Microsoft Word - Academic Course Requirements Current List



MS WSP Course List (updated April 2020)The MS WSP degree requires a minimum of 32 units, distributed as follows: Policy Core Courses 9 unitsScience Core Courses 3-4 unitsWater, Society and Policy Seminar 2 unitsElectives 12-14 units* Master's Project 6 units*Policy and Science Core classes may be taken as electives if they are not chosen for the core. And, you are limited to 2 GIS classes as electives.Policy Core- Choose any 3 of the following 8 courses (9 units): AREC 575 - Economic Evaluation of Water and Environmental Policy (Fall 2020) Bonnie ColbyTheory and application of economic concepts needed to evaluate water and environmental laws and policies, including benefit cost analysis, externalities, public goods and valuation methodologies. Case studies include federal, state, tribal and international water and environmental policies.ENVS 596B - Water Policy in Arizona and Semi-arid Regions (Spring not 2020) S. MegdalThis course focuses on current Arizona water policy from a multi-disciplinary perspective. Through readings, research, discussion and presentations, the student is exposed to current water resource issues facing Arizona and other parts of the West and policies to address them.GEOG 596I - Comparative and International Water Policy (Fall 2020) C. Bauer This course examines major issues in comparative and international water policy, including water markets, privatization, dams and river basin management, environmental flows, social equity, and water governance. The course is interdisciplinary and builds on law, geography, political economy, and institutional economics.GEOG 596J - Water Management and Policy (Alternate odd years- Spring not 2020) C. ScottManagement and policy challenges driven by surface water and groundwater scarcity will be assessed for the Southwest US, Mexico, and globally. Critical review of institutions coupled with assessment of emerging management systems will lead to consideration of policy alternatives.GEOG 696O - Adaptation & Resilience in Water Resources Systems (Spring 2020) C. ScottClimate change, urban growth, energy demand, and global food trade alter water in coupled human-natural systems. This seminar addresses adaptation and resilience using material on river basins, aquifers, infrastructure, policy, and institutions from Southwest U.S., transboundary U.S.- Mexico, and international cases.GEOG 696R – International Environmental Policy and Governance (Spring) Andrea GerlakFrom climate strikes to devastating fires in the Amazon to recent trade deals, all around us are events and activities that reflect international environmental policy and governance. This seminar will examine the challenges of governing global environmental change in terms of the institutional landscape and the political, economic, and social processes associated with governance. The goal of the seminar is to provide graduate students with an overview of the major scholars, theories, and debates of international environmental governance. We will study the diverse set of actors engaged in international environmental governance including NGOs, the private sector, the United Nations and other international organizations, and national and local governments, across a variety of topics from climate change and water to transboundary environmental governance at the border and the science-policy interface. LAW 669 - Environmental Law (Fall 2020) Justin PicotA survey course covering major environmental statutes and common law doctrines. Topics include the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act, CERCLA, regulatory takings, standing in environmental cases, the law of nuisance, and the public trust doctrine. LAW 641 – Water Law (Spring) Robert GlennonThe course in Water Law traditionally emphasizes state law rules that govern rights to use surface water and groundwater throughout the country.? Although we will give ample attention to the prior appropriation doctrine, riparian water rights, and various systems for regulating groundwater use, this course will also emphasize how federal law may impact water rights.? Increasingly, environmentalists and others claim that there are public rights to water that may take precedence over rights under the prior appropriation system.RNR 540 - Climate Change Adaptation (Fall) Gregg Garfin This course examines actions to reduce vulnerabilities or increase resilience to the potential impacts of climate change. While the general focus will be on impacts and responses in the arid Southwest (water, fire, species, ecosystems), we will also investigate the philosophies and frameworks for advancing action and incorporation of adaptation planning at the regional, national and international scale. Science Core - Choose 1 of the following 5 courses (3-4 units):HWRS 517A – Fundamentals of Water Quality (Fall) Tom Meixner—pre req Calc, Physics and Math 254(more calc)Introduction to chemical processes affecting the behavior of major and minor chemical species in the aquatic environment. Physical, equilibrium, inorganic/organic, and analytical principles as applied to natural waters. Graduate-requirements include writing a review paper and oral presentation, differential problem sets for homework and exams.HWRS 573 - Hydrology for Water Resources Management (Fall) Laura Condon, no pre reqsThis course will develop the students understanding of the hydrologic cycle, its constituent parts on the hydrologic cycle. It will then expose students to various ways in which human management influences the hydrologic cycle and ways in which the hydrologic cycle controls water resources management.WSM 552 - Dryland Ecohydrology and Vegetation Dynamics (Fall) Dave Breshears-some ecology helpfulOverview of ecological and hydrological interrelationships and associated vegetation dynamics for water-limited, dryland ecosystems.WSM 560A - Watershed Hydrology (Fall) Jia Hu--pre req calculus and PhysicsApplication of fundamental principles to quantifying the basic hydrologic processes occurring on watersheds.WSM 568 - Wildland Water Quality (Spring) David Quanrud --no pre reqIntroduction to water quality and its influences in natural environments. Interactions