Spring 2027

Special Topics: Social Perspectives in Environmental Studies

Special topics in social perspectives on environmental studies, covering policy, law, economics, land use, sustainability, food systems, energy, conflict resolution, justice, and development.

offering recorded1–4 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Joel Ferguson

Summary

1 / 5

Past student reviews · Kim Wahl

One student reported that earning an A was not difficult but criticized the course for having a colossal amount of busywork and basic content.

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Sophomore standing

  • Sophomore standing
ENVIRST 402

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Sophomore standing

Professors

Spring 2027
Historical instructors & teaching patterns

JOEL FERGUSON is recorded teaching in Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KIM WAHL is recorded teaching in Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 200

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Kim Wahl

Students described the material as basic for a 400-level course and noted a large amount of busywork, though they acknowledged the instructor's passion for the subject.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.96 GPA, 96.0% A/AB (n=25 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.91 GPA, 96.9% A/AB (n=32 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.75 GPA, 85.0% A/AB (n=20 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Kim Wahl

One student reported that earning an A was not difficult but criticized the course for having a colossal amount of busywork and basic content.

Past student reviews · Kim Wahl

Past students found the instructor kind and passionate, making it easy to stay engaged in lectures and assignments.

Topics

  • Environmental policy, law, economics, land use, sustainability, food systems, energy policy, conflict resolution, environmental justice, and international development.

Skills

  • Analyzing issues in environmental policy, law, economics, land use, sustainability, food systems, energy policy, conflict resolution, environmental justice, and international development.

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
ENVIRST 402 · Spring 2027

Special Topics: Social Perspectives in Environmental Studies

Recorded 2026-10-14
ENVIRST 402 · Spring 2027

Environmentl Impact Evaluation

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:360:022835",
    "course_id": "ENVIRST 402",
    "course_uid": "course_77ecda278eb3b8cb7b5ba1b6",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "022835",
    "source_subject_id": "360",
    "title": "Special Topics: Social Perspectives in Environmental Studies",
    "credits_min": 1,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring, Summer"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:360:022835.85",
    "course_id": "ENVIRST 402",
    "course_uid": "course_77ecda278eb3b8cb7b5ba1b6",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "022835.85",
    "source_subject_id": "360",
    "title": "Environmentl Impact Evaluation",
    "credits_min": 1,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring, Summer"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "2970a1286d758d21bc09256161805f43b68616e686917f62cf0278ad9fe00f41",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}