Director: Mary Ann Cunningham;

Steering Committee: Pinar Batur (Sociology), Stuart L. Belli (Chemistry), Lynn Christenson (Biology), Zachary Cofran^a (Anthropology), Mary Ann Cunningham (Geography), Yvonne Elet (Art), Myra Hughey (Biology), Kirsten Menking (Earth Science), Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert^ab (Hispanic Studies), Thomas Parker (French and Francophone Studies), Paul Ruud (Economics), Alison Spodek (Chemistry), Jeffrey R. Walker (Earth Science);

Participating Faculty: Pinar Batur (Sociology), April Beisaw (Anthropology), Stuart L. Belli (Chemistry), Christopher Bjork (Education), Mario Cesareo (Hispanic Studies), Jonathan Chenette (Music), Lynn Christenson (Biology), Zachary Cofran^a (Anthropology), Randolph R. Cornelius (Psychology), Mary Ann Cunningham (Geography), Andrew Davison (Political Science), Rebecca Edwards (History), Yvonne Elet (Art), David Esteban^a (Biology), Ashley Fent (Geography), Kathleen Gemmill (English), Brian Godfrey (Geography), Kathleen R. Hart^a (French and Francophone Studies), Katherine Hite^b (Political Science), Benjamin Ho^a (Economics), Myra Hughey (Biology), E H Rick Jarow (Religion), Paul Kane^b (English), Martha Kaplan^b (Anthropology), Jamie T. Kelly (Philosophy), Judith Linn (Art), John H. Long, Jr.^ab (Biology), Jenny Magnes (Physics and Astronomy), Erin McCloskey (Education), Molly McGlennen (English), Kirsten Menking (Earth Science), Himadeep Muppidi (Political Science), Osman Nemli^a (Philosophy), Leonard Nevarez (Sociology), Joseph Nevins (Geography), Samson Okoth Opondo (Political Science), Carolyn Palmer (Psychology), Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert^ab (Hispanic Studies), Thomas Parker (French and Francophone Studies), Margaret Ronsheim (Biology), Paul Ruud (Economics), Claire Sagan^a (Political Science), Mark A. Schlessman (Biology), Jill Schneiderman^a (Earth Science), Jodi Schwarz^b (Biology), Jeffrey Seidman (Philosophy), Alison Spodek (Chemistry), Kathleen Susman (Biology), Adedoyin Teriba^a (Art), Justin Touchon (Biology), Jeffrey R. Walker (Earth Science), Yu Zhou (Geography).

^a   On leave 2021/22, first semester

^b   On leave 2021/22, second semester

^ab On leave 2021/22

Environmental Studies is a multidisciplinary program that involves the natural and social sciences as well as the arts and humanities. It explores the relationships between people and the totality of their environments-natural, built, and social. As part of that exploration, environmental studies concerns itself with the description and analysis of natural systems; with interspecies and species-environment relationships and the institutions, policies and laws that affect those relationships; with aesthetic portrayals of nature and how these portrayals affect human perceptions and behavior toward it; and with ethical issues raised by the human presence in the environment. A component of the program is the Environmental Research Institute (ERI), whose mission is to broaden and enrich the Environmental Studies program by emphasizing and supporting fieldwork, research, and engagement in the community.

Students majoring in Environmental Studies are required to take courses offered by the program, a set of courses within a particular department, and other courses from across the curriculum of the college. Therefore, a student interested in the major should contact the program office to connect with a member of the faculty subcommittee during their first or sophomore year to plan a course of study. They will recommend ENST participating faculty with expertise in your area of interest to help structure a sequence of specific courses for your major. The steering committee approves each major’s program, and is concerned not only with the formal requirements but also with the inclusion of relevant environmental courses in the student’s chosen areas of study, interconnections among groups of courses, and adequate concentration in the methods of a discipline. Students are admitted to the program subject to the approval of their program of study by the steering committee. For additional information please consult the program website.

Research studies by Environmental Studies majors are supported by the Environmental Research Institute.

Environmental Studies is a major in which students concentrate in two disciplines or areas of focus (one in the natural sciences). Potential majors are encouraged to take additional introductory courses in the disciplines or areas where their focus may be.

Programs

Major

• •  Environmental Studies Major

Correlate Sequences in Environmental Studies

• •  Climate Change Correlate Sequence
• •  Sustainability Correlate Sequence

Courses

Environmental Studies: I. Introductory

• •  ENST 107 - Global Change and Sustainability
• •  ENST 124 - Essentials of Environmental Science
• •  ENST 125 - Environmentalisms in Perspective
• •  ENST 162 - Finding Your Place in the Climate Fight
• •  ENST 164 - Environmental History of Latin America
• •  ENST 175 - Women’s Nature Writing
• •  ENST 177 - A Prehistoric Perspective on Climate Change

Environmental Studies: II. Intermediate

• •  ENST 201 - Class Without Walls in Nature
• •  ENST 202 - Public Policy and Human Environments
• •  ENST 213 - Indigenous Environmental Activism
• •  ENST 230 - Research Methods: Studying Sustainability at Vassar
• •  ENST 234 - Race, Space and Nature
• •  ENST 238 - Environmental China: Nature, Culture, and Development
• •  ENST 250 - Across Religious Boundaries: Understanding Differences
• •  ENST 254 - Environmental Science in the Field
• •  ENST 258 - Environment and Culture in the Caribbean
• •  ENST 260 - Issues in Environmental Studies
• •  ENST 261 - “The Nuclear Cage”: Environmental Theory and Nuclear Power
• •  ENST 264 - Apocalypse Now: Finding Agency and Hope in a Deteriorating World
• •  ENST 266 - Racism, Waste and Resistance
• •  ENST 270 - Topics in Environmental Studies
• •  ENST 271 - Literature and the American Environment
• •  ENST 276 - Plants and Plant Communities of the Hudson Valley
• •  ENST 278 - Environmental Political Thought
• •  ENST 284 - Global Africa
• •  ENST 285 - Anthropology and The Environment
• •  ENST 290 - Community-Engaged Learning
• •  ENST 291 - Field Experiences in the Hudson Valley
• •  ENST 294 - Liquid Urbanscape in Climate Crisis
• •  ENST 298 - Independent Research

Environmental Studies: III. Advanced

• •  ENST 300 - Senior Project/Thesis
• •  ENST 301 - Thesis Preparation: Sources, Theories, and Methods
• •  ENST 302 - The Blegen Seminar
• •  ENST 303 - Thesis
• •  ENST 304 - Thesis
• •  ENST 306 - Building Thoreau’s Cabin
• •  ENST 310 - Entering the Labyrinth: Literature, Art & Eco-Contemplation
• •  ENST 321 - Advanced Topics in Environmental Geology
• •  ENST 333 - The Art of the Garden in Early Modern Italy
• •  ENST 335 - Paleoclimatology: Earth’s History of Climate Change
• •  ENST 340 - Advanced Urban and Regional Studies
• •  ENST 352 - Conservation Biology
• •  ENST 356 - Environment and Land-Use Planning
• •  ENST 361 - Modeling the Earth
• •  ENST 368 - Toxic Futures: From Social Theory to Environmental Theory
• •  ENST 370 - Feminist Perspectives on Environmentalism
• •  ENST 375 - Aquatic Chemistry
• •  ENST 376 - Ecological Catastrophe and Nietzsche’s Eternal Return
• •  ENST 381 - Topics in Ecosystem Ecology - Ecosystem Structure and Function
• •  ENST 386 - Global Environmental Activism: Political Ecology, Liberation and Citizenship
• •  ENST 399 - Senior Independent Research