Do you want to use your knowledge and skills to promote justice, resilience, and positive change in the ways humans interact with our shared environment? Are you interested in learning how you can participate in the decisions shaping the future? Then the Environmental Studies – Environmental Policy, Politics, and Governance concentration is for you.
This Policy, Politics, and Governance concentration is a future-oriented degree that trains students to understand environmental policies, political disagreements surrounding them, and what to do about these contentions. It teaches students to identify mutually-acceptable solutions that respect nature and help society achieve its goals.
Students will become familiar with how policies and politics change over time and how to effectively enact future change. Students will learn about regulatory processes, grassroots activism, collaborative governance, and market-based strategies for change. Coursework will emphasize how these processes can be used to promote environmental and climate justice.
With an Environmental Policy, Politics, and Governance concentration, you can make a difference working at non-profits, in the private sector, as a consultant, or in the government. In all these sectors, graduates are empowered with ethical frameworks, skills, and insights to work towards a more just and sustainable world. Students go on to work in natural resource management, environmental justice, conflict resolution, and related fields. Graduates are employed by government agencies at all levels, by nonprofit organizations, and by private sector companies. Other graduates go on to further study in environmental law, public policy and administration, and related fields.
Sample Careers
Environmental consultant, environmental analyst, environmental and/or justice advocate, environmental communications specialist, emergency manager, and more. Students go on to establish careers with non-profit organizations; federal, tribal, and state agencies, such as Forest Service, NOAA, EPA, DNR, and Ecology; and with local municipalities. Additionally, graduates can pursue careers in international non-governmental organizations in the areas of humanitarian aid and international development. This concentration prepares students also for graduate work in social sciences, science and technology studies/policy, political ecology, disaster studies, natural resource management, environmental/energy law, public administration, international development, and related fields.
