Princeton Environmental Reform Committee (PERC) Environmental Audit of Princeton University

Chapter 8 - Academic Opportunities

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Environmental education is an integral part of any university's responsibility toward the environment. In response to a growing interest among students and faculty in topics of environmental science and policy, Princeton established the Program in Environmental Studies in 1991. The program has brought two courses, ENV 301 and ENV 302, to the university curriculum; the former approaches environmental issues from a science and engineering perspective, while the second deals with the same issues from a policy and values perspective. A variety of courses in other departments now feature a more emphasized environmental component as well. The program also requires upperclassmen to incorporate an environmental topic into their independent work; seniors must participate in an interdisciplinary thesis colloquium to discuss their research throughout the year. It remains as a certificate program and not a degree specifically to draw on the resources of the entire university and be accessible to a wide range of students.

Student dissatisfaction has been prevalent in the past few years due to the fact that the program is still in its infancy. A more organized and integrated structure is needed, though it has been improving with time under the leadership of Professors Horn, Rubenstein, and others. Hopefully a greater involvement of dedicated faculty will result in a much stronger program. Currently, only a handful of professors are actively working at redesigning and improving the program every year.

The Princeton Environmental Institute was founded in 1992 with the purpose of integrating the areas of environmental science, technology, and policy. PEI emphasizes collaboration and research between academic departments and helps appoint faculty members with specific environmental interests. PEI also considers curriculum revisions and seeks funding for senior independent work and other student research projects. In addition, PEI organizes visiting lecturers and promotes other campus activities through its monthly newsletter.

Specific recommendations include 1) improving the currently offered courses, particularly the problem sets and exams, 2) adding new courses with an environmental component, including ENV 401 and 411, which have yet to be offered, 3) improving the availability of job information, 4) providing incentives for conducting environmental research through the recognition of contributing professors, and 5) making coursework practical by introducing case studies related to Princeton's environmental situation in relevant courses.

INTRODUCTION

Environmental education has become increasingly important to university curricula in recent years. Faculty and students at Princeton have shown a growing interest in the interaction between humans and the environment, developing courses in environmental science and policy for the past several years. In response to this growing interest, the university is continuing to expand its academic opportunities for undergraduates.

The Program in Environmental Studies is a multi-disciplinary forum for the study of the engineering, scientific, and humanistic aspects of environmental problems. Established in 1991, it offers a certificate of proficiency in Environmental Studies to students enrolled in the program. The program was spearheaded and is currently directed by Henry Horn, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, who coordinates undergraduate teaching and mentoring. The program attracts students in the social sciences and humanities as well as the natural sciences and engineering. In 1994, 81 juniors and seniors were enrolled in the program, and 27 seniors graduated with the certificate in May of that year. Approximately 70 faculty members from across the campus participated as advisors to these students.

Courses in environmental studies have been offered in several science and engineering departments at Princeton since the 1960's. In particular, a population biology group, established in 1965 within the Biology Department, grew into the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in 1990. Courses with heavy environmental content have been offered since the 1970's, particularly by the Departments of Geology, Civil and Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, English, and the Woodrow Wilson School.

In 1992, the Princeton Environmental Institute (PEI) was established to oversee all of the environmental academic opportunities and faculty appointments at Princeton. As explained later, PEI has begun to influence the undergraduate environmental education available at Princeton.

OVERVIEW

Present Program of Studies for the Environmental Studies Certificate

The goal of the Program in Environmental Studies is to provide a multi-disciplinary approach to environmental issues that is rigorous within traditional disciplines, yet accessible to students in all fields of concentration.

The formal requirement for admission to the Program in Environmental Studies is the completion of three terms of introductory laboratory science courses in biology, chemistry, geology, and/or physics, or equivalent Advanced Placement. The following requirements are in addition to those of a student's department of concentration. Core courses and cognate courses must be taken on a fully graded basis.

1. Students will take two core courses, Environmental Studies 301 and 302.

2. Students will take three cognate courses (normally at the 300 level or higher) from the lists of approved courses. Additional courses may be approved by the director of the program, depending on the degree of environmental content in a given term. One of the required courses must be from the social sciences and humanities list; one must be in a natural science or engineering department other than the student's department of concentration; and the third is a free choice, which may also be Environmental Studies 401 or 411.

3. Seniors will participate in the Senior Thesis Colloquium.

4. Independent work in junior and senior year will normally involve an environ- mental topic approved both by the director of the program and the undergraduate representative of the student's department of concentration.

