Ever dreamed of working in a green collar job? Have a craving to work with insects, fungi, mammals? Do you like looking at complex current issues from a variety of perspectives: scientific, economic, ethical, political and historical? Do you long to lobby Congress for the clean fuels agenda or promote sustainability in your community? The Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences offers a wealth of opportunities for personal and career development.
Ithaca College is an exciting place, and the Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences offers one of its most exciting and versatile majors.
Key strengths of the department:
Our sense of community. Students, faculty, staff, and members of the greater Ithaca environmental and sustainability communities work (and often play!) closely together on campus and community-based projects. Check out the images in our photo galleries!
Our fabulous students. Fellow students in ENVS are eager to help you settle in to life at Ithaca College. Our students are active and involved around campus, in clubs such as the Ithaca College Environmental Society, the Ithaca College Natural Lands Area, and the Progressive Alliance. And they volunteer locally, teaching science to kids at the ScienCenter, repackaging dining hall food for Tompkins County’s hungry people, and eradicating invasive plants along streams and in abandoned farmlands.
You’ll be learning by doing. Experiential learning is a key part of the program. Many ENVS courses have required labs, where you get great hands-on experience, often going out in the field to get what one professor calls lots of "air time!" Others involve interactions with the community. We can do this because our classes are relatively small, our faculty value experiential learning, and we live in a community that loves its students
Ithaca College’s commitment to sustainability. Our college community takes sustainability and environmental stewardship seriously, and there are many opportunities for student involvement, including living in our Sustainably Conscious Living Community with others who are concerned about how their lifestyle choices affect our environment.
Our unbeatable hometown. Ithaca has been named “the most enlightened small city in the United States” by Utne Reader, and we are surrounded by a fabulous landscape of glacially-carved gorges and waterfalls that provide unparalleled research and recreational opportunities where you can study, swim, and explore via coursework.
Ithaca College is an ideal place, within an ideal community, to pursue your interests in environmental studies, environmental science, and sustainability.
