Wanna go to grad school, but feel afraid you’ll get stuck in an ivory tower with no relation to the serious enviro concerns happening in the “real” world?
Fear not, for academia’s with thee. At least in California, lotsa academic programs are addressing the environment. Below’s a far-from-complete list.
Know of others? Lemme know, and I’ll add them on. Update: OK — I’m officially naming Larry of Ecopalooza as a co-writer and researcher for this post, cuz he just sent me a super long list of a buncha green programs at Cali colleges and universities I didn’t know about –
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Cal Poly - SLO offers a bunch of sustainable design classes :)
California State University, Pomona. This campus’s Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies works “to advance the principles of environmentally sustainable living through education, research, demonstration and community outreach.” The center offers both a Master of Science and an undergrad minor program.
Cuesta College. The Architectural Technology Program offers a bunch of courses on green building.
De Anza College. The Kirsch Center for Environmental Studies “commits to environmental protection as a fundamental objective and integral part of educating our students and the public. Through an interdisciplinary approach we will partner with industry, government, utilities and other academic institutions.” It offers certificate and degree programs in environmental studies.
Humboldt State University. The Campus Center for Appropriate Technology is a live-in demonstration home and educational center for appropriate technology and resource conservation. This student-run, community-focused program looks at the intersection between technology and sustainability. The program’s working to “to dispel the myth that living lightly on the earth is difficult or burdensome.”
New College of California, North Bay Campus for the Study of Culture, Ecology, and Sustainable Community. This college as a whole’s “committed to education in support of a just, sacred, and sustainable world”
You can get a BA with an emphasis in Culture, Ecology, and Sustainable Community and a green MBA in Sustainable Enterprise.
Oakland Community College. Environmental Systems Technology Program’s alternate energies classes are all about getting energy from renewable sources: “Energy management, energy efficiency and energy conservation are all covered.” Students can enroll in programs on heating, cooling and refrigeration techniques, facilities management, and green building, renewable energies, and energy management.
Presidio School of Management. Nick of TriplePundit went to this San Francisco-based MBA program. Here, you can be part of a MBA program in Sustainable Management.
Regenerative Design Institute. This institute offers a Regenerative Design & Nature Awareness (RDNA) Training, a “year-long program is a hands-on skill based training devoted to helping students develop leadership skills necessary to further sustainable & regenerative practices in their personal and professional lives.”
San Francisco Institute of Architecture. This school for Architecture and Ecological Design is “developing curricula and textbooks in cooperation with other schools in an emerging Ecological Design Consortium and with the McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.”
Santa Rosa Junior College. Interested in sustainable agriculture? SRJC is the only community college in California that offers an A.S. degree and two certificates in Sustainable Agriculture.
Sonoma State University. This univ has a Master’s Program, “Action for a Viable Future,” which “offers a way to investigate the roots of contemporary problems and to study the processes of change, culminating in a project to address an area of personal concern. Our focus is on the interrelationship between ecological issues and economic/social justice issues.” Read more about the program in Common Ground :)
In addition, the Environmental Technology Center offers a Green Building Professional Certificate Program.
University of California, Berkeley. College of Environmental Design. This college’s 3 departments — Architecture, City and Regional Planning, and Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning — works “to build more efficiently, more beautifully, and in ways better fitted to the multiplicity of human, social, and ecological needs.”
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Check out the UCLA Sustainable Resource Center for all the UCLA-based resources that greenies can access at the Bruin school.
If you’re really serious, you might try contacting Prof. Charles Corbett at the Anderson School of Management; he can give you the lowdown on what’s going on :)
University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). UCSC’s Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems works “to research, develop, and advance sustainable food and agricultural systems that are environmentally sound, economically viable, socially responsible, nonexploitative, and that serve as a foundation for future generations.”
You might also look into the Education for Sustainable Living Program at UCSC :)
University of Southern California (USC). Trojan undergrads can major in Environmental Studies.
We also have the Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, whose goal’s “to encourage responsible and creative decisions in society by providing an objective source of marine and environmental science and fostering an understanding of the natural world among people of all ages.”
