This graduate-level course focuses on interactions between organisms, populations, and communities with their environment. The course includes discussion of principles, methods of study, research results, and significance and relevance to conservation. This includes thinking about the history of ecology, the impact of racism and colonialism on who participates in ecology, and ways that we can decolonize ecology to make it a more inclusive and impactful field. The course is organized to encourage thinking and learning about key concepts in ecology from lectures and through reading of the primary literature, discussion, analytical writing, and problem sets.

There are three types of writing assignment in the course: (1) a > 5 page "position" paper that evaluates conflicting information in 2-4 journal articles (McWilliams); (2) a written critique of the readings for each of Forrester’s group discussions, and (3) a ~ 5-page synthesis paper and short (5 min) presentation highlighting the career, contributions, and challenges of a prominent ecologist from a historically minoritized community (McMahon).

Example Syllabus