenet is that infectious pathogens are environmental risk factors. The course considers their impact on the human condition and juxtaposes the impact of control and treatment measures and environmental change.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Scott, Marilyn (Winter)
6 credits from:
Agricultural Economics : The role of resources in the environment, use of resources, and management of economic resources within the firm or organization. Problem-solving, case studies involving private and public decision-making in organizations are utilized.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Thomassin, Paul (Fall)
Agricultural Economics : The course deals with economic aspects of international development with emphasis on the role of food, agriculture and the resource sector in the economy of developing countries. Topics will include world food analysis, development project analysis and policies for sustainable development. Development case studies will be used.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Naseem, Anwar (Winter)
Agriculture : Introduction to the environmental consequences of agriculture through time, relating the cultural diversity of agronomic practices to regionally varied ecological processes.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Agriculture : Physical environment challenges, centered on water, being faced by an island nation. Guest speakers, field study tours and laboratory tests. Private, government and NGO institutional context of conservation strategies, and water quantity and quality analyses for water management specific to Barbados.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Gehr, Ronald; Keane, Angela (Fall)
Anthropology : Comparison of alternative theories of development, as applied to two or more major regions of the Third World. The intellectual origins, logical structures and empirical bases of the alternative theories and comparative empirical testing as they apply to specific controversies in development studies. The interpretation of these theories and controversies.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Anthropology : Land tenure systems across major agrarian and environmental settings; cultural constructions of law and customary property rights; private, communal and state property, including parks, reserves, and forests; land reform, villagization, enclosure, privatization and agrarian conflict; debates over development policy; special reference to Africa.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Canadian Studies : Canadian regionalism and its manifestations in literature and the media, as well as in social and public policy, focusing on one region in Canada.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Economics (Arts) : Macroeconomic and structural aspects of the ecological crisis. A course in which subjects discussed include the conflict between economic growth and the laws of thermodynamics; the search for alternative economic indicators; the fossil fuels crisis; and "green'' fiscal policy.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Naylor, Robin Thomas (Fall)
Economics (Arts) : Topics include: Malthusian and Ricardian Scarcity; optimal depletion of renewable and non-renewable resources; exploration, risk and industry structure, and current resources, rent and taxation. Current public policies applied to the resource industries, particularly those of a regulatory nature.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Cairns, Robert D (Winter)
Geography : An introduction to Geographic Information Systems. The systematic management of spatial data. The use and construction of maps. The use of microcomputers and software for mapping and statistical work. Air photo and topographic map analyses.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Sieber, Renee; Sengupta, Raja (Fall)
Geography : The course will examine research approaches in human ecology since its inception early in this century. Emphasis will be placed on the theoretical shifts that have led to its emergence as an important social science perspective. The course will also involve case studies to evaluate the methodological utility of the approach.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Wenzel, George (Winter)
Geography : Different theories and approaches to understanding the spatial organization of economic activities. Regional case studies drawn from North America, Europe and Asia used to reinforce concepts. Emphasis also on city-regions and their interaction with the global economy.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Breau, Sebastien (Fall)
Geography : Social space and social time. The reflection of social structure in the spatial organization of the city. Historical perspective on changing personal mobility, life cycle, family structure and work organization. The appropriation and alienation of urban spaces.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Oswin, Natalie (Fall)
Geography : Articulates and evaluates competing hypotheses about the functioning of human-dominated ecosystems. Introduces the use of statistics, ecological modeling, and management in an integrated ecological management context. Case studies examine factors that impede and enhance adaptive management.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Geography : Practical application of environmental planning, analysis and management techniques with reference to the needs and problems of developing areas. Special challenges posed by cultural differences and traditional resource systems are discussed. This course involves practical field work in a developing area (Kenya or Panama).
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Meredith, Thomas C (Winter)
Geography : Examines the geographical dimensions of development policy, specifically the relationships between the process of development and human-induced environmental change. Focuses on environmental sustainability, struggles over resource control, population and poverty, and levels of governance (the role of the state, non-governmental organizations, and local communities).
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Unruh, Jon (Fall)
Geography : A synthetic overview of physical and cultural geography examining particularly the relation of African peoples to their landscapes, the causes and consequences of environmental changes, and the idea of sustainable development as it applies to African landscapes, resource systems and economies.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Geography : Lecture course on the geography of a region and excursion through the selected country or region including landscape interpretation and field study projects.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Geography : Focus on understanding of inter-relations between humans and neotropical environments represented in Panama. Study of contemporary rural landscapes, their origins, development and change. Impacts of economic growth and inequality, social organization, and politics on natural resource use and environmental degradation. Site visits and field exercises in peasant/colonist, Amerindian, and plantation communities.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Geography : Addresses how different groups of people struggle over natural resources and environmental change. Politics of conservation in resource-dependent local communities, struggles over resource access and character, questions of power, resistance, class, and gender, and to "nature" as a socially-constructed yet active player.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Geography : Focus on the environmental and human spatial relationships in tropical rain forest and savanna landscapes. Human adaptation to variations within these landscapes through time and space. Biophysical constraints upon "development" in the modern era.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Coomes, Oliver T (Fall)
Geography : This course deals with the role of geographic information, paradigms and modes of analysis - including but not restricted to GIS - in environmental impact assessment and decision making. The focus will be on community-based decision making, particularly where conservation issues are involved. Cross-cultural situations, developing areas and the role of non-government organizations.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Management Policy : This course explores the relationship between economic activity, management, and the natural environment. Using readings, discussions and cases, the course will explore the challenges that the goal of sustainable development poses for our existing notions of economic goals, production and consumption practices and the management of organizations.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011
Instructors: Graham, Margaret (Fall) Graham, Margaret (Winter)
Political Science : Advanced course in international political economy; the politics of international of monetary relations, such as international rules governing international finance, the reasons for and consequences of financial flows, and the functioning of international financial bodies such as the IMF and World Bank.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Brawley, Mark R (Winter)
Political Science : Topics include the factors contributing to the emergence of social movements and the influence of social movements on politics. A variety of movements are examined through case studies, including peasant, labor, women's and urban poor movements.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Sociology (Arts) : Analysis of social change in Panama, particularly during the 20th century: demography, social and economic structures, rural and urban activities and landscapes, indigenous peoples, the effects of the Canal and the Free Trade Zone. Focus throughout on the interaction of human society and the environment.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Urban Planning : An exploration of the interrelationship between land-use planning and infrastructure provision, especially water and sewerage. An examination of their policy and regulatory frameworks and other methodology of plan making and evaluation.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Bornstein, Lisa; Lee, Brenda; Duenez, Ricardo L (Fall)
Urban Planning : Economic and social issues related to planning for sustainable development, with a focus on water. Political and environmental determinants of resource use. Impact of global, regional and local institutions, programs and plans in Barbados and in the field locale in general.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Phillip, Leroy E; Alli, Inteaz (Fall)