Haverford Fall 2011 : Page 28New Focus on the Environment to an urban farm in Philadelphia. Capping the semester will be a trip to a sewage treatment plant as well as read-ings and discussions focused on the health of the world’s oceans and global climate change. It is an intense journey, and that’s by design: The Case Studies class is one of the core courses that are part of the just-launched Tri-College Program in Environmental Studies. The new , broadly interdisciplinary program (the first such Tri-Co program ever developed) gives Haverford, Bryn Mawr and Swarthmore students in any major the opportunity to minor in Environmental Studies. The requirements include two core courses (the introductory Case Studies class plus a project-based senior seminar) and four electives from an approved list of more than 90 classes. Potential elec-tives, which can be taken on any of the three campuses, include such courses as Environmental Health; Environmental Economics (Bryn Mawr); Solar Energy Systems; Behavioral Ecology (Swarth-more); Introduction to Environmental Anthropology; and Energy Options and Science Policy (Haverford). /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// “WITH A PROGRAM LIKE THIS, at a school like this, we really have the opportunity to create the next generation of truly interdisciplinary approaches to the environment.” the fall of 2009 and is the director of the scape of methodologies and styles of ES program. (In December 2010, she inquiry in any one curriculum. With got a close look at a major U.S. envi-three colleges involved, you don’t have ronmental issue when she joined a team just one biologist, or one political scientist, of scientists on a research cruise in the or one philosopher who is the voice for Gulf of Mexico that examined the effects that experience in the discipline. You on marine life of the Deepwater Horizon have this wider range of expertise. It’s oil spill.) also very valuable to the faculty—who Joining the faculty at the start of the are involved in a very fast moving disci-current academic year were Anand, pline whose cutting edge is shifting as an assistant professor of anthropology, we find out more—to be in collaboration whose research has focused on the water and dialogue with other faculty.” system in Mumbai, and the ways natural As planning went forward for the resources and the public are mobilized program, a significant grant from the for urban development and environ-Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and mental projects; and Assistant Professor additional support from alumni and of Biology Jonathan Wilson, whose foundation donors, allowed Haverford research examines the physiology of to hire three new tenure-track faculty fossil plants as a means to reconstruct members to help build the interdisci-environmental history. plinary scope of Environ-“It is really exciting mental Studies at the Environmental chemist Helen K. White (center) to be a part of this new College. White, an assis-and Jonathan Wilson (far tant professor of chemistry, right), a biologist who uses initiative,” says Anand, whose research focuses on fossil plants to reconstruct who worked closely with White to develop the Case the sources and cycling of environmental history, Studies core course they organic matter in marine lead a discussion. teach together. “It is made sediments, started work in /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Haverford first began planning for the program in 2009 after an intensive review of the College curriculum by a faculty committee resulted in a report (“Blueprint for Academic Excellence”) that identified Environmental Stud-ies as a key area for development. Initially the intention was to collaborate with Bryn Mawr, which already offered an Environmental Studies concentration. But after a series of discussions that brought in faculty from Swarthmore (which had been offering its own ES minor) the vision for a Tri-Co program began to take shape. “The benefits are just so clear,” says Professor of English Kim Benston, who was the co-chair of the Environmental Studies working group that helped devel-op the program. “When you look at Environmental Studies, it is so radically interdisciplinary that it is hard to imagine providing the students the whole land-28 HaverfordMagazine Publication List Using a screen reader? Click Here |
