ChooseWhy Choose This Program?

Why Study Environmental Studies at Goucher?


Goucher’s Environmental Studies Program is designed to encourage thinking across disciplinary boundaries in order to prepare students for meaningful engagement with central environmental questions and challenges facing current and future generations. The program offers students the opportunity to major or minor in a curriculum that bridges social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences. After completing a series of core courses in various disciplines, environmental studies majors must choose either the environment and society concentration or the environmental science concentration to complete remaining coursework.

LearnWhat Will You Learn?

What Will You Learn?


As a field, environmental studies seeks to understand the interrelationships of natural phenomena and social structures, systems, and institutions that govern society. To do so, it must engage in the scholarship of particular disciplines, as well as in the scholarship of integration. Environmental studies students take courses grounded in critical social theory, such as Political Ecology and Environmental Justice, just as they also engage with economic theories of the environment, and physical and biological sciences. Environmental studies courses encourage students to think critically about pressing environmental problems, while also advocating for political and social change.  Learn More

DoWhat Will You Do?

What Will You Do?


Goucher environmental studies majors address environmental problems at a local level, including in the City of Baltimore, as well as those on a global scale. To do so, many students conduct internships with organizations such as Food & Water Watch, Black Yield Institute, and the National Aquarium. Moreover, students often choose to study abroad with the semester-long program at the Monteverde Institute in Costa Rica, or with the three-week intensive course abroad Spanish and Environmental Studies in Ecuador and the Galápagos.

Faculty

Major & Minor Program Chair
Germán Mora, Professor of Environmental Studies: Biogeochemistry, climate change, unequal distribution of environmental services

Full-Time & Half-Time Faculty
Aaron Chesler, Visiting Assistant Professor: Paleoclimate, climate change, glaciology

Peggy Eppig, Lecturer in Environmental Studies: Environmental history and sustainable agriculture

Anna Jozwick, Assistant Professor of Biology: Microbiology and symbiosis in environmental settings

Akana Noto, Assistant Professor of Biology: Ecology and species interactions 

Jennifer da Rosa, Director of M.A. in Environmental Sustainability & Management, Assistant Professor: Environmental education, gender discrepancies of environmental outcomes, behavioral economics

Gina Shamshak, Professor of Economics: Applied microeconomics, environmental and natural resource economics

Study Abroad

By choosing three-week intensive courses led by Goucher faculty or semester programs suited to their academic plans, environmental studies students gain a global perspective that enhances their course of study. 

Explore the programs on offer:

Veritas University - Environmental Science, Policy, Sustainable Development, Ecotourism, Resource Management, Ecology, Conservation, Eco-Photography

ISEP Direct Summer in Costa Rica - Sustainability & Service-Learning

Opportunities & Internships

Summer Research Program


Students have the opportunity to participate in the Goucher College Summer Science Research Program.

Honors & Awards


Departmental honors and awards are given to students who have shown outstanding academic achievement. Find more information on the Environmental Studies Honors and Awards page.

 

Internships


Internships help students explore possibilities, apply classroom learning, and gain experience. Explore internships and credit options.

Student Employment


Student employment connects students to both on and off-campus opportunities. The Career Education Office provides resources and support to students with or without Federal Work Study to find jobs, submit applications, and learn more about the job search process. Students have access to Handshake — a website for job postings, events, resumes/cover letters, and career management.

Major & Career Exploration


Exploring career options, choosing a major, and making career decisions is a multi-step process in which all students are encouraged to engage early and often. Goucher students have a variety of resources available through the Majors and Career page to assist them in this process.

Job Search


A Goucher education prepares students for today’s job market and beyond. Students can explore job opportunities and access job search resources through the CEO Job Search page.

Graduate & Professional School


Students access resources for searching and applying to graduate and professional school through the CEO Graduate and Professional School page, through faculty and staff members, or utilizing their own resources, network and tools.

Johns Hopkins Carey Business School 4+1 BA/MS Program


Goucher College and Johns Hopkins Carey Business School are offering Goucher students a combined bachelor’s and master’s degree program. This 4+1 program combines a bachelor’s degree from Goucher with a master of science degree from Johns Hopkins in business analytics and risk management, information systems, health care management, finance, or marketing. Students can apply during their junior year. GRE or GMAT tests have been waived but applicants must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.25 or better and have passed some quantitative reasoning courses with a grade of B or better.

Alumni SpotlightChevron iconTodd Troester ’15

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Environmental studies major


“I like being on the ground floor of things and being a trailblazer.”

Read My Story

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