The environmental studies capstone course (Envir St 600) is a required component for students completing our major. Priority is given to students declared in the environmental studies major.
Fall 2025 Capstone Courses
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Envir St 600 Section 001: Art and the Environment
Professor Tim Portlock
Tuesdays, 2–4 p.m.
In this capstone course, students will create art projects that address the environment as the primary subject matter. Students are welcome to incorporate relevant research from outside the class. Through readings, visiting artist speakers, and discussion, students will be introduced to the history of art and the environment and several creative strategies that might be adapted to making their environmental art projects. There will be an emphasis on how the artworks speak to the public and how. The chosen medium for the art projects is up to the student. As this is an art capstone course many of the class sessions will be for creative feedback on work in progress. This course will culminate in an art exhibition.
Envir St 600 Section 002: Invasive Species Monitoring and Management
Cooper Rosin
Thursdays, 2:25–4:55 p.m.
A central goal of the UW–Madison Arboretum is to conserve and restore native species and ecosystems. One of the major challenges to achieving this goal is the persistent and widespread presence of non-native invasive species. Understanding the long-term effectiveness of invasive species management is critical for the Arboretum to develop realistic restoration targets and use resources efficiently. Monitoring the occurrence and abundance of key species is a straightforward way to understand if management is having its intended impact. In this course, we will work with the Arboretum to advance the scientific monitoring of invasive species impacts, and assist land care staff in developing appropriate management strategies.
Envir St 600 Section 003: Building Resilience to Heat
Becky Rose
Tuesdays/Thursdays, 1–2:15 p.m.
Extreme heat is a problem that people are increasingly having to cope with. Here, we aim to understand the issue from multiple perspectives: how and why high temperatures occur where they do, effects on people, infrastructure, and society, and different approaches to addressing it. Particular attention will be paid to interrogating mainstream understandings of what it means to be resilient to heat and critical responses or alternatives.
Over the course of the semester, students will develop their capstone project in which they will collectively work with community partners in the Wisconsin DHS (Department of Health Services) Climate and Health program and county Emergency Management to build capacity for heat preparedness and understand and address the needs of Wisconsin’s most vulnerable residents.
Envir St 600 Section 004: Food Autonomy and Community Agroecology
Hannah Kass
Wednesdays, 1:20–3:15 p.m.
In this course, students will learn from the Madison chapter of the Neighborhood Planting Project (NPP) to develop a range of grassroots, community-based responses to climate change and food insecurity through agroecology, the food autonomy movement, and their decentralized political philosophies and practices.
The NPP currently acquires tree saplings from the Department of Natural Resources and friends who propagate saplings to distribute free fruit and nut trees to Madison neighbors at our annual spring “tree distro.” In the fall semester, the NPP will work with students in the course to scale up its projects and collaborations and extend them beyond the spring tree distro into different parts of the growing season (particularly summer and fall).
This course will invest students in that process of community engagement and project organizing while building students’ agroecological skillset. Students will critically explore top-down approaches to food insecurity and food sovereignty, and the role of grassroots, community-based approaches to resolving socio-environmental problems; gain basic agroecological skills and scientific comprehension, including soil composition/health/fertility, moisture retention, pest control, weed control, companion planting/polyculture theory, and permaculture design; acquire community organizing skills, including how to start, care for, distribute, and plant gardens and their components with people in the Madison community.
Students will apply their skills to create their own projects promoting food autonomy and community agroecology. Students should be prepared to meet in the Eagle Heights Community Garden at UW’s Lakeshore Nature Preserve several times throughout the course.
Envir St 600 Section 005: Water Maps: Writing Lake Mendota
Noreen McAuliffe
Wednesdays, 8:50–10:45 a.m.
Lake Mendota is often cited as the most studied lake in the world, yet new discoveries and stories still emerge from its waters, from the ancient dugout canoes to the invasive spiny water flea. In this environmental humanities class, we will focus on the past, present, and future of Lake Mendota and the Yahara chain of lakes.
In our reading and writing we’ll think through these questions:
- What stories have been overlooked or unwritten in the histories of Lake Mendota?
- How does water shape campus and life in Madison?
- How do researchers studying the lake create narratives about their work?
Course meetings will be structured primarily around workshop, where students’ writing is the main focus for discussion. Class will include field excursions to practice site-specific writing exercises and experience the lakes on campus and in Madison. We’ll hear from experts on limnology, marine archaeology, and aquatic ecology, and learn how they communicate their research to a public audience. The research and writing of the course will culminate in a group project in which students investigate the lesser known sites and stories of Lake Mendota.
The class will design a GPS self-guided audio tour focused on student-created narratives of these water sites. The tour stops will be accessible from shore or by boat. Students will re-envision what constitutes a “significant” place through their research and creative practice. The goal of the tour project will be to represent the aquatic sites of UW in a campus water map.