Program Overview

Energy Policy and Management, BA

Introduction

The goal of the program is to give students knowledge and analytic skills in the policy and management aspects of today’s diverse energy business, along with broad exposure to the science, environmental, business, and policy aspects of the energy system that drive the formation and analysis of energy-related policies.

Why Consider an Energy Policy and Management Major?

The B.A. in Energy Policy and Management is an interdisciplinary program that gives students knowledge and skills concerning energy policy and the energy business through courses in economics, environmental studies, environmental science, and various business disciplines, while also providing a solid background in basic energy science concepts.

While building a strong blend of analytic and communication skills, students will gain energy-related expertise that industry experts have identified as essential to the workforce needs in the growing clean energy economy. Graduates will be well prepared to enter the workforce, equipped with the knowledge, skills, and applied expertise demanded by entrepreneurship or employment in the energy field.

The program will also integrate core strengths of WWU, including collaboration, practical innovation, community engagement, a global perspective, and a sustainability focus. The participating departments are recognized for their outstanding educational programs and demonstrated excellence. This program will foster interdisciplinary thinking, learning, and problem-solving.

Student Resources

• Website: Institute for Energy Studies
• Department advising: Admitted and/or current students visit the Advising section of the Energy Studies website.
• Degree Works: Current students should also log on to Degree Works to check student-specific program progress.
• Career Services Center: Connect major to a career
  • Sample Careers: Energy Economist, Energy Efficiency Analyst, Director of Energy Policy, Energy Program Manager, Energy Resource Planner, Renewable Energy Project Manager, Director of Greenhouse Gas Management, Founder, new energy-related enterprise

How to Declare (Admission and Declaration Process)

Contact the Institute for Energy Studies office.

Grade Requirements

A grade of C- or better is required for a student’s major or minor courses, and supporting courses for majors and minors. Students enrolled in this degree program are not eligible for Energy Policy Minor.

Requirements (101-114 credits)

Energy Requirements

• ENRG 344 - Community Solutions to Climate Change (Credits: 4)
• or ENVS 344 - Community Solutions to Climate Change (Credits: 4)
• or ENRG 440 - Public and Stakeholder Engagement in Energy, Climate, and Environmental Policymaking (Credits: 4)
• or UEPP 440 - Public and Stakeholder Engagement in Energy, Climate, and Environmental Policymaking (Credits: 4)
• ENRG 350 - Energy Policy and Politics (Credits: 4)
• or UEPP 350 - Energy Policy and Politics (Credits: 4)
• ENRG 352 - Climate Governance and Political Economy (Credits: 4)
• or ENVS 352 - Climate Governance and Political Economy (Credits: 4)
• ENRG 380 - Energy and Environment (Credits: 4)
• or ESCI 380 - Energy and Environment (Credits: 4)
• ENRG 384 - Energy Economics (Credits: 4)
• or ECON 384 - Energy Economics (Credits: 4)
• ENRG 386 - The Economics of Electricity Markets (Credits: 4)
• or ECON 386 - The Economics of Electricity Markets (Credits: 4)
• ENRG 449 - Northwest Energy Systems Transitions (Credits: 4)
• or ENVS 449 - Northwest Energy Systems Transitions (Credits: 4)
• ENRG 459 - Advanced Energy Policy (Credits: 4)
• or ENVS 459 - Advanced Energy Policy (Credits: 4)
• ENRG 484 - Clean Energy Economics (Credits: 4)
• or ECON 484 - Clean Energy Economics (Credits: 4)
• ENRG 486 - Electric Utility Resource Planning (Credits: 4)
• or ENRG 488 - Energy Management in Organizations (Credits: 4)
• ENRG 490 - Energy Capstone: Energy System Synthesis (Credits: 4)

