Although today's college students are members of the most "wired" generation ever — with cell phones, iPods, Wiis and other electronic gadgets — many of them are keenly interested in the natural world as well.
Students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences who are interested in studying environmental subjects - whether their academic background is in science, the social sciences or the humanities - now have the opportunity to do that in the School of Earth, Society and Environment.
The school was formed two years ago as an association of the departments of atmospheric sciences, geography and geology. While the three departments continue to host their respective majors and graduate and research programs, they established an interdisciplinary major: earth, society and environment, which was developed by Don Wuebbles, the Preble Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, with a NASA grant.
The school graduated its first class of students with the new major in May.
When the school opened its doors for the fall semester, nearly 120 students had enrolled in the new major. SESE's enrollment had reached 400 students, including students in the new major and students in existing majors and graduate programs in the three departments, plus 56 students with minors.
The growth in enrollment reaffirms for Stephen Marshak, the school's director and a faculty member in the geology department, that organizing the three Earth-related academic departments in LAS as a school was the right move for students and the three departments.
"A number of years ago, it became clear that we faced a challenge: The Earth-related departments in LAS were all individually rather small," Marshak said. "We realized that we needed to have a bigger footprint if we were to compete for resources at this large university and be visible to the student body. The establishment of the school has achieved what we had hoped for. There are environment-related units in other colleges, but before SESE, there was not one in LAS. As our rapid growth indicates, there clearly was a need.
"The undergraduate students coming into the interdisciplinary major are individuals who otherwise might have gone into other, perhaps less relevant departments in the college. We now provide an opportunity for them to design an educational program that's tailored to issues surrounding the environment. This is an important opportunity, considering the kinds of challenges their generation is going to be facing."
Students in the school's interdisciplinary major choose one of two concentrations: society and environment, which emphasizes the political, socio-cultural, economic and historical dimensions of environment and sustainability problems; or science of the Earth system, a program that provides students with the scientific background needed to address environment-related issues.
The optional concentrations are available to students who have backgrounds in the social sciences and the humanities, and likewise to students who have backgrounds in the natural sciences, and allow them to tailor their academic studies in SESE according to their disciplines and career goals.
SESE is refining the interdisciplinary major by adding advanced courses that focus on issues of particular interest to its students, Marshak said. The "Water World" course will address the science issues of surface and subsurface water and the social science issues related to water accessibility. "Global Change in the Earth System" will address climate change issues and other aspects of change in the Earth's biogeochemical cycles. "Society's Response to Natural Disasters" will examine the way in which people respond to the threat and consequences of earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and other natural calamities.
This year, the Environmental Fellows Program, which formerly was part of the Environmental Council on campus, moved to SESE. An academic minor available to students in any major who are interested in environmental issues, the program allows students to create a tailored program of study that integrates with their discipline and work with teams of students and faculty members on real-world issues.
Marshak said that the formation of the school provides a foundation for developing new research collaborations in climate change, water issues and geographic information science in addition to attracting environmental related internships. New research centers also are under development.
Currently, SESE's three departments are in separate buildings, but the school hopes that renovations under way in the Natural History Building will allow atmospheric sciences to move into the building with the department of geology and SESE's offices.