Exemplar/"Strong" Undergraduate EStudies/Science programs?

[Maniates, Michael Fields]

Dear Colleagues,

 

I’m launching a research project that explores the treatment of theories of social change within undergraduate ES programs in the United States.  My intent is to unpack publicly available curricular information from ~ 50 programs that can be reasonably understood to be leaders, exemplars and/or innovators in the field, and follow that up with selected interviews.  I’m not looking for the “best” programs per se (what would even count as “the best?”), but rather programs that we are proud of or look up to as educators in the field.

 

I have my own idiosyncratic cut on what this group of ~ 50 might look like, but I don’t want to rely on my intuitions alone.  Would anyone on the listserv be aware of existing attempts to compile a list of “strong,” “exemplar,” and/or “innovative” undergraduate EnvStudies/EnvScience/Sustainability programs in the United States?

 

Perhaps folks could reply to me off-list.  I will compile what I receive and report back with a summary.

 

Many thanks,

Michael

 

Michael F MANIATES 

 

Forthcoming: The Living-Green Myth: The Promise and Limits of Lifestyle Environmentalism, Polity Press, 2025

Now available open access:  Consumption Corridors: Living a Good Life Within Sustainable Limits, Routledge, 2022

 

Yale-NUS College, Singapore | Professor of Social Sciences, Environmental Studies | 

Inaugural Head of Environmental Studies (2013 – 2022, 2024) | Distinguished Teaching Award - 2021 | 

Convener, gep-ed (Environmental Studies Section, International Studies Association) | 

 

Web: http://michaelmaniates.com |Bluesky: @michaelmaniates |

Senior Visiting Professor of Environmental Studies, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH, 2011 – 2013 |

Professor of Environmental Science and Political Science, Allegheny College, Meadville, PA, 1993 – 2013 |

BS (University of California), MA, PhD (Energy and Resources, University of California) |

 

Most people are eagerly groping for some medium, some way in

which they can bridge the gap between their morals and their practices.
--Saul Alinsky

 

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[Maniates, Michael Fields]

Dear Colleagues,

 

I received several responses to my 24 February query (below) about ‘exemplar’ or ‘distinguished’ undergraduate programs in environmental studies.  I list them below.  My thanks to everyone who responded.  If you intended to respond with recommendations or hunches but haven’t yet done so, it’s not too late!  Please email your ideas to me (not to the list) and I’ll include them in a revised list that I’ll distribute in a couple of weeks. 

 

Gratefully yours,

Michael

 

Listed in reverse chronological order (most recent replies to my query are at the top)

 

1. ES at NYU
2. Oberlin College
3. Arizona State University
4. UW Madison
5. Univ Colorado Boulder
6. Maxwell School at Syracuse University (Environment, Sustainability, and Policy major)
7. University of Kansas
8. UC Santa Barbara
9. Northern Illinois University
10. Colorado State University 
11. Two programs at UC Berkeley: Society and Environment, and Conservation and Resource Studies
12. UC Santa Cruz Environmental Studies (perhaps with a special nod to its Agroecology program)
13. And thanks to Charlie Chester for pointing me to his slowly growing list of environmental studies programs that have popped up in the course of his work

[Maniates, Michael Fields]

I agree, having taught at Allegheny College for 20 years!  I have my own list that reflects the sensibilities you note below.  It is curious, isn’t it, that the recommendations I’ve received from colleagues has produced the largely R1 list that I distributed.

Yours,

Michael 

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 7, 2025, at 10:00 PM, Teresa Lloro <tllo...@ucr.edu> wrote:



- External Email -

 

Hi Michael,

Thank you for sharing this information. I notice that this list is dominated by R1 institutions, which is interesting to me because R1s are not necessarily teaching-focused like other campuses (e.g, the California State Universities or liberal arts colleges). There is a lot of innovative and important work that happens at these less renowned and less “prestigious” campuses that often goes unnoticed. 

Thank you! Warmly, Teresa 

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Teresa Lloro, PhD

--Professor & Interim Co-Chair
Liberal Studies Department. College of Education and Integrative Studies 
--Graduate Coordinator, Masters in Regenerative Studies , College of Environmental Design
--Editor-in-Chief,  Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences
--Faculty Research Fellow to the --College of Education and Integrative Studies 
--Academic Senator, Academic Senate of the California State University 

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