Classes
Fall 2024
I will be in a fellowship program and will not be teaching any courses. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you need to schedule a meeting or discuss research. I will be available in person or via Zoom.
You can email me at: victoria.ramenzoni@rutgers.edu
My office: 211 Cook Office Building, 55 Dudley Rd., New Brunswick, 08901.
Spring Courses
Natural Resource Policy (300)
Monday, Thursday – 10:20 to 11:40 pm
Description: During this course, we will explore major theoretical and methodological approaches to the formulation, evaluation, and implementation of natural resource use policies. We will dip our toes into classic, contemporary, and cutting-edge research articles from different disciplines such as Anthropology, Sociology, Human Geography, Economics, Fishery and Forest Sciences, and Natural Resource Management. The main goal will be to examine the role of policy and the processes/motivations behind formulating regulatory instruments in the context of forests, coasts, and marine landscapes. We will also examine the status of key issues in managing natural resources we rely on, challenges to their sustainable use, and potential pathways into the future.
Research Methods (200)
Monday, Thursday – 10:20 to 11:40 pm
Description: During this course, we will explore how social scientists empirically investigate and quantify behavior within the social world. We will learn about quantitative and qualitative social science research methods. We will study definitions and concepts such as hypothesis,
thesis, statistics, quantitative vs. qualititative approaches, validity, surveys, and interviews among others.
Marine Fisheries Policy (400/500) ~ Infrequent
Monday – 2 to 5 pm
Description: This course will explore major theoretical and methodological approaches to studying human-environmental interactions in coastal and marine landscapes. We will explore classic, contemporary, and cutting-edge research articles from Anthropology, Sociology, Human Geography, Economics, Fishery Sciences, and Natural Resource Management. Our goal will be to identify the significant approaches proposed to understand how societies and environments can reciprocally influence each other. Through this process, we will also examine the status of key issues in managing coastal and marine resources we rely on, challenges to their sustainable use, and potential pathways into the future.
Environmental Change (500) ~ Infrequent
Monday 2 to 5 pm
Description: As part of the class, we will explore major theoretical and methodological approaches to studying human-environmental interactions, environmental variability, and change. We will explore classic, contemporary, and cutting-edge research articles from different disciplines such as Anthropology, Sociology, Human Geography, Economics, Fishery Sciences, and Natural Resource Management. Our goal will be to identify the major approaches proposed to understand the different levels of environmental variability and climatic change, risk, adaptation, and mitigation.
Fall Courses
Behavior and The Environment (400)
Monday, Thursday – 15:40 to 17:00 pm
This course is designed to help you understand the role of the environment, genes, and culture in shaping human behavior. We will explore some of the most important theories from Anthropology, Biology, and Psychology that study how individuals behave, adapt to their environment, and interact with each other. At the beginning of the class, we will focus on identifying the different levels of explanation, the role of genetic approaches, and the contribution of evolutionary and cultural theories. We will then investigate how adaptation to environmental stressors (i.e.: temperature, altitude) can help us understand current patterns of human variation. The course will end with considering environmental and ecological psychology and its relation to risk behavior.