Academic Programs
Environmental Studies Program
Environmental studies at Denison
The McPhail Center for Environmental Studies is housed within historic Barney-Davis Hall, built in 1894 and updated with a 'green renovation' in 1998.
ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES IS AN INTERDISCIPLINARY INQUIRY into the relationship between humans and the environment. It draws on work in natural science, life science, social science, humanities and the arts, to help students gain a deeper understanding, both of the environmental problems facing the world and of proactive opportunities for change.
Among issues of concern and investigation are:
- resource utilization
- the impact of technology on ecosystems
- relationships between the environment and sociocultural systems
- geographic information systems analysis
- environmental economics and policy
- conservation of biological diversity
- nature writing, alternative dispute resolution
- environmental psychology
- environmental ethics
- and many others.
The McPhail Center for Environmental Studies is located in Barney-Davis Hall (built in 1894), which was recently restored to reveal its historic character and at the same time become a place where environmental principles are upheld and demonstrated to the community.
The environmental studies major and minor
Both a major and a minor are available to students who have an interest in rigorously studying these issues.
- The major requires students to develop a specific environmental focus as a concentration, in addition to the environmental core and distribution courses.
- The minor allows students to integrate an environmental perspective with their major field of study.
The environmental studies major must complete 13-16 courses from four categories as follows:
- Five core courses:
- People and the Environment
- Science and the Environment
- Environmental Politics and Decision Making
- Environmental Ethics
- Environmental Practicum.
- Three distribution courses, one from each of the following divisions:
- Humanities
- Social sciences
- Natural sciences.
- A concentration, which can be completed in one of three ways:
- A disciplinary minor that has relevance to environmental studies
- A second major that has relevance to environmental studies
- A self-designed interdisciplinary concentration (typically 6 courses).
- A one-semester senior project.
Students wishing to minor in environmental studies must complete six courses:
- Four core courses:
- People and the Environment
- Science and the Environment
- Environmental Politics and Decision Making
- Environmental Ethics.
- Two electives outside the student's major field of study.
What do environmental studies majors do after Denison?
Recent graduates in environmental studies have followed many different paths:
- Sarah Beazley '02 environmental studies (sociology/anthropology) former ENVS Program Manager, now City of Chicago, Department of Environment, water quality issues.
- Liz Jackson '04 environmental studies (biology) Intern University of Georgia Aquarium
- Kelly McKay '03 environmental studies (biology) Program Leader II Houston Independent School District Outdoor Education Center
- Benjamin Webb '03 environmental studies (law) Darby Creek Watershed Coordinator
Student projects
The major includes courses taught by environmental studies faculty and professors from several other academic disciplines.
Seniors who major in environmental studies complete a senior project to fulfill graduation requirements. The following are some of the many research endeavors undertaken by environmental studies majors in recent years:
- "Environmental Interest Groups: Leadership, Membership and the Policy Making Process"
- "Food, Faith and Farming: Catholic Involvement in Sustainable Solutions for Hunger"
- "Growing Foodsheds through Community Supported Agriculture"
- "An Analysis of Future Land Use Change in Licking County: An Application of an Interactive GIS-Based Planning Support System"
- "Sustainable Development and Corporate Culture: Green Consideration in Corporate USA"
- "Evaluating the effect of Genetically-Modified Organisms on Organic Farming: Assessing Issues, Cultivating Solutions"
- "Rough Waters: North and South Tensions and Environmental Education of the Galapagos Fishing Sector"
Many students pursue off-campus summer internships. Here are some examples of recent internships.
- Mihkel Allpere '04 - Environmental Education summer intern at The Great Smoky Mountain Institute, teaching natural history and science at summer youth camps and adult and college-level workshops.
- Kathryn Bush '04 - intern with the B-W Greenway Community Land Trust, serving as a liaison between action committees, representing the organization in community-wide meetings and raising community awareness.
- Milica Dzelatovic '05 - intern with the Ministry of Energy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, working with the planning department on environmental and other issues.
- Melanie Houston '04 - coordinator of an organic gardening project for court-involved youth, lesson-planning, educating and gardening and managing the lunch program, speakers and field trips.
- Adam Klein '04 - intern with The Delta Institute, grant writing, implementing a watershed management plan and developing a sustainable development program.
- Elizabeth Jackson '04 - educator with The Blue Ocean Society, working on whale-watch boats with a naturalist, beach-cleaning and doing boater and beach-based education.
- Lindsay Michael '05 - Parks Planning Assistant with Pittsburgh's Natural Systems Study, data collecting, entering GIS data and information spreading.
Who are our professors?
Department Chair and Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Abram Kaplan joined the faculty at Denison in 1994. He earned a B.A. at Oberlin College, an M.S. at the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. His main area of research focuses on the human side of change toward sustainability.
Visiting Instructor Olivia Aguilar joined the faculty in 2007. She earned her B.S. and M.S. in horticulture at Texas A & M University and is a Ph.D. candidate at Cornell University in natural resources. Her research interests include environmental education, environmental attitudes and behavior, environmental justice, science education reform, and multi-cultural education.
Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Carol Goland joined the faculty at Denison in 1995. She earned a B.A. at Beloit College, an M.A. at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and a Ph.D. at the University of Michigan. Her research and teaching interests include ecological anthropology, sustainable agriculture, Andean agricultural systems, ethnoecology, crop diversity and evolutionary ecology.
Assistant Professor Sarah Harris joined the faculty in 2007. She earned her B.A. degree at the College of Wooster, her M.A. at the University of Cincinnati, and her Ph.D. at the University of Texas. Her research interests include human/environment interactions, ability of environmental policies to shape community and regional development, the effect of rural to urban population movement on the environmental landscape and the role of environment in conflict and conflict resolution. Her current studies focus on Cyprus.
Assistant Professor of Environmental Science Doug Spieles joined the faculty at Denison in 2002. He earned a B.S. at University of Dayton and an M.S. and Ph.D. at Ohio State University. In his scholarship, Dr. Spieles focuses on the ecological development of constructed wetlands, primarily from the point of view of community and ecosystem ecology. He also has interests in environmental education and environmental history.
For more information about the program and curriculum, go to:
Environmental Studies Department
or contact:
Abram Kaplan, Director
Environmental Studies Program
McPhail Center for Environmental Studies
Barney-Davis Hall, Room 108
Denison University
Granville, Ohio 43023
Phone: (740) 587-6736
Fax: (740) 587-5784
E-mail: Abram Kaplan