with land management and relationships to the larger issues of environmental quality. Graduate-level requirements include a class report and presentation on a negotiated topic of interest.Elective Courses (12 units minimum)ARC 561A – Water Efficiency in Built Environments (Spring) Courtney CrossonLearn methods and advanced techniques that conserve urban water usage while promoting water harvesting, water reuse, and water energy generation technologies in and around buildings.AREC 579 – Economics of Water Management and Policy (Spring) Bonnie ColbyThis course focuses on economic optimization and other methods useful for water management and policy design. Topics include optimal use of water as an input in producing crops, energy, recreation, habitat and other ecosystem services; water demand and supply; water quality; water pricing and conservation incentives; policies governing water rights and allocation for environmental needs; managing water shortage risks; and economic models of water conflict and bargaining over water.ARL 642 - Use and Management of Arid Lands (Spring even years) David QuanrudMajor issues surrounding land uses in the world's arid and semi-arid zones. Examination of issues which will determine the future of land management in much of the arid and semi-arid lands of the western United States. The debate over the management of lands in relation to ownership, tenure, and access; intergenerational transfers, and the economic, environmental, and social consequences of proposed changes in current arrangements.ENVS 554 - Water Harvesting (Spring 2020) Baile McCormickCourse focuses on water harvesting principles and techniques. Students will learn how to apply concepts at their own residences and participate in applying them on the UA campus. Graduate- level requirements include working with other graduate students to evaluate water harvesting practices on campus. Two examples of good & poor water harvesting on campus plus two sites that might be considered for future harvesting must be surveyed with results posted on website.ENVS 574 - Aquatic Plants and the Environment (Fall) D. WalkerThe role of riparian areas, estuaries, and constructed wetlands in the environment. Emphasis on plants as wildlife habitat for nutrient cycling and bioremediation.GEOG 596M – Making the Connection between Science and Decision Making (Spring odd years)Connie Woodhouse and Dan FergusonThis seminar explores concepts at the foundation of the intersection between environmental science and decision, making as well as practical aspects of two-way communication to explore the ways in which exchanges take place between scientists and decision makers.LAW 603J - Sustainability and Environmental Policy (Spring) Carol Rose, Marc MillerOver the past twenty years “sustainability” (or “sustainable development”) has emerged as a central goal of environmental policy making. Contemporary tools of environmental policy including ecosystem management, adaptive management, and restoration have been displaced by what seems like a clearer goal that captures ends as well as means. Sustainability has moved from the work of scholars and activists to laws and administrative regulations. The language of sustainability has extended to the world of business and commerce.LAW 625B - The Colorado River in American History (Spring 2020-7Week 1 session) R. GlennonThe focus of the course is the Colorado River. Using the work of the New West historians as a framework, we shall examine the role of the Colorado River in American History. After examining the geology of the Grand Canyon and the use made of the River and its resources by Native peoples, we shall examine the exploration of the Colorado River and its canyons by John Wesley Powell and other early European explorers.LAW 696I - International Environmental Law (Spring 2020 in 7 Week 2 session) James HopkinsThis course analyzes the expanding framework of and the legal process leading to international regulation of the human environment, including regional and international regulation of air and water pollution and the protection of marine mammals and endangered species; the relationship between environmental and trade issues; protection of the "global commons"; conflicts between protecting the environment and economic development; enforcement of international environmental obligations by the United States and other nations; and regional regulation of environmental matters, including the NAFTA and the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation.PA 503 – Politics, Policy and Public Management (Fall) Elizabeth BaldwinThe course will focus on politics and public policy from the perspective of the public manager, defined here as managers who work directly for government as well as those in the nonprofit and for profit sectors who work under government contracts. PA 555 – Statistics for Public Policy II (Spring) Laura BakkensenThe course will focus on regression analysis as a quantitative tool to assess the effectiveness and impacts of policy. Topics will include Ordinary Least Squares, Hypothesis Testing, Logistic Regressions, Instrumental Variables, and Time Series Methods, as well as specification choice, regression diagnostics, and robustness testing. In addition to the core content, each week students will read an article utilizing a quantitative policy analysis method to understand the approach and critique the model assumptions. Homework assignments will put theory into practice and teach students coding skills using STATA.PA 582 - Managing to Collaborate on Environmental and Natural Resources Conflicts (Spring) Kirk EmersonThis course focuses on how to manage collaboration in highly controversial environmental and natural resource conflicts. The course will draw on cases from texts and articles as well as focus on several disputes that have occurred or are ongoing in the American Southwest. The primary goal is to help participants become better consumers and producers of collaborative processes and tools and to encourage thoughtful critique, analysis and evaluation.PA 584—Environmental Management (Spring) Laura BakkensenThis course is a survey of environmental management and economics to maximize social