ENV 301: Perspectives on Environmental Issues: Science and Engineering

This course conducts an introductory study of the physical, chemical and biological underpinnings of the following environmental problems, whose geographical scales range from local to regional to global: groundwater contamination; air pollution; acid rain; the ozone hole; global warming; ocean circulation; climate changes and their effect on vegetation; biodiversity. It was last taught by Professors Philander (AOS), Feiveson (CEES), and Horn (EEB).

The ENV 301 course evaluation forms for the 1992-1993 and 1993-1994 school years are presented in Table 8.1. Note: ENV 301 evaluation forms for fall 1994 were not available by the registrar for review at this time. The three numbers per category refer to percentage responses in the following order: unacceptable/ fair/ good or excellent.

Table 8.1 ENV 301 course evaluation forms for the 1992-1993 and 1993-1994 school years. The response rates of the two years are 73% and 93%, respectively.

There were major improvements in student opinions in every area from 1992 to 1993. Even in 1993, however, several categories received large percentages of poor or unacceptable ratings. According to the evaluations, the lecture, precept, problem sets, exam and overall quality of the course still have significant room for improvement. The readings and general contribution to knowledge and critical evaluation of the subject were rated more highly.

ENV 302: Perspectives on Environmental Issues: Values and Policy

This course covers such topics as the formulation of environmental policy, the connection between policy and values, risk analysis, economic and other instruments of environmental control, and a critical history of environmental movements and environmental regulation. Selected cases are considered in depth at international and national levels and include consideration of how scientific uncertainty is dealt with in policy formulation. The course was last taught by Professors Feiveson (CEES) and Brechin (SOC).

The ENV 302 course evaluation forms for the 1992-1993 and 1993-1994 school years are presented in Table 8.2. The three numbers per category refer to percentage responses in the following order: unacceptable/ fair/ good or excellent.

Table 8.2 ENV 302 course evaluation forms for the 1992-1993 and 1993-1994 school years. The response rates of the two years are 46% and 64%, respectively.

There were considerable improvements in the specific areas of lecture, precept, reading and overall quality of the course from 1993 to 1994. The change in ratings for the other categories were smaller but also had less room for improvement. In general, all areas are well liked, with very high percentages of good or excellent ratings. The main focus for improvement should be the paper, problem set and exam category, which received more than a 33% ranking of "fair" or less.

Upper Level Environmental Courses

ENV 401 (Environmental Policy Workshop) and ENV 411 (Topics in Environmental Studies) are courses yet to be offered by the program. Topics will vary with cooperating faculty interests, but will always address specific and currently unresolved environmental problems in both their scientific and their human aspects. These will be open only to program participants. These will definitely be of great interest to students when they are available.

Senior Thesis Colloquium

The colloquium is not taken for credit, but regular participation is required of seniors in the program. It supplements the advice that students receive in their own departments by exposing initial ideas and subsequent results to constructive criticism by students and faculty from other departments. Each student must conduct a short presentation of their progress at some point during both the fall and spring semesters; often the presentation helps students clarify their goals and consider new tangents raised by their classmates. This is a definite highlight of the program as it enables students to explore and develop their ideas in a multi-disciplinary atmosphere, as the colloquium consists of students from a wide variety of departments.

Princeton Environmental Institute

Established in 1992, PEI serves as an umbrella organization that supports the university faculty's interdisciplinary environmental interests. It aims to integrate education in science, technology and policy and coordinate interdisciplinary research collaborations and faculty appointments. PEI's Steering Committee consists of chair Dan Rubenstein (EEB), Peter Jaffé (CEOR), François Morel (GEO), and Burton Singer (WWS). The coordinator of PEI is Elizabeth Perlin. PEI promotes the following:

1) scientific analysis for understanding ecosystems, causes and

consequences of degradation, scientific basis of preservation, restoration,

sustainable use

2) technological responses to present and potential environmental damage

3) public policy formulation

Its four primary goals are:

1) to promote research and teaching in its three major areas of concern,

emphasizing cross-disciplinary collaborations

2) to train a new generation of scholars and practitioners with expertise in

environmental studies and show a commitment to interdisciplinary approaches in research, teaching, and outreach activities

3) to promote novel collaborations between Princeton faculty and policy makers

4) to disseminate to the public PEI research results and policy recommen- dations, and to increase opportunities for Princeton faculty and students to engage in environmental activities outside the university

PEI attracts and finances the appointment of many of the environmentally oriented faculty. In its role in appointing professors, PEI thus influences the undergraduate education by hiring new faculty who can offer different courses and research opportunities to students. Environmental courses have and will increase in number and quality as the number of appointed faculty with environmental focuses increases. Through PEI's coordination, top professors and researchers such as François Morel (GEO) and Burt Singer (WWS) have joined the university community in recent years.

