Santa Barbara, California, as has been noted in Chapter 1, was the site of the new environmentalism era's precipitating event: a gigantic oil spill, on January 28, 1969. If any one institution could be deemed that tragedy's direct beneficiary, it would be the University of California, Santa Barbara. For over a quarter of a century, UCSB has garnered international attention for excellence in environmental education and re-search, attracted dedicated students and faculty, been rewarded by millions of dollars of research grants, and built striking new facilities on its already breathtakingly beautiful campus overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
By the year 2000, the ES program at UCSB will have celebrated its thirtieth year as an ES entity, with over 2,300 alumni. The program is one of the strongest in student demand and national reputation. The ES program offers a Bachelor of Arts degree in environmental studies with social science/humanities or a natural sciences emphasis, or a B.S. in hydrologic science.
"You can select the interdisciplinary environmental studies major, or any of a number of majors that allow you to focus on [your choice of] environmental issues," reads a UCSB brochure. "If none of the over 80 available majors suits your precise interests, you are encouraged to design your own. UCSB offers over 160 courses relating to the environment."
The UCSB environmental studies program is located in the Department of Letters and Science. The ES major prepares students for entry-level positions in many fields: urban and regional planning, environmental impact analysis, natural resource management, environmental education, journalism, conservation administration, energy policy, public interest lobbying, and government and business. It is the foundation for graduate studies in public policy; city or regional planning; architecture; social sciences; law; medicine; the physical, chemical, or biological sciences; or management. Internships often lead to first jobs or career advancement. Completion of a senior thesis is highly recommended. Specialized communications skills classes are linked to some departmental offerings each year.
Those with an interest in environmental education may wish, after completing the requirement for the B.S. in environmental studies, to pursue a California teaching credential. Advisers in the Graduate School of Education are available to assist.
Undergraduates may join a faculty research team; do an off-campus internship; and present research results at meetings or publish papers. Faculty grants and research fellowships are available to help support undergraduate and graduate students.
A graduate-level School of Environmental Science and Management is being established, with enrolment expected to reach its maximum in the academic year 1999-2000, with 75 master's students, up to 55 Ph.D. candidates, and 20 midcareer associates. A multimillion-dollar building is being constructed.
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, offers an undergraduate major in environmental sciences and policy (abbreviated EN), with courses taught by more than 60 Duke professors in 19 cooperating departments and schools. The arrangement permits students to combine interdisciplinary studies in the sciences and engineering with courses in social sciences and humanities. The major, offered since 1992, is designed for those aiming at careers in law, policy, management, or planning.
Duke has an established reputation in natural resource and environ-mental education dating from 1938. Now Duke has a graduate School of the Environment. It houses professional studies programs offering graduate education in environmental science, management and policy, the marine sciences, and forestry. This graduate center offers a distinctive, multidisciplinary professional and graduate curriculum focused on natural resource management, conservation ecology, environmental quality, and environmental health.
The Duke School of the Environment occupies its own new building, with state-of-the-art fibre optic networking systems linking graduate students to high-performance computing and communications resources in the nearby Research Triangle, in fact across the nation. Field studies are conducted at the Duke Forest, the Duke University Marine Laboratory, and the centers for tropical conservation, biomedicine, wetlands research, and resource and environmental policy studies.
The State University of New York (SUNY) College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) at Syracuse is both old and new, large and small. Established as a school of forestry in 1911, it was rechartered in 1972 under the present name to reflect a broader mission in the environmental sciences and technology. With 1,800 students, ESF boasts a small-college atmosphere. Yet it is affiliated with next-door Syracuse University, which provides ESF students with the additional academic, cultural, and social benefits of a large campus. Sixty-five percent of ESF students are undergraduates.
The SUNY College has 135 faculty members, 93 percent of whom hold the highest degree awarded in a member's respective field; 68 percent hold doctoral degrees. The total book value of faculty research awards exceeds $12 million annually.
Students participate in hands-on and laboratory work at the main campus in Syracuse and on the 25,000 acres of ESF's regional campuses outside Syracuse-where the technology also is state-of-the-art. The Adirondack Forest Preserve and the Cranberry Lake Biological Field Station are sites where environmental and forest biology majors get their summer field experience.
SUNY-ESF's range of programs focusing exclusively on the environment is unmatched by any other institution in the United States. An associate-level (two-year) degree is available in forestry (resource management). The bachelor of science is available in forest engineering, paper science and engineering, wood products engineering, forestry (re-sources management), a dual program combining forestry and environmental and forest biology, chemistry, environmental studies, and landscape architecture-with course work, options, and elective concentrations in scores of subdivided areas.
ESF also offers pre-professional advising and study opportunities for students interested in veterinary science, medicine, dentistry, and law. In conjunction with Syracuse University, ESF offers a certifications pro-gram in secondary science teaching.
Students may enrol at many different points in their academic careers. Some may transfer in during the sophomore or junior year.
