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Colby College
Program in Environmental Studies Mission Statement
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The Environmental Studies Program offers a comprehensive education in environmental studies and prepares students to understand and respond to local, regional, and global environmental challenges from social science, natural science, and humanities perspectives. Our interdisciplinary curriculum encourages an understanding of the complexity and inter-relatedness of humans and nature. We strive to create a positive learning environment that nurtures independent thinking, creative problem solving, and effective communication skills. We do this through coursework, student and faculty research, civic engagement, internships, speakers, and study abroad experiences. Individuals from across campus complement the diverse expertise within the ES Program.
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Faculty and staff associated with the program believe that advancing environmental knowledge requires disciplinary, multidisciplinary, and interdisciplinary approaches. We are committed to leadership in solving complex environmental problems, and excellence in teaching, student advising, scholarship, service to the college, and to community outreach.
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To achieve this
mission, the Environmental Studies program has established the following
goals:
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- introduce students to important challenges, ideas, people, and events in environmental studies;
- introduce students to methods and technologies that enhance their ability to learn about and study environmental problems and solutions;
- enhance effective communication (written, oral, and visual) skills and student leadership abilities;
- enhance student understanding of environmental ethics, justice, and human rights;
- provide a coherent academic pathway that guides and nurtures student learning through introductory, intermediate, advanced, and capstone experiences;
- encourage the integration of environmental issues and themes into courses in all academic divisions and into student research projects;
- provide opportunities for students to engage in independent and collaborative scholarship and to showcase student research on and off campus through research symposia, publications, and electronic media;
- To encourage the integration of environmental issues and themes into
courses in all academic divisions, into student research projects, and
into college operations;
- facilitate or offer relevant and challenging off-campus opportunities and encourage students to integrate these experiences into their academic programs;
- provide effective and supportive student advising;
- empower students to apply their academic training to help solve environmental problems;
- serve as a catalyst for fostering individual responsibility and change on campus, and at local, regional, national, and international levels through our teaching, scholarship, and outreach;
- nurture and assist student environmental organizations and support co-curricular sustainability initiatives on and off campus;
- foster interactions between the Program, the College, and the mid-Maine community in environmental matters;
- prepare students for post-graduate study and careers related to environmental studies;
- encourage an active alumni community that supports and advises the Program and our students, and
- assess our progress regularly and adjust our goals appropriately in the face of change.
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