Academics

Policies & Principles Environmental Council Environmental Studies Program Fellowships in Environmental Journalism Archives

SUMMARY:

The popularity of the Environmental Studies major has increased dramatically over its long history at the college, with numbers of graduates reaching into the forties each year in the mid 1990s. Through 1997, Middlebury College has graduated 419 Environmental Studies Majors. The selection of foci offered is broad. There is no minor in environmental studies offered at this time. There are 32 affiliated faculty, but a central office which only holds 4-5 and no central meeting space or library collection. There are many options for off-campus study both in the U.S. and in foreign countries. A new Environmental Studies web-page will describe past internship experiences to current students. They will then be directed to Career Services to find assistance in lining up their own experiences. Career Services is working to accommodate the needs of Environmental Studies majors. They provide support in developing "externships" (shadowing of professionals) and informational interviews to facilitate career exploration. They have sponsored at least one environmentally related "Career Conversation" led by Rosemarie Maconochie, Associate Director of the Environmental Internship Program affiliated with the New England Board of Higher Education. They annually host the Non-Profit Fair which features many environmentally oriented non-profit organizations. This January '98 we had 25 students engaged in internships that are referenced Science/Environmental. (Twelve of these were in wilderness/emergency medicine.) We also will have three students who have received Ron Brown Internship grants of $3000 ea. in areas related to Environmental Studies. As of 1/26/98 there were over 500 listings recorded to our Student Center Internship Exchange database on the WWW under the Environmental Science category. Middlebury College supports this Internship Exchange along with a consortium of 20 other highly selective liberal arts schools.

What foci offered?
Environmental Science	Conservation Biology
Environmental Chemistry
Environmental Geology
Environmental Policy and Analysis	U.S. Environmental Policy
Environmental Economics
Geography
Environmental Perspectives	Environmental Non-fiction
Human Ecology
International Environmental Studies
Literature & Writing
Environmental History
Environmental Ethics
Self-designed	(approved by E.S. Steering Committee)
# of Faculty teaching in program?	32 from 14 departments
Faculty/major ratio	1 - 5.4
Resource library?	Y - small room, with some resources
Is there a minor in E.S.?	N
Is there a journal budget?	N
Lecture fund?	N
Internship opportunities?	Y - Information provided by Career Services
Summer program?	N
Visiting Faculty?	Y - As substitutes for faculty on leave
Central program offices?	Y - for 4 to 5 faculty, and 1 assistant
Centralized meeting space?	N
Environmental off-campus study programs?	about 50 (topical and general foreign universities)
E.S. majors studying abroad (97-98)	35 in 28 different places

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. Centralize program offices. Farrell House does not offer an appropriate space for an interdisciplinary department to come together. There are only four offices, essentially no library, no seminar rooms and no central meeting space. A strong central program presence will be necessary to allow the program to expand, grow and provide opportunities for its majors. 2. Continue to develop off-campus study, internships, and career services.Middlebury College makes many opportunities available to students, as evidenced by the connections that Career Services provides and the many off-campus study opportunities. We should continue these efforts and work to expand the potential for internships in environmental fields and options for employment after graduation beyond traditional environmental studies pursuits. 3. Create new categories in alumni database. Many students whose careers are related to the environment would not identify themselves under ECL (ecology/environment/conservation/forestry) in the Career Services database of alumni. It would be useful to think about incorporating new categories that would cover other areas of environmental careers. It also may be useful to ask alumni if their current job is in any way related to their major in order to provide guidance to current students about where a particular major may lead them. This would be useful for all departments, not just Environmental Studies. 4. Establish opportunities for non-majors. There currently is no minor option for a person who wishes to major in another subject. As Environmental Studies is a field interesting to many, we should consider whether or not to make this option available. If the demands on faculty are too great, but we deem it worthy, perhaps this indicates a need for more faculty. 5. Supplement faculty as necessary. While the faculty to major ratio is quite good, it does not demonstrate the distribution of students among advisors. Some faculty in the program act as advisors to many more students than average, while others advise less E.S. majors, but many students from another department. Some foci that have a large interest base at Middlebury, such as Sustainable Agriculture and Environmental Education are no longer being offered on the basis that we do not have the courses nor the faculty to support them. We should consider these needs and make an appropriate assessment of whether to expand our faculty.

SOURCES:

Toni Best - E.S. Administrative Assistant
Nan Jenks-Jay - Director of Environmental Affairs and Planning
Valerie Szycmowitz - Career Services
Stacey Woody - Office of Off-Campus Study