UCC approves environmental studies major for next year

New major allows students to look at the environment differently

by Samantha Bos

The University Curriculum Council approved the addition of the environmental studies major to Trinity’s course catalogue on Nov. 5.

The proposal will be presented to the entire faculty during a faculty meeting in December, and if the faculty approves it, then the major will officially be implemented for the next academic school year.

Richard Reed, chair of the department of sociology and anthropology and member of the environmental studies advisory committee, said he is confident the major will be approved.

According to Reed, the major is being created due to three major factors: the sustainability focus on campus, the push by faculty and the growing demand from students for the major.

The environmental studies major will be an interdisciplinary major that focuses on the environment using different lenses from a variety of departments.

The major will consist of a core group of classes that will give students a solid foundation in the natural sciences, the arts and humanities and social policy, according to Reed. After taking the core classes, students will be able to focus on one of these three broad divisions.

“A disciplinary major essentially gives you a way of thinking about the world,” said junior Eric Elliott. “What the environmental studies major is doing that is different from the minor or from different environmental programs is it is really giving us a broad base where we understand a little bit about humanities, science and politics, and then allowing us to further that in whichever direction we feel most comfortable.”

Last year, when incoming first-year students were asked what majors they hope to pursue at Trinity, 150 students expressed an interest in environmental studies, according to Reed.

Due to this increasingly large interest from students, faculty and students held a discussion panel regarding what the major would look like and what students hoped to get out of majoring in environmental studies. Forty-two students attended the panel to discuss the future of the possible major.

Then the UCC, which consists of nine faculty members, one member from Association of Student Representatives and one member from the office of the vice president of Student Affairs, voted to approve the major on Nov. 5.

Senior Erica Heller created her own environmentaly-oriented major when she came to Trinity after she found there wasn’t one. Heller combined the environmental minor with the entrepreneurship minor.

Heller said she knew students who left because the environmental studies major wasn’t offered but she wanted to stay to see that major be created.

Reed affirmed that Trinity lost students when they found out that an environmental studies major was not available.

“I think it was about time that Trinity finally stepped up and got it together,” Heller said.

The environmental studies major, while new to Trinity, is becoming more popular major across the nation. According to the College Board, 399 colleges currently offer an environmental studies major. Colleges on this list include schools such as Harvard University and Yale University as well as more local schools such as Austin College and Texas A&M University.

“It’s not something only for science people, it’s not something only for humanities people and it’s not something only for social science people,” said junior Jonathan Loos, president of the Students for Sustainability. “All three of those can be applied.”

Students who are interested in completing the environmental studies major should contact Reed in the sociology and anthropology office.