Elective Courses

Students in the MSEM program must take 12 credit units of electives.  Six credit units (two courses) must be chosen from the following list of restricted electives:

• ENVS 811.3 - Multiple Ways of Knowing in Environmental Decision-making - This course examines multiple ways of knowing (epistemologies) used in environmental decision-making, including, but not limited to, Aboriginal knowledge systems.  The course involves critical examination of human-nature relations. Students are asked to analyze their own decision-making beliefs and practices in the context of multiple understandings of the world.  Applications to the legal "duty to consult" with Aboriginal peoples will be addressed.
• ENVS 821.3 - Sustainable Water Resources - This course will rigorously explore water resource sustainability in western Canada from physical, chemical, biological, socio-economic, and technological perspectives. Biophysical influences on water abundance and quality, current threats to water resources, and efforts to provide for sustainable management of water resources will be examined. (not offered in 2011/2012).
• ENVS 831.3 - Current Issues in Land Reclamation and Remediation - Current issues in land reclamation and remediation are examined. The impact of human activity in a variety of environments is examined and strategies for reclamation and remediation are investigated. Biophysical factors are the emphasis of the course, however the context of social and economic issues are incorporated.
• ENVS 898.3 - Legal Issues and the Environment - This course examines the role of Canadian legal institutions in securing sustainability goals. It canvasses the constitutional jurisdiction of the four levels of government, and critically examines the jurisprudence and legislation directed at environmental protection and management in Canada. The role of the SENS graduate within this legal rubric will also be discussed.
• ENVS 898.3 - Environmental Economics and Policy Making - This course will focus on developing a formal understanding of natural resource use and resource and environmental policy using economic models.  The focus on the course will be on renewable resources but with some consideration of the unique characteristics of non-renewable resources. The course will examine a series of natural resource and environmental issues with a priority given to Canadian issues but not excluding issues from other jurisdictions and those global scale environmental issues.  The course will develop detailed analyses of existing and proposed natural resource and environmental policy using the economic framework to evaluate the structure and the efficiency, effectiveness and flexibility of these policies.  Through this approach the student will develop the tools to understand and critically evaluate environmental policy and also build a familiarity with the primary policy measures and tools. (Beginning in 2012/2013, this class will be identified as ENVS 881.3)
• GEOG 885.3 - Advanced Applications of Environmental Management - Using a collaborative learning model, this course will analyze theoretical and practical problems associated with defining and evaluating resource and environmental management and its associated strategies (not offered in 2011/2012).
• GEOG 886.3 - Advanced Environmental Impact Assessment - A project-based course focusing on emerging concepts and broader applications of environmental assessment principles and practices. Course topics vary from year to year following developments in the field, and may include such topics as cumulative effects assessment, strategic environmental assessment, project scoping, assessment methods and techniques, monitoring and follow-up. (not offered in 2011/2012). 

The other elective credit unit requirements can be met by any other courses taught at the University of Saskatchewan, but may also include additional courses from the restricted electives list.  A student may take up to two senior undergraduate courses, with approval of the graduate chair, to fulfill elective requirements.  Please note that not all elective courses will be offered each year. For a complete listing of courses of available at the University of Saskatchewan, please visit http://www.usask.ca/calendar/coursecat/.

The following unrestricted elective courses are also offered:

• ENVS 898.3 - Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainability - This course is designed to introduce students, in an integrative manner, to the field of biodiversity conservation and various aspects of sustainable development. Understanding biodiversity and its management requires an interdisciplinary approach with particular reference to mechanisms of change and human impacts on the environment. (Beginning in 2012/2013, this class will be identified as ENVS 822.3).
  
• ENVS 898.3 - Introductory Numerical Modelling for Environmental Scientists - The purpose of this course is to provide graduate students with a set of modelling skills to allow them to develop their own numerical models to solve problems of coupled flow and transport in porous media. The course requires a basic understanding of groundwater flow and transport processes. A particular set of numerical methods for solving sets of partial differential equations are introduced to the student. Models are written in MATLAB using ODE solvers. Specific applications include models for water supplies in aquifers, contamination in aquifers, and water and energy balances in soils. This will also provide the student with an in-depth understanding of widely used commercial and non-commercial software such as USGS MODFLOW. The models help the student to think through the physical processes and interpret field data.
• ENVS 898.3 - Chemicals in the Environment - This course will supply the student with an understanding of the processes that control the movement of organic and inorganic contaminants in the environment.  The structure and uses of monitoring programs to evaluate environmental contamination, and temporal and spatial trends in chemical contamination will be discussed.  Local and global methods for chemical regulation and management will be addressed in the context of society and economics.  Finally, the use of modeling methods to predict the environmental fate and effects of chemical contaminants will be presented. (Beginning in 2012/2013, this class will be identified as ENVS 823.3).
• ENVS 898.3 - Environmental Assessment and Negotiation - The main objectives of this class are to help students develop a comprehensive understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of environmental issues; provide students with an in-depth understanding of the concept of risk, explaining concepts such as relative risks and benefits of many human activities; elucidate the roles and perspectives of the different stakeholders such as government, industry, academia, lawyers, lobbyists, etc., that are typically involved in the assessment and management of environmental issues; and teach them the roles that science and society have in the assessment and management of environmental issues. 
• ENVS 898.3 - Multi-level Environmental Governance - An examination of theoretical and practical issues associated with defining, describing and evaluating environmental governance at multiple scales. 
• ENVS 898.3 - Sustainability Case Studies - Critically-constructive interdisciplinary analysis will be applied in a case-studies framework. This will allow students to first recognize and, by learning from the past, become better able to influence future forces that may enhance or detract from sustainability. Case studies may address products (e.g. DDT, wind turbines), management approaches (e.g. improving energy efficiency, forest-stewardship certification), or personal or community-wide initiatives (e.g. community-supported agriculture, Doctors Without Borders). 

A student may take up to two 400-level undergraduate courses to fulfill the elective requirement with the approval of the Graduate Affairs Committee or their faculty advisor. It is expected that a full-time master's student will complete the minimum course requirements and research project in the first year of full-time study.

Please note that not all elective courses will be offered each year.