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Rathmann
Foundation Grant to Build ES Major
Students en route to ES field
research site. |
Skidmore has received a $160,000
grant from the Rathmann Family Foundation of Minnesota to develop
the recently approved Environmental Studies major.
"The vision and generosity of the Rathmann Family Foundation
give a tremendous boost to our new Environmental Studies major,"
said President Jamienne S. Studley. "The environment poses
some of the most challenging issues our world will face in the years
ahead. With this grant Skidmore students will be able to acquire
both the interdisciplinary knowledge and ethical sensibilities offered
in our Environmental Studies major."
The two-year grant will support the position of associate program
director, stipends for eight student-faculty teams participating
in collaborative research, faculty support for the development of
environmentally oriented courses, and the purchase of sophisticated
field equipment. Associate Professor of Chemistry Judy Halstead
is director of the Environmental Studies (ES) program; Karen Kellogg,
Ph.D., formerly a teaching associate in the Department of Biology
and more recently a lecturer in ES, will be associate director of
the new program. The new major was approved by the faculty late
last semester and by the state Department of Education earlier this
month.
"Environmental problems are among the most challenging issues
students will face on both an individual and a global level in the
21st century," said Halstead. "Our plan for ES invites
students to study the fabric of contemporary environmental issues,
and to grasp the connections among scientific understanding, economic
choices, humanistic perspectives, and public policy concerns that
shape the nation's and the world's stewardship of the environment.
Real world issues need to be addressed from multiple perspectives.
This trans-disciplinary approach to understanding environmental
issues meshes well with Skidmore's mission," she added.
Halstead continued, "We really need as much involvement as
we can get from faculty members across the campus. The new grant
will support the development of additional environmentally related
courses. Equally important, we'll be able to support interdisciplinary
environmentally oriented student-faculty scholarship and the ability
for students and faculty to travel together to attend environmentally
oriented conferences." Rathmann funds also will enable the
purchase of oxygen and turbidity meters to facilitate water analysis,
as well as inflatable rafts for wetland studies.
The growing interest of current students over the past decade has
fueled development of the ES major at the College. An ES minor has
been available since 1990, with between 35 and 45 minors each year.
In addition, a small number of students have opted annually for
a Self-Determined Major in Environmental Studies. According to Halstead,
"Environmental Studies is a very student-driven program. The
ES minor has been very popular with students since it began in 1990
and ES courses are nearly always heavily enrolled. Our students
have been asking us to develop a major for some time and they are
quite excited that it has finally happened."
ES was enhanced significantly toward the end of the last decade
when the College received a federal Department of Education Title
VI grant totaling $155,000 to develop courses in International Affairs
and Environmental Studies. Halstead and Roy Ginsberg, professor
of government, directed the three-year Title VI grant, which saw
24 courses either developed or revised to include international
environmental content. These new and revised courses played a key
role in the continued development of the ES program at Skidmore.
The interdisciplinary model pursued through the IA-ES collaboration
has been the standard from the outset, when a number of faculty
from different departments worked together to fashion the ES minor.
The new major continues to stress interdisciplinary learning over
two separate tracks: Social and Cultural Perspectives, and Environmental
Science. Currently 39 faculty members from 12 departments and two
programs teach courses that count toward the ES major. Said Halstead,
"With the Rathmann grant we will be able to support faculty
members developing additional environmentally related courses. Equally
important, we'll be able to support interdisciplinary environmentally
oriented student-faculty scholarship and the ability for students
and faculty to travel together to attend environmentally oriented
conferences."
More than a dozen departments and programs in the humanities, social
sciences, and sciences will offer courses with an environmental
focus that can count toward the new major. Two foundation courses
-- ES 100, "Environmental Concerns in Perspective," and
either ES 104, "Ecological Studies in Environmental Science"
or ES 105, "Field Studies in Environmental Science" --
along with capstone requirements (either scholarly research or internships)
are elements of the new major.
Kellogg said, "We're so fortunate here at Skidmore. Our ES
students have internship opportunities with several land trust organizations
and the Northeast regional office of the Sierra Club in Saratoga
Springs as well as the Nature Conservancy, the state Department
of Environmental Conservation, the state legislature, and numerous
non-profits in the capital region. Our students have had great experiences
with all of these organizations." Post-baccalaureate options
for students have included graduate school as well as jobs in federal
and state government and non-profit agencies devoted to policy and
research.
Skidmore's North Woods provide a unique opportunity for students
to do field research in their own backyard, and the equipment to
be purchased with Rathmann funds will enhance North Woods initiatives.
Kellogg explained, "The North Woods is also an extremely valuable
asset for the ES Program -- it serves as our outdoor laboratory
for a number of courses and stewardship of the woods has been the
focus of several ES capstone studies. Issues under study include
how to protect this resource while also allowing various recreational
activities and what's happening ecologically to this area."
She added, "We've worked hard to develop this program and it's
amazing that it has come together so quickly. It's really exciting
to see the collaboration among faculty members. Interdisciplinary
learning is a key to this major and students have expressed enthusiasm
for broad-based study from the start."
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