Note: Updates on our new major and revised minor in Environmental Studies coming soon. Please revisit our website soon for exciting news, information, and resources.

Cross-disciplinary studies can increase intellectual community across disciplines, encourage cohesion in the choice of electives, and promote combinations of methods and materials that challenge the boundaries of knowledge.

They involve at least three academic disciplines and require 18 to 24 credit-hours, at least eight (8) of which must be at the upper-division level.

Cross-disciplinary studies include an integrative component such as a common course or requirement. At the discretion of the specific cross-disciplinary studies committee, students may complete the St. Mary’s Project in the study area, provided they secure the approval of the department in which they are majoring. Completion of the course work in a cross-disciplinary study area is noted as a specific minor on a student’s transcript.

Environmental Studies

Welcome to Environmental Studies at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Courses offered through the program invite students to expand their understanding of the environment beyond the confines of one discipline.

As one example, Interpreting the Estuary, is a course taught by a biologist and a historian and listed under Museum Studies. Students study the ecology and history of the Chesapeake while learning how to design and build exhibitions at the Calvert Marine Museum.

Elizabeth Black’s Hydrophilidae Triangularus exemplifies the abilities students develop through interdisciplinary study. She drew these giant water-scavenger beetles in her Scientific Illustration course, which links biology and art.