What's Happening Now
2011-2012
Film and Speaker Series!
The Center for Environmental Action is sponsoring a year-long speaker and film series on sustainability. Read More
Faculty Spotlight
Scott Hess, Associate Professor of English spends a lot of his time thinking about the term "nature." In his class, American Literature and the Ecology, Hess has students delve into this seemingly simple word to reveal a host of contradictions and complexities... Read More
Student Spotlight
Sarah Waddle (Earlham '12) will start her senior year as the Sustainability Intern for the new Center for Environmental Action. In her three years thus far at Earlham, Sarah has been instrumental in several major sustainability... Read More
Environmental Studies at Earlham is an interdisciplinary program of study purposefully designed to provide students with the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for engagement with both current and future environmental problems and problem solving. Students may pursue either a major or minor.
Coursework
The curriculum emphasizes the interdisciplinary connections and linkages between the social sciences and the humanities drawing from a variety of disciplines including Philosophy, Anthropology, Politics, Education, History, and Economics.
In addition to choosing a focus, students also complete a two-course sequence in the natural sciences (Geology, Biology or Chemistry).
Connections
Excellent opportunities exist to link theory and practice in Environmental Studies. Earlham's Center for Environmental Action is the hub of practical, hands-on projects related to sustainability and field-based learning.
Careers
Career planning and discernment is a key aspect of the program. Students explore and consider career options throughout the academic program beginning with the introductory course and concluding with the senior seminar.
A Student Perspective
"Environmental Studies has allowed me the opportunity to bring together my seemingly disparate collection of passions and interests into a cohesive, focused purpose. I see Environmental Studies as a way of knowing; a way of learning to look at the seemingly disconnected world around us through the frame of systems and connectedness. Just like an ecosystem, no part can stand alone. Environmental Studies brought together my interests in Education, Sociology, Geology, International Relations, Economics, Politics, Architecture, Art, and Outdoor Education. It is not simply, as its name might suggest, the study of the environment, it is a study of the way people, land, non-human organisms, information, and wants and desires interact with one another, and it has been the best way for me to express my interest, passions, and values." Katie Rose Taulbee (Class of 2012), from her final reflective essay.