And there’s the Center for Sustainable Cities, which “engages in multidisciplinary research and education on the environmental, social and economic sustainability challenges facing metropolitan regions, and contributes to the development of public policy that improves the natural and human environment of cities.â€
All Trojans can get in on the USC Green Practices Initiative — an initiative to bring together all the faculty, student, and staff efforts for environment and sustainability issues, as well as the school’s Environment First group. In addition, USC’s got Marshall Net Impact, an org of USC MBA students interested in promoting more socially responsible business practices and the Master of Building Science program in the School of Architecture.
July 31st, 2006 at 6:50 pm
Thank you! I was looking to pursue something like this, I wasn’t a very enviro conscious person during my first degree, once I’m done with this one I would love pursue another one again which involves sustainability.
Joshua
July 31st, 2006 at 8:15 pm
Here’s a few more.
~Peace, Larry
Ecopalooza Green Living Network
www.ecopalooza.net
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New College of California, North Bay Campus
www.newcollege.edu/northbay/
The mission of this program is to seek a Just, Sacred and Sustainable World. In 1998, New College of California established its North Bay Campus for the Study of Culture, Ecology, and Sustainable Community in Santa Rosa. The campus
offers Bachelor and Master of Arts Degrees with an emphasis in Culture, Ecology, and Sustainable Community and an MBA Degree with an emphasis in
Sustainable Enterprise.
We strive to meet this mission by teaching students the understandings and skills to:
-Overcome alienation and heal both people and the Earth;
-Resist further destruction of people and planet;
-Build sustainable, alternative ways of living in areas such as economics, agriculture, education, technology, health, community, etc.;
-Create a shift in the culture’s consciousness to a more holistic, ecological paradigm;
-Build community in an increasingly isolating and individualizing culture.
**
New College of California’s Green MBA program
http://www.greenmba.com/
New College of California’s Green MBA program is an accredited, onsite graduate program in the San Francisco Bay Area. Graduates receive a Masters of Business Administration in Sustainable Enterprise.
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Sonoma State University Master’s Program ‘Action for a Viable Future’
The Hutchins School of Liberal Studies at Sonoma State University
SSU Extended Education
Our MA Action for a Viable Future offers a way to investigate the roots of contemporary problems and to study the processes of change, culminating in a project to address an area of personal concern. Our focus is on the interrelationship between ecological issues and economic/social justice issues. Up to 15 students are accepted each Fall; the application deadline is April 30th.
Extended Education
1801 E Cotati Avenue
Rohnert Park, CA 94928-3609
Voice (707) 664-3977
Fax 707/664-2613
Email: beth.warner@sonoma.edu
Web: www.sonoma.edu/exed/Degrees/int/intindex.html
Article: http://commongroundmag.com/2004/cg3112/schoolforchange3112.html
School for Change, by Michael Persinger
“Two years ago, I attended San Francisco’s first Green Festival and it had these impacts on my life: I drank my first good organic beer; I decided to drive less; and I learned about a dynamic grad school program focused on environment, social justice and psychology of change. Today I’m commuting on a sport utility bicycle, studying at Sonoma State University and completing a documentary film on sustainable coffee production as part of the school’s
“Action for a Viable Future†program.”
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Campus Center for Appropiate Technology
http://www.humboldt.edu/~ccat/
The mission of CCAT is to demonstrate appropriate technology in a residential setting, to provide hands-on experiential learning opportunities to Humboldt State University and the surrounding community, to collect and disseminate information about appropriate technology, to examine the ethical and social consequences of technology, and to dispel the myth that living lightly on the
earth is difficult or burdensome. CCAT is dedicated to sustainability and seeks to help others live likewise.
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Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems
UC Santa Cruz
http://socialsciences.ucsc.edu/casfs/about/index.html
The mission of the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems (the Center) is to research, develop, and advance sustainable food and agricultural systems that are environmentally sound, economically viable, socially responsible, nonexploitative, and that serve as a foundation for future generations.
Our status as a Center within the Division of Social Sciences at UC Santa Cruz enables us to undertake projects in many disciplines in the pursuit of these goals, and to work with faculty, staff, and students from throughout the university. Beyond the campus we collaborate with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), growers, community members, visiting students and researchers, and state and federal agencies, including UC Cooperative Extension and the US Department of Agriculture. The Center’s work includes both theoretical and applied research; academic education and practical training; and community outreach and public service for audiences ranging from local school children to international agencies.