Curriculum revisions are being made where possible at the undergraduate and graduate level. For example, permanent faculty for courses such as ENV 301 and 302 are being considered. Consistency and quality of these introductory courses are of utmost importance to students pursuing environmental education beyond this level.

New student support and research opportunities through PEI will be coordinated by way of regular and existing programs to expand interdisciplinary training and research. PEI is actively seeking funding through foundation, government and private sources to increase the number and scope of these opportunities. PEI hopes to increase more funding available for senior thesis research related to environmental concerns.

Units currently linked with PEI include:

ï Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences

ï Chemical Engineering

ï Center for Energy and Environmental Studies

ï Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

ï Geological and Geophysical Sciences

ï Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

ï Program in Water Resources

ï Woodrow Wilson School

-- future links: Center for Human Values, Princeton Materials Institute, Program in Applied and Computational Mathematics.

-- major interaction: Geophysical Fluids Dynamics Lab

Comparative Analysis of Princeton's Environmental Studies Program

The findings of the symposium entitled "New Perspectives on Environmental Education and Research" and held at North Carolina State University in September 1992 help to analyze the undergraduate environmental curriculum at Princeton University as well as the recent efforts of PEI. A comparison of the conclusions of the symposium to the university's current status suggests that Princeton is on its way to offering a strong and diverse environmental program.

The conclusions of the symposium were as follows:

Necessary Elements:

ï administrative support at highest level

ï dedicated core of faculty

Current Barriers:

ï lack of organized and comprehensive textbooks in field of environmental science

ï need to integrate different environmental fields to develop best curricular

materials

ï few forums for universities, government, and industry to transfer knowledge in environmental studies

Goals of environmental science programs:

ï develop deep expertise in key principles of one discipline related to the

environment

-- strength in one established discipline necessary to take on changing

focus of environmental science

ï exposure to environmental studies at junior and senior levels rather than

relying solely on survey courses

ï promotion of awareness beyond the United States

ï integration of social science and humanities using research funding

Methods of encouraging faculty to pursue environmental studies:

ï providing sabbatical funding

ï modest research starter grants

ï recognition of faculty initiative through tenure and promotion procedures

that will remove current prejudices against alternate career priorities

ï create incentives for course development and improvement

ï provide release time

ï encourage exchange programs with other institutions

ï promote seminar programs that assemble faculty from several disciplines

Goals of undergraduate education:

ï school should encourage multi-disciplinary degree programs

ï all undergraduates should have the opportunity to gain exposure to

environmental studies

in their department

ï internships should work with real problems, involve community service,

and encourage student-faculty exchanges

ï environmental literacy should be advocated for the general university

community

These guidelines are generally followed at Princeton. However, a comparison to the environmental academic opportunities at other universities reveals the areas in which Princeton program could improve or expand.

Analysis of Environmental Studies Programs at Other Universities

A brief survey of the present state of other environmental studies programs offers some idea of where Princeton University stands in offering academic support concerning the environment. Environmental studies, as a young discipline, has yet to be structured into a strong and coherent independent course of study; as a result, different universities have approached this challenge in a few distinct ways, with varying levels of university commitment and success. Most universities recognize the interdisciplinary quality of environmental studies, the complexity of which presents a considerable challenge when planning a coherent course of study. Still, several universities have ambitiously drawn upon the courses and faculty of several departments to create independent degree-granting environmental studies programs.

Cornell University

Cornell does not offer Environmental Studies as a major, but it is offered as an interdisciplinary program, presumably equivalent to the certificate program at Princeton. The Center for the Environment, comparable to PEI, serves as a clearing house for information, research and outreach programs, and multi-disciplinary courses, all of which involve students. There are many courses offered at this large institution that have no equivalent at Princeton but feature expansive coverage over the many facets of environmental studies. Some course titles include:

Natural Resources

Agricultural and Environmental Law

Contemporary Issues in Psychology of Environmental Education

Pesticides, the Environment and Human Health

Introductory Chemical and Environmental Toxicology

Food, Population and the Environment

International Environmental Issues

Environmental and Natural Resource Politics

Religion, Ethics and Environmentalism

Social Analysis of Ecological Change

Environmental Microbiology

Carnegie Mellon University

There is an Environmental Institute, similar to PEI, which consists of six separate but overlapping programs, including Risk Analysis and Communication. These programs are the areas of research for faculty, staff researchers and graduate students. Undergraduates can also take classes under these programs. There is an environmental engineering minor, but no major available. Some courses are offered that have no equivalent at Princeton. These include:

