This undergraduate minor is designed to enhance career opportunities in environmental management (i.e., air and water quality, waste management) in regulatory agencies, health departments and environmental consulting at the regional, state and national levels.  This minor may be especially attractive to students majoring in science disciplines such as Biology, Geography, Geology, Chemistry and Health Science who wish to increase their career opportunities in environmental management or health.  The minor is an attractive addition to a variety of undergraduate majors who wish to increase their understanding of environmental issues.  This 22-credit minor includes 15 hours of electives with 7 hours of required courses.

Minor in Natural Resources

This undergraduate minor is designed to enhance career opportunities in areas of natural resource management such as soils, water, land, recreation and energy management for a variety of science and non-science majors.  It is an attractive addition to an undergraduate degree program for students interested in better understanding these aspects of resource use and management.  This 21-credit minor includes 12 hours of electives, our introductory Environment and Society course (NREM 101), and 6 hours selected from water, soil and minerals and energy resources courses.

Minor in International Resource Management

This undergraduate minor is designed to prepare students for service abroad, primarily in the less developed countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, in such organizations as the Peace Corps, the U.S. Agency for International Development, or any of a number faith-based or non-governmental international charities and missions.  The minor emphasizes practical applications of resource and environmental management skills in both rural and urban settings. With its corresponding graduate-level courses, it is also useful preparation for students from both the U.S. and abroad hoping to pursue graduate research in the less developed nations.  This 21-credit Minor includes 9 hours of electives and 12 hours from a total of 6 courses (18 hours) within the Department's syllabus.

Minor in Emergency Management and Homeland Security

The new minor in Emergency Management and Homeland Security is designed to provide students with an interdisciplinary program of study which focuses on skills and practices of emergency planning and management associated with homeland security issues. These include natural disasters, chemical, biological, and radiological incidents and acts of terrorism. This program provides an interdisciplinary approach to the complex emergency management issues of preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation of natural and human-caused disasters. It combines aspects of the social and natural sciences to provide career opportunities in a variety of science and social science disciplines.  The Emergency Planning and Management minor curriculum consists of a total 24 credit hours, divided equally into two basic components: Required Courses and Directed Elective Courses.   

Interdisciplinary Minors

Interdepartmental Minor in Energy

Energy is a vital driver of any society, and our world increasingly is learning the close connections between energy and success or failure.  This minor draws a focus on the technical and societal issues involved with energy as a resource.  Students learn both technical skill sets and integrative thinking that complements their major disciplines of study.  Particularly attractive to those interested in environment, design, and policy fields such as Architecture, Geography, Geology, Industry & Technology, Landscape Architecture, [fill in your favorite name-change for NREM], Political Science, Sociology, and Urban Planning.   This 21 credit minor includes 9 credits in ‘core' classes and the remainder distributed across three groups of carefully-selected electives.  Advising for the minor in Energy is housed in Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management.

Interdepartmental Minor in Environmental Policy

The increasing environmental challenges for society demand political attention that must be met by people who are trained in policy and law frameworks but with understandings of science that underlies environment and sustainability.  The interdepartmental minor in Environmental Policy provides a specialization in environmental policy, training students to understand the interconnected technical and societal issues that influence environmental decisions.  , it is structured to provide students with a sound background in environmental policy, yet is flexible enough to allow students to complement their other academic goals.  Ideally suited to students planning to pursue careers or advanced study in environmental fields.  It shares three ‘core' and one ‘closing' course with the Clustered Minors program, and is anchored by a course in Environmental Law & Policy.  This 24-credit minor encourages students to pursue an internship or other individually structured study to complement courses in planning & management and policy & administration.

The Clustered Minors in Environmentally Sustainable Practices

An innovative and nationally-acclaimed program of academic minors is available to students at Ball State University in environmentally sustainable practices.  The Clustered Minors addresses the growing need for students at Ball State University to increase their environmental literacy in complement with their major fields of study.  The Clustered Minors concept reinforces the importance of interdisciplinary exposure and a university education that reflects the needs of the future that is built on an understanding of sustainability.

Ball State University was a 2002 recipient of the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council "Best Practice" Sustainability Award for "Best Curriculum" for the Clustered Minors program.  Each minor is interdepartmental and has a common set of ‘core' and ‘closing' courses.  Within each minor, a carefully-selected suite of courses in the more narrowly-defined scope rounds out the 24-credit requirements.  These are ideal for students who are interested in sustainability and will tie that emerging area of science, policy, and inquiry into their chosen major fields of study.  The Clustered Minors include: Environmental Context for Business; Environmental Contexts in Health Care; Environmental Policy; Sustainable Land Systems; and Technology and the Environment.  Advising for the five minors is housed in Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management.