Also at UC Santa Cruz:
EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVING PROGRAM (ESLP)
http://www.ucscsec.org/blueprint_and_summit/eslp.html
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green architecture/edo design…
San Francisco Institute of Architecture
A new kind of school for Architecture and Ecological Design.
http://www.sfia..net/index.asp
SFIA is creating one of the first and most comprehensive programs in Ecological Design in the U.S. We are developing curricula and textbooks in cooperation with other schools in an emerging Ecological Design Consortium and with the McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.
SFIA offers low-cost optional courses in affiliation with Ecological Design Program courses at Merritt College in Oakland. This allows some students to earn academic credit with SFIA while paying very low community college fees.
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past conference, but site has excellent resources.contacts…
Towards Sustainability: Western Regional Conference and Expo
http://rce.csuchico.edu/sustainability/
….a collaborative effort between academic, community, government and industry leaders to provide a forum for information sharing, thoughtful inquiry, and enhanced commitment to the benefits of sustainability.
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Renewable Energies and Energy Management,
Oakland Community College, CA
Debra Rowe, Senior Fellow in Education for Sustainability, University Leaders for a Sustainable Future, ULSF, Professor of Renewable Energies and Energy Management
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Ecological Footprint College Education Program
http://www.rprogress.org/
….new collaboration with professors from four California State University campuses
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The Regenerative Design Institute
http://www..regenerativedesign.org/
(RDI) is a non-profit educational organization focusing on hands-on skills development. RDI is currently working in collaboration with the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) and Commonweal, a cancer healing and retreat center.
RDI emerged out of the work of the Permaculture Institute of Northern California (see below) and is committed to re-establishing a collaborative
connection between humanity and the Earth.
site links:
Educational Alliances & Resources
http://www.regenerativedesign.org/eduallies?PHPSESSID=ef6ee051bdc1b49bed4dc174da6601d3
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University Leaders for a Sustainable Future
http://www.ulsf.org/resources_campus_sites.htm
California programs:
(The following list includes websites devoted to campus sustainability programs, projects and committees at institutions of higher education. To update or add a new link, please email ULSF at info@ulsf.org.
California Polytechnic State University Campus Sustainability Initiative
http://csicalpoly.org/media/csi.swf
California State University, Chico - Environmental Affairs Council
www.csuchico.edu/eac/
California Technical Institute Environmental Task Force
www.its.caltech.edu/~cetfers/
Graduate Theological Union - Theological Roundtable on Ecological Ethics and Spirituality
www.gtu.edu/studentgroups/trees/
John F. Kennedy University Green Project
www.jfku.edu/advancement/new/GreenDescription.html
Occidental College
Council for a Livable Campus - www.oxy.edu/oxy/resources/clc.html
Eco/Oxy-Eco-LA - http://departments.oxy.edu/uepi/eco-oxy
Stanford University - Students for a Sustainable Stanford
http://sustainability.stanford.edu
University of California, Berkeley - Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Sustainability
http://sustainability.berkeley.edu/
University of La Verne - Sustainable Campus Task Force
www.ulv.edu/sustainability/
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Article, with CA campuses mentioned…
E Magazine:
http://www.emagazine.com/view/?1853
Green Menus: College Campuses Opt for Sustainable Dining
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Post-secondary Landscape and Architecture programs with sustainable design courses (list):
http://www.calpoly.edu/~sede/pgms.html
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Sustainable Agriculture Program
Santa Rosa Junior College
http://www.santarosa.edu/instruction/instructional_departments/agriculture/sustainable_ag/index.shtml
Santa Rosa Junior College is the only community college in California that offers an A.S. degree and two certificates in Sustainable Agriculture.
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Kirsch Center for Environmental Studies
De Anza College
http://www.deanza.edu/kirschcenter/
August 2nd, 2006 at 7:49 pm
A lotta readers ask me what I’m studying in grad school, and it’s a lil odd to say lit and creative writing — which has a rather tenuous relationship to anything on this blog…
June 11th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
In an ongoing effort to learn more and do something about energy and energy related issues, not only locally but globally as well, I would like to share an energy related resource I have ran accross at Energy Resources. Feel free to stop in become enlighted.