Environmental Studies

Related Student Organizations and University Programs

Environmental Center

Environmental Residential College

Student Environmental Action Coalition

Career Paths

Environmental studies majors are prepared to pursue careers in a variety of fields and at places including environmental engineering firms, planning offices, state and federal environmental agencies and nonprofit organizations. Recent alumni have secured the following positions:

• Program and Dedevelopment Coordinator, Citizens Coal Council
• Planner, Commonwealth of Virginia
• Project Analyst, Environmental Resources Management 
• Environmental Educator, Peace Corps
• Data Collection Associate, Bureau of Land Management, United States Government
• Scientist, Gannett Fleming Engineers & Planners

Grants & Awards

Environmental studies faculty have recently received grants and awards in support of their scholarship from the International Research and Exchanges Board, the Susquehanna Heartland Coalition for Environmental Studies, and the National Science Foundation.

Selected Faculty Publications

Faculty of the environmental studies program have recently published their scholarship in the following journals:

• Hydrobiologia
• Journal of the American Water Resources Association
• Journal of Economic Perspectives
• Policy Sciences

Internships

Environmental studies majors can gain career experience and hands-on skills through internships. Bucknell’s Career Development Center supports students who want to secure internships. Recently, students have interned at the following organizations:

• Cleveland Museum of Natural History
• SEDA-COG Energy Resource Center

Facilities & Resources

• Environmental studies students work closely with the Bucknell University Environmental Center (BUEC). At the center, faculty, staff and students collaborate on environmental and nature-related learning, teaching, scholarship, service and action projects at local, regional, national and international levels. BUEC provides increased opportunities for interdisciplinary discourse on the environment and serves as a resource for grant and external funding opportunities.
• A degree in geology with a concentration in environmental geology is offered for students interested in learning how to avoid or mitigate environmental hazards by developing an understanding of the physical and geochemical processes responsible for forming the dynamic landscape in which humans live.
• The B.S. degree in civil engineering is suited to students interested in applied approaches to remedying environmental problems. Three members of that department are environmental specialists.
• Students and faculty work at four natural areas in the local region and in many other locales in the rural ridge-and-valley landscape and beyond. These sites include coal mines, landfills, state forests, limestone valleys, Virginia beaches, Florida scrublands and California deserts.
• Lectures, workshops and round-tables bring experts and distinguished scholars in the areas of environmental science, policy and law to campus to add to the knowledge students gain through their coursework.

Quick Facts

Number of core faculty: 10

Average number of majors per class year: 21

Program Details

• Environmental Studies is the interdisciplinary examination of how natural sciences, policy studies, social sciences, humanities, and engineering combine to inform the consideration of humanity's effects on the natural world.
• We offer an interdisciplinary Bachelor of Arts major in Environmental Studies for students who have an abiding interest in the general environmental problems faced by humans, and with special concern for their humanistic, policy, and social science aspects. Each student works with their academic adviser to identify an area of concentration that provides a cohesive path through the major.  Themes include Environmental Policy, Politics and Economics, Environmental Planning, Environmental Ethics/Humanities, Environmental Advocacy, International Environmental Perspectives, Environmental and Human Health, and Perspectives on Sustainability
• We also offer a Bachelor of Arts major in Environmental Science as a coordinate major. This major  is only available to students who also major in biology, chemistry, or geology, and therefore may be thought of as a means of adding an environmental concentration to a B.A. science degree.  These three disciplines form the core of environmental science, and consequently the first major ensures that students have sufficient depth of knowledge in a particular area of environmental science.  Complementing the depth of knowledge in the student's primary area of study, the B.A. in Environmental Science provides breadth across the interdisciplinary field of environmental science. 
• An environmental studies minor, comprising five courses, also is available.

Faculty

Maria Antonaccio, religion
B.A.Williams; M.A., Ph.D. Chicago
Scholarly interests: environmental ethics

Chris Daniel, geology
B.S. Southwest Missouri State; M.S. University of New Mexico; Ph.D. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Scholarly interests: igneous petrology

Thomas DiStefano, civil and environmental engineering
B.S.C.E. Drexel; M.Eng., Ph.D. Cornell
Scholarly interests: biological treatment of industrial wastes, bioremediation of hazardous waste sites

Duane Griffin, geography
B.A., Ph.D. University of Wisconsin
Scholarly interests: biogeography, GIS

Thomas Kinnaman, economics
B.A. George Mason; M.A., Ph.D. Virginia
Scholarly interests: environmental economics

Ben Marsh, geography
B.A. California at Santa Cruz; M.S., Ph.D. Penn State
Scholarly interests: human impact, GIS, geoarchaeology

Molly McGuire, chemistry
B.A. Carleton; Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Madison
Scholarly interests: environmental chemistry, mineral/water interfacial processes

Matthew McTammany, biology
B.S. Bucknell; M.S., Ph.D. Virginia Tech
Scholarly interests: stream ecology, human impact on aquatic ecosystems, restoration and management of aquatic ecosystems, carbon and nutrient dynamics in ecosystems, GIS and remote sensing

Alf Siewers, ecocriticism
Ph.D. Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Scholarly interests: medieval literature, Celtic studies, literature and the environment

Peter Wilshusen, environmental studies, executive director of the Bucknell University Environmental Center
B.A. Vermont; M.S. Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies; Ph.D. Michigan
Scholarly interests: comparative international environmental politics and planning

Amanda Wooden, environmental studies
B.A. Syracuse; M.A., Ph.D. Claremont Graduate University
Scholarly interests: comparative environmental policy, water politics

Undergraduate Research

Environmental studies majors can conduct independent research with the guidance of a faculty member, or they can collaborate with a faculty member on a research project. Often, these projects lead to publications or presentations at conferences. Recent projects include:

• Agricultural Policymaking: Interest Groups and Access to Governmental Officials
• Hydrologic and Water Quality Assessment of Miller Run: a Study of Bucknell University's Impact
• A Comprehensive Assessment of Bucknell University's Energy Profile

Courses Offered

As an interdisciplinary major, environmental studies draws from courses offered by departments across campus. The following is a partial list of environmental studies courses.

Directed Research I and II
Environmental Community Projects
Environmental History of the Developing World
Environmental Justice
Environmental Law
Environmental Planning
Environmental Policy and Politics
Environmental Pollution and Control
Environmental Problems - Sustainable Futures
Environmental Research Design
Food and the Environment
Green Utopia
Hazardous Waste and Society
Human Ecology
International Environmental Aid
Introduction to Ecological Design
Introduction to Environmental Studies
Nature, Wealth, and Power
Preindustrial Environment
Seminar in Environmental Topics
Senior Thesis
Stream Restoration
Sustainable Resource Management
Water Politics and Policies
Watershed Systems Science

Graduate School

Many environmental studies majors go on to law school or to graduate school in environmental science, environmental engineering, policy studies or environmental planning. Recent graduates have pursued advanced degrees at the following schools:

• Rice University
• Albany Law School
• Duquesne University
• Pennsylvania State University
• University of Florida
• University of Pennsylvania
• Duke University

Study Abroad

A majority of environmental studies majors take advantage of the University’s international studies opportunities and spend a semester studying in different environments, including Africa, Australia, Belize, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Italy and Spain.