Department of Environmental and Physical Sciences
The faculty of the Department of Environmental and Physical Sciences serve the Environmental Studies academic programs and offer a variety of Core Curriculum and specialized upper level courses in the physical and environmental sciences.
Prospective Students
Environmental studies is an interdisciplinary program that investigates interactions between humans and their environments. This involves the study of physical and biological aspects of natural environments and connections with human-built environments like cities and farms. In addition to the natural sciences, environmental studies includes dimensions of the social sciences and humanities. The home of environmental studies at Shepherd University is the Department of Environmental and Physical Sciences. However, many other disciplines and departments including biology, chemistry, geography, sociology, mathematics, and Appalachian studies contribute to the curriculum and the intellectual richness of environmental studies.
Current Students
Your academic experience is largely what you make of it. But, we are here to help you succeed and get the most out of your time here at Shepherd. Get to know your academic advisor. Get involved with student groups. Tune into internship and special learning opportunities both on campus and beyond. This website contains a wealth of information to help you succeed including details about the curriculum.
Agricultural Innovation Center @ Tabler Farm…
Pioneers of the modern environmental movement in their own words…
What is the common theme embedded in all three of the following quotes?
Aldo Leopold
“We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes – something known only to her and to the mountain. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters’ paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view.”
Rachel Carson
“As crude a weapon as the cave man’s club, the chemical barrage has been hurled against the fabric of life – a fabric on the one hand delicate and destructible, on the other miraculously tough and resilient, and capable of striking back in unexpected ways. These extraordinary capacities of life have been ignored by the practitioners of chemical control who have brought to their task no “high-minded orientation,” no humility before the vast forces with which they tamper.”
George Perkins Marsh
“The equation of animal and vegetable life is too complicated a problem for human intelligence to solve, and we can never know how wide a circle of disturbance we produce in the harmonies of nature when we throw the smallest pebble into the ocean of organic life.”
How does solar panel energy production change with the seasons?
Click one of the following links to visit the DEPS solar panel monitoring sites to discover for yourself.
Mission Statement
The Department of Environmental and Physical Sciences provides students with the advanced interdisciplinary education necessary for understanding the interactions between humans and our environment and for solving complex physical and environmental problems. We serve the Environmental Studies program, other major programs and the university community by offering a variety of Core Curriculum and specialized upper level courses in the physical and environmental sciences, mentoring students in research and engaging in institutional and community service and outreach.