Environmental Protection
The Environmental Protection program prepares students for careers in areas that safeguard the quality of the environment. The curriculum consists of two elements: interdisciplinary training in a broad array of environmental protection sciences, and an area of emphasis in either pest management or soil and water conservation.
Program Admission and Curriculum
Students who meet University admission requirements may be accepted directly into the Davis College as Environmental Protection majors. To earn a bachelor’s degree, all students must complete 128 credit hours including the General Education Curriculum required by the University.
Core courses within the major include but are not limited to: principles of soil science, principles of plant science, general microbiology, agricultural and resource economics and environmental impact assessment.
Students work with their advisers to select courses from both the environmental protection electives and the area of emphasis electives that match individual interests and career goals. Undergraduates choose 15 credit hours from a wide variety of environmental protection electives, including plant ecology, environmental science and technology, forest meteorology, remote sensing of the environment and fossils and evolution.
Students choose one of two areas of emphasis – pest management or soil and water conservation – to complement their career paths; each area requires 18 credit hours including a capstone course.
Complete course requirements and descriptions can be found in the current WVU Undergraduate Catalog.
Employment Opportunities
Graduates from this program are employed in a variety of positions that require training in the environmental sciences. Potential areas of employment include municipal, state and federal government agencies; consulting firms specializing in land reclamation and water quality; and companies associated with the gas, oil or coal industry. Entry-level salaries range from $25,000 to $35,000.
