Environmental Health, BS

Total number of hours for the program: 120.

This program is designed for students interested in environmental health science and public health. Graduates will be prepared for careers in areas such as air and water quality control, food safety and sanitation, vector control, occupational health and safety, and epidemiology. The program is accredited by the National Environmental Health Science and Protection Accreditation Council (EHAC) and offers a curriculum tailored to prepare students for professional practice in environmental health science and protection. A minimum GPA of 2.0 is required in the major for graduation.

Liberal Studies Hours (42 hours)

Liberal Studies Program Requirements

Major Requirements

The major requires 60 hours, including Math C2 and Science C5 requirements in the Liberal Studies program and Core requirements in the major, as follows:

BIOL 313 - Microbiology in Health and Nutrition Credits: 4
CHEM 139 - General Chemistry I Credits: 4
CHEM 140 - General Chemistry II Credits: 4
CHEM 241 - Organic Chemistry I Credits: 4
ENVH 230 - Introduction to Environmental Health Science Credits: 3
ENVH 310 - Water Quality Control Credits: 3
ENVH 311 - Water Quality Control Laboratory Credits: 1
ENVH 320 - Institutional and Residential Environments Credits: 3
ENVH 330 - Food Protection and Sanitation Credits: 3
ENVH 331 - Food Protection and Sanitation Laboratory Credits: 1
ENVH 375 - Environmental Toxicology Credits: 3
ENVH 395 - Environmental Health Pre-Internship Seminar Credits: 1
ENVH 412 - Solid and Hazardous Materials Management Credits: 3
ENVH 430 - Vector-Borne Disease Control Credits: 3
ENVH 431 - Vector-Borne Disease Control Laboratory Credits: 1
ENVH 440 - Air Quality Control Credits: 3
ENVH 450 - Air Quality Control Lab Credits: 1
ENVH 470 - Epidemiologic Methods for Environmental Health Credits: 4
ENVH 483 - Environmental Health Internship Credits: 2, R6
MATH 130 - Precalculus I Credits: 3
or MATH 146 or MATH 153
MATH 170 - Applied Statistics Credits: 3
PHYS 130 - Introductory Physics I Credits: 4
BIOL 102 - Human Genetics Credits: 3
(or a higher-level Biology class)
One additional science course (at least three credit hours) approved by an advisor (for example, BIOL 151, PHYS 131, CHEM 242 or higher, GEOL 305 or GEOL 310 or another BIOL course); first-year seminars do not count for this requirement.

Note: By taking MATH 130, BIOL 313, and CHEM 139 (four credit hours each, 12 total), students satisfy their nine credit hours of C2 and C5 Liberal Studies requirements. The remaining three credit hours (after the nine LS credits are subtracted from the 12-hour total for those three classes) are applied to the Environmental Health credit-hour requirements.

General Electives 18 hours

General electives (18 hours) are required to complete the program. To satisfy another WCU requirement, students should earn 25 percent of their total hours at WCU and at the junior/senior level.

Visit the department’s website at envh.wcu.edu to view the eight-semester curriculum guide.