Fundamentals Courses

• ACCT 240 - Financial Accounting (Credits: 4)
• DSCI 205 - Business Statistics (Credits: 4)
• DSCI 305 - Applied Business Statistics and Analytics (Credits: 4)
• or ECON 375 - Introduction to Econometrics (Credits: 4)
• or ENRG 322 - Energy Data Analysis (Credits: 4)
• ECON 206 - Introduction to Microeconomics (Credits: 4)
• ECON 207 - Introduction to Macroeconomics (Credits: 4)
• MATH 114 - Precalculus I (Credits: 5)
• PLSC 250 - The American Political System (Credits: 5)

And choose one of the following three options:

Option 1

• ACCT 245 - Managerial Accounting (Credits: 4)
• FIN 341 - Principles of Finance (Credits: 4)
• OPS 360 - Operations Management (Credits: 4)

Option 2

• Choose any three of the following:
  • MGMT 271 - Law and the Business Environment (Credits: 4)
  • MGMT 311 - Introduction to Management and Organizational Behavior (Credits: 4)
  • MIS 320 - Principles of Management Information Systems (Credits: 4)
  • MKTG 380 - Principles of Marketing (Credits: 4)
  • IBUS 370 - Introduction to International Business (Credits: 4)

Option 3

Complete the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Minor

Electives

Choose (under advisement) a minimum of 16 credits from the following list of courses:

• DSCI 407 - Predictive Analytics for Business (Credits: 4)
• ECON 306 - Intermediate Microeconomics (Credits: 4)
• ECON 310 - Public Sector Economics (Credits: 4)
• ECON 343 - Population, Environment, and World Agriculture (Credits: 4)
• ECON 360 - Introduction to International Economics (Credits: 4)
• ECON 361 - International Economic Policy and Business (Credits: 4)
• ECON 380 - Urban Economics (Credits: 4)
• ECON 383 - Environmental Economics (Credits: 4)
• ECON 410 - Benefit-Cost Analysis (Credits: 4)
• ECON 470 - Economic Fluctuations and Forecasting (Credits: 4)
• ECON 482 - Advanced Topics in Environmental Economics (Credits: 4)
• ECON 483 - Resource Economics (Credits: 4)
• ENRG 101 - Energy and Society (Credits: 3)
• ENRG 310 - Thermal Energy Systems (Credits: 4)
• ENRG 320 - Science of Energy Resources (Credits: 4) (only if not used in the Energy Requirements courses)
• ENRG 330 - Energy from the Earth (Credits: 4)
• ENRG 340 - Energy and Climate in Rural Development (Credits: 4)
• ENRG 342 - Problem Solving in Environmental Science (Credits: 5)
• or ESCI 342 - Problem Solving in Environmental Science (Credits: 5)
• ENRG 344 - Community Solutions to Climate Change (Credits: 4) (only if not used in the Energy Requirements courses)
• or ENVS 344 - Community Solutions to Climate Change (Credits: 4) (only if not used in the Energy Requirements courses)
• ENRG 345 - Energy in the Global South (Credits: 5)
• or ANTH 345 - Energy in the Global South (Credits: 5)
• ENRG 354 - Energy in American History (Credits: 5)
• or HIST 354 - Energy in American History (Credits: 5)
• ENRG 360 - Energy Efficient and Carbon Neutral Design (Credits: 4)
• or ESCI 360 - Energy Efficient and Carbon Neutral Design (Credits: 4)
• ENRG 381 - Biofuels (Credits: 3)
• or CHEM 381 - Biofuels (Credits: 3)
• ENRG 391 - Energy Speaker Series (Credits: 1)
• ENRG 392 - Energy Symposium (Credits: 1)
• ENRG 400 - Directed Independent Study (Credits: 1-15)
• ENRG 420 - Advanced Energy Science (Credits: 3)
• ENRG 430 - Chemistry of Energy Materials and Waste (Credits: 4)
• ENRG 440 - Public and Stakeholder Engagement in Energy, Climate, and Environmental Policymaking (Credits: 4) (only if not used in the Energy Requirements courses)
• or UEPP 440 - Public and Stakeholder Engagement in Energy, Climate, and Environmental Policymaking (Credits: 4) (only if not used in the Energy Requirements courses)
• ENRG 461 - Optimizing Mechanical Systems in Commercial Buildings (Credits: 5)
• ENRG 464 - Sustainable Building Analysis and Design (Credits: 4)
• or ESCI 464 - Sustainable Building Analysis and Design (Credits: 4)
• ENRG 466 - Life Cycle Analysis (Credits: 4)
• or ESCI 466 - Life Cycle Analysis (Credits: 4)
• ENRG 475 - Renewable Electric Power Systems (Credits: 4)
• or ESCI 475 - Renewable Electric Power Systems (Credits: 4)
• ENRG 480 - Applications in Energy Production (Credits: 4)
• or ESCI 480 - Applications in Energy Production (Credits: 4)
• ENRG 482 - Greenhouse Gas Mitigation (Credits: 4)
• or ESCI 482 - Greenhouse Gas Mitigation (Credits: 4)
• ENRG 486 - Electric Utility Resource Planning (Credits: 4) (only if not used in the Energy Requirements courses)
• ENRG 488 - Energy Management in Organizations (Credits: 4) (only if not used in the Energy Requirements courses)
• ENRG 495 - Internship (Credits: 1-4)
• ENRG 498 - Directed Research (Credits: 1-12)
• ENVS 320 - GIS I: Introduction to Geographic Information Science (Credits: 4)
• UEPP 355 - Environmental Law and Policy (Credits: 4)
• ENVS 392 - Introduction to Climate Change (Credits: 4)
• or ESCI 392 - Introduction to Climate Change (Credits: 4)
• or ESCI 492 - Climate Change (Credits: 4)
• ENVS 419 - Applications in GIS (Credits: 3)
• or ENVS 420 - GIS III: Analysis and Modeling (Credits: 5)
• ENVS 493 - Environmental Impact Assessment (Credits: 5)
• or ESCI 493 - Environmental Impact Assessment (Credits: 5)
• or UEPP 493 - Environmental Impact Assessment (Credits: 5)
• ENVS 326 - Climatology (Credits: 4)
• MGMT 359 - Business and Sustainability Principles and Practice (Credits: 4)
• or UEPP 359 - Business and Sustainability Principles and Practice (Credits: 4)
• UEPP 471 - Sustainability: Studio (Credits: 3)
• PLSC 420 - Environmental Politics (Credits: 5)
• or ENVS 458 - Environmental Politics (Credits: 5)
• LDST 408 - Sustainability Leadership (Credits: 4)
• or SUST 408 - Sustainability Leadership (Credits: 4)
• PLSC 326 - Policy Analysis: Understanding Public Problems & Policy Solutions (Credits: 5)
• The following courses may be used as electives only if they are not used to satisfy Option 1 or Option 2 under Fundamentals Courses:
  • ACCT 245 - Managerial Accounting (Credits: 4)
  • FIN 341 - Principles of Finance (Credits: 4)
  • IBUS 370 - Introduction to International Business (Credits: 4)
  • MGMT 271 - Law and the Business Environment (Credits: 4)
  • MGMT 311 - Introduction to Management and Organizational Behavior (Credits: 4)
  • MIS 320 - Principles of Management Information Systems (Credits: 4)
  • MKTG 380 - Principles of Marketing (Credits: 4)
  • OPS 360 - Operations Management (Credits: 4)
  • PLSC 427 - Politics of the Policy Process (Credits: 5)
• Notes:
  • A maximum of 8 credits from ENRG 400, ENRG 495, and ENRG 498 can count towards fulfilling the major electives.
  • A maximum of 3 credits from ENRG 391 and ENRG 392 can count towards fulfilling the major electives.

University Graduation Requirements

• General University Requirements
• Writing Proficiency Requirement (WP)
• 180 Minimum Total Credits
• 60 Minimum Upper Division Credits
• Residency Requirement
• Minimum Grade Requirements
• Final Quarter Requirement