Director: Kirsten Menking (2023-24), Alison Spodek Keimowitz (2024-25);

Steering Committee: Leonisa Ardizzone (Education), Pinar Batur (Sociology), Lynn Christenson^a (Biology), Mary Ann Cunningham (Geography), Yvonne Elet (Art), Katie Gemmill (English), Laura Haynes (Earth Science), Myra Hughey (Biology), Denise Iris^ab (Film), Alison Spodek Keimowitz (Chemistry), Kirsten Menking^b (Earth Science), Osman Nemli (Philosophy), Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert (Hispanic Studies), Thomas Parker (French and Francophone Studies), Jeffrey Seidman (Philosophy);

Participating Faculty: Janet Andrews (Cognitive Science), April Beisaw^a (Anthropology), Christopher Bjork (Education), Susan Blickstein (Geography), Mario Cesareo^b (Hispanic Studies), Zachary Cofran (Anthropology), Leroy Cooper (Biology), Andrew Davison (Political Science), Rebecca Edwards^ab (History), John Elrick (Geography), David Esteban (Biology), Brian Godfrey (Geography), Katherine Hite (Political Science), Benjamin Ho (Economics), Jean Kane (English), Deon Knights (Earth Science and Environmental Studies), Timothy Lampasona (Biology), Jenny Magnes (Physics and Astronomy), Del Maticic (Greek and Roman Studies), Daniel Mendiola (History), Himadeep Muppidi (Political Science), Leonard Nevarez (Sociology), Joseph Nevins^b (Geography), Samson Okoth Opondo^b (Political Science), Carolyn Palmer (Psychology), Dianne Pater^a (Biology), José Períllan (Physics and Astronomy and Science, Technology and Society), Allison Puglisi^ab (History), Margaret Ronsheim^ab (Biology), Claire Sagan^a (Political Science), Jill Schneiderman^a (Earth Science), Jodi Schwarz^ab (Biology), Ashanti Shih^b (History), Kathleen Susman^b (Biology), Justin Touchon (Biology), Yu Zhou^ab (Geography).

^a   On leave 2024/25, first semester

^b   On leave 2024/25, second semester

^ab On leave 2024/25

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
• •  Environmental Studies Correlate Sequence

Courses

Environmental Studies: I. Introductory

• •  ENST 107 - Global Change and Sustainability
• •  ENST 108 - Climate Change and the Apocalypse
• •  ENST 124 - Essentials of Environmental Science
• •  ENST 125 - Environmentalisms in Perspective
• •  ENST 153 - Fluid Earth: Oceans, Atmosphere, & the Climate System
• •  ENST 162 - Climate Solutions and Climate Careers: Finding your Place in the Climate Fight
• •  ENST 164 - Environmental History of Latin America
• •  ENST 177 - A Prehistoric Perspective on Climate Change

Environmental Studies: II. Intermediate

• •  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 242 - Fragile Presence: The Ultra Short Film as Personal Cinematic Practice
• •  ENST 254 - Environmental Science in the Field
• •  ENST 261 - “The Nuclear Cage”: Environmental Theory and Nuclear Power
• •  ENST 264 - Apocalypse Now: Finding Agency and Hope in a Deteriorating World
• •  ENST 265 - Resource Extraction: History, Economy & Sustainability of Fossil Fuels
• •  ENST 266 - Racism, Waste and Resistance
• •  ENST 270 - Topics in Environmental Studies
• •  ENST 273 - Ocean-Based Climate Solutions
• •  ENST 277 - Biogeochemistry
• •  ENST 278 - Environmental Political Thought
• •  ENST 279 - Landscape History and Conservation at Matthew Vassar’s Springside
• •  ENST 290 - Community-Engaged Learning
• •  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 303 - Thesis
• •  ENST 304 - Thesis
• •  ENST 321 - Advanced Topics in Environmental Geology
• •  ENST 333 - Gardens and Landscape in Early Modern Italy
• •  ENST 335 - Paleoclimatology: Earth’s History of Climate Change
• •  ENST 336 - Black Ecologies
• •  ENST 352 - Conservation and Restoration Ecology
• •  ENST 356 - Environment and Land-Use Planning
• •  ENST 361 - Modeling the Earth
• •  ENST 368 - Toxic Futures: From Social Theory to Environmental Theory
• •  ENST 374 - Microbial Ecology
• •  ENST 375 - Aquatic Chemistry
• •  ENST 376 - Ecological Catastrophe and Nietzsche’s Eternal Return
• •  ENST 381 - Topics in Ecosystem Ecology - Ecosystem Structure and Function
• •  ENST 399 - Senior Independent Research