Campus News

Westminster Launches New Environmental Studies Major

April 17, 2006 

Westminster Launches New Environmental Studies Major to Help Address
Environmental Issues & Teach Students to Think Green

SALT LAKE CITY – Today, Westminster College announced it will offer of a new Environmental Studies undergraduate major. The move reflects an increased campus-wide commitment to the environment at Westminster and is the first of several major environmental initiatives the college will be unveiling in the months to come.

Dr. Jeff McCarthy, an English professor at Westminster who specializes in environmental-literature, will direct the new program. He said, “I think it’s appropriate we announce this major on the first day of Earth Week. The Westminster community is very environmentally conscious, and I believe the excitement and support for this major is an indication of great things to come.”

Environmental Studies will be an interdisciplinary program which draws on new and existing classes from across the curriculum in the humanities, natural sciences, and social science fields to provide students with multiple perspectives on environmental studies. The new major builds on an Environmental Studies minor which has been in place for some time.

The Environmental Studies major will involve highly active learning experiences, which are a signature of a Westminster education. “We created this major with the goal of connecting classroom learning to the place we live. Experience based learning gets students outside and into their world because we know that students learn more when they experience something first hand,” remarked McCarthy.

Westminster Environmental Studies majors will have the option of earning either a BA or BS degree in Environmental Studies which can lead them to careers working with business, industry, nonprofit environmental organizations, education and federal, state and local governments; in addition to pursuing continuing studies in graduate school, law and medicine.

Students will select from one of three concentrations: the Civic Environment, Science and Environment, Culture and Environment. Most students will select their area of concentration after completing 60 hours of undergraduate coursework.

“We live in Utah. This is where our students learn, where they do their research and where they do their recreation. Westminster is deeply committed to finding solutions to the environmental challenges the state of Utah currently faces. There are competing uses for every corner of our state, whether it’s gas exploration in the San Rafael Swell, helicopter skiing in the Uintas or air quality along the Wasatch Front. Our graduates will know more about those issues so they can help be part of the solution.”

For more on the new Environmental Studies undergraduate major go

to http://www.westminstercollege.edu/environmental_studies/ .