benefit. Covering pollution control, nonrenewable resource extraction, and natural resource management, we address both theory and policy in practice to determine when markets work, when they fail, and what policy can do to help. We also discuss the taxonomy of value and introduce stated- and revealed-preference valuation techniques. This course aims to empower students with a set of tools to rigorously evaluate a range of real-world issues at the human-environment nexus through the synthesis of science, economics, and policy. Basic math (graphing and algebra) will be used in this course, but all concepts will be reviewed during the first classRNR 503—Applications of Geographic Information Systems (Fall, Spring, Summer) Not offered in Fall 2020 Craig Wissler or Phil GuertinGeneral survey of principles of geographic information systems (GIS); applications of GIS to issues such as land assessment and evaluation of wildlife habitat; problem-solving with GIS. Graduate-level requirements include completion of a project on the use of GIS in their discipline or an original GIS analysis (100 points) in coordination with the instructor.RNR 517 - Geographic Information Systems for Natural and Social Sciences (Fall and Spring) Craig Wissler and Gary ChristophersonIntroduction to the application of GIS and related technologies for both the natural and social sciences. Conceptual issues in GIS database design and development, analysis, and display.RNR 522 - Resource Mapping Using Unmanned Aircraft Systems (Fall) Wim Van LeeuwenThis course combines aspects of remote sensing, GIS, and biogeography in an interdisciplinary framework to elucidate how land use and land cover can be monitored using UAS. Links will be made with field and satellite-based monitoring techniques to cross-validate landscape maps. Students that take this course will develop a solid scientific and applied basis to address geospatial landscape monitoring questions. They will do this by safely flying a drone, acquiring data in the field and with the drone, processing GPS and multi-sensor data, analyzing these data and creating landscape maps and products.RNR 580 - Natural Resources Policy and Law (Spring) Laura Lopez HoffmanThis course examines the natural resource and environmental policy formulation process, the participants in that process and the policies themselves. The course emphasizes public policy as it applies to federal lands. However, the principles apply to state lands and policies as well.RNR 585 – The Economic and Social Connections to Natural Resources (Spring) Jose SotoThe economics and social connections to environmental systems and their problems offers an important insight into the use, misuse, and overuse of natural resources. This course examines economic theory, concepts, and decision-making tools for real-world problems and possible solutions. Descriptive, graphical, and elementary quantitative methods will be used throughout the course.RNR 596G - National Climate Assessment (Spring) James Buizer, Kathy Jacobs, Larry FisherThe third U. S. National Climate Assessment was released in May, 2014 and provides a comprehensive assessment of the many types of environmental, social and physical impacts occurring and projected to occur in the U.S. We will work our way through the final version of the assessment, discuss a diverse array of approaches to vulnerability and impact assessment, and hear from several authors involved in writing the assessment. This seminar will provide you with strategic, thorough and extremely up-to-date in-depth knowledge on climate change impacts within regions and sectors of the U.S., and will prepare you to tackle environmental problem solving in the context of climate change, whatever your specialty.WFSC 571 - Stream Ecology (Fall) Michael BoganThis course will examine the structure and function of stream ecosystems with emphasis on the interaction of physical and biotic elements of streams in arid regions. We will examine the role of natural and anthropogenic stressors in shaping aquatic assemblages in streams. Quantification of impairment of stream structure and function requires a thorough understanding of fundamental ecological concepts of natural streams; this will be a major focus. Also, students will learn to use current methods to assess stream condition and signs of impairment. Graduate-level requirements include additional essay questions on exams and graduate student must meet with the instructors to discuss selected research articles. Presentations will be longer than undergraduates.WSM 562 - Watershed Management (Spring) Phil GuertinEvaluating hydrologic impacts of management activities on watersheds to include silviculture, range, mining, and recreation use.RNR 909 - Master's Report (Fall, Spring, Summer) with advisorStudents are required to complete a major project for the MS WSP degree. The topic of the project will be selected during the first year of study by the student in consultation with his/her advisor. It should focus on a water policy issue of importance, ideally in a semi-arid environment. The student will prepare for the advisor’s approval a brief (2 to 3 pages) proposal outlining the objectives of the project, work plan, and deliverables. The project may stem from an internship; however a formal internship is not required. The time and effort invested should represent six-units of academic credit. According to the Arizona Board of Regents, each unit awarded should represent 45 hours of study. However, the acceptability of the final project is the decision of the advisor. The final deliverables are for the student and the advisor to determine. However, at a minimum a written report and an oral presentation are required. The project is to be completed by the end of the second year of study or by the expected graduation date, whichever comes later. WSP Seminar RNR 696W (Fall and Spring) Gregg GarfinThis course is designed to introduce students to the various ways that water science, societal forces, and public policy intersect, and to familiarize students with the various units on campus addressing complex interdisciplinary water management questions. ................
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