By Bryn Dippold
The University of Cincinnati's College of Arts & Sciences has announced a new environmental studies Bachelor of Arts program to complement its current Bachelor of Science degree. The new interdisciplinary program will take a more humanities-focused approach to the discipline, exploring environmental history, philosophy, literature and writing, society and culture, and the implementation of environmental policies.
The new degree is designed to to fill the areas of knowledge that environmental studies students have wanted in the curriculum, such as writing-heavy courses and a more humanities-based approach, says David Stradling, professor of history and chair of the committee for the environmental studies BA program.
As part of the new program, many existing environmental studies courses will be used to satisfy requirements, such as Environmental Policy, Global Environmental History and Race and the Environment in American History. The most important class, according to Stradling, will be a methods class that explores environmental studies methods from a social science and humanistic point of view.
Since environmental studies is a growing field, the hope is that the addition of the BA to UC may appeal to incoming students. Stradling stresses the passion behind environmental studies students. "We don't do it because it's popular, but because we really believe in it," he says. "There's an urgency in solving environmental programs, and talking about them, examining them and writing about them is absolutely essential."
Currently, there are no formal internships or co-ops planned to coincide with the new BA program, but the environmental studies BS program recently launched a co-op track that may inspire and inform the newer program. Recruitment for the environmental studies BA program will begin fall 2022 with the first group of students arriving in fall 2023.
Featured image at top: Foliage. Photo/Sonia Dauer for Unsplash.