Environmental Problem Solving

Critical Issues in American Environmental History

Environmental Issues in the USSR

Brown University

There are two environmentally-oriented degrees available at Brown. One is an A.B. in Environmental Studies and the other is a Sc.B. in Environmental Science. The environmental studies major at Brown has a core curriculum that includes two economics related courses, entitled The Price System and Resource Allocation and Foundations of Environmental Policy Analysis. Other environmentally-related courses include:

Efficient Use of Natural Resources

Environmental Principals

Environmental Regulation

Environmental Law

Public Perception of the Environment

An important facet of Brown's environmental studies program requires majors to perform environment-related public service while at school, either through school organizations or outside interest groups.

College of the Atlantic

This college is unique in that it is entirely focused on environmental studies. The only major one can receive from this college is a BA. in Human Ecology. The requirements include an internship, a senior project and community service. Some of the school's courses include:

Conservation of Endangered Species

Ecological Physiology

Biostatistics

Environmental Psychology

Literature of the Third World

Myth of Ecology

Duke University

The environmental major has the same prerequisites as pre-med, biology, chemistry, organic chemistry and physics. It also requires introductory economics, geology and public policy. Courses in statistics and probability are required along with an independent study or internship. Professors involved in the environmental studies program represent many disciplines including wildlife management, microbiology, economics, human biology (sustainable development), forestry, environmental management, chemistry, oceanography and anthropology.

Some of the courses include:

Ecological Management of Forest Systems

Environmental Ethics

Financial Management: The Key to Sound Resource Management

Harvard University

The University Committee on the Environment is a liaison between the university and the outside world that sponsors talks and involves groups of students and faculty discussing multi-disciplinary environmental problems, works with environmental groups on campus and relays information on events in the area. This helps in promoting the application of academic environmental studies to real world problems. Harvard also has a specific environmental library collection and a Harvard Environmental Network.

Middlebury College

The environmental program here offers opportunities for semester-long studies in Costa Rica, Kenya, Tanzania, Venezuela, Nepal, Thailand and Australia.

Stanford University

Stanford Universityís Earth Systems Program is an example of the use of a structured undergraduate curriculum to integrate various departments. Stanfordís program is organized as a rigorous course of study with a broad multi-disciplinary background and a focus upon a single specific track within the program. Required of all majors are a multi-disciplinary set of cognates (biology, chemistry, geological and environmental sciences, mathematics, statistics, physics, economics, and computer programming) and a core set of Earth Sciences departmentals (Intro to Earth Systems, Geosphere, Biosphere, Anthrosphere, Internship, and Senior Seminar). At the undergraduate level, the program is divided into five distinct tracks: Geosphere, Biosphere, Anthrosphere, Land Systems Management, and Environmental Technology. The internship requirement aims to legitimize the curriculum by providing an integrative experience outside of the classroom. Stanford supports the program by providing faculty for directed research and encouraging off-campus programs (e.g. spending spring quarter at Hopkins Marine Laboratory). The rigor of this interdisciplinary curriculum demands the respect achieved by traditional majors.

Tuft University

The Tufts Environmental Literacy Institute provides training for faculty members at Tufts and other universities to integrate environmental issues into courses. TELI is funded by the Environmental Protection Agency.

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

This environmental studies program is very science-oriented. Required courses include computer science, geology, ecology and statistics. Computer science background should be advocated for Princeton's environmental studies undergraduates.

An analysis of environmental studies programs at other universities shows that this discipline has achieved considerable academic depth and relevance. In general, universities have organized academic opportunities in environmental studies in three different ways.

1) Granting degree status to the programs and allowing students to major in

the field

2) Requiring students to focus their studies in a specific area and granting

certificate equivalents in environmental studies

3) Using their institutes to provide courses and coordinate research.

Princeton combines the latter two approaches. Despite the strides in credibility, environmental studies at Princeton requires a very significant commitment of administration and faculty in order to be confidently established and furthered.

Promotion of Summer Research Opportunities and Internships

Summer courses and internships can be valuable educational experiences for students interested in environmental studies. Informing the students of these opportunities would provide an enormous service at minimal cost to the university. Currently, job opportunities and course offerings that are mailed to the environmental studies program are posted on a bulletin board in Eno Hall. Upperclassmen in the certificate program are probably aware of these postings, because the bulletin board is located near the office of the environmental studies program secretary and several departmental professors. Occasionally, seniors in the certificate program also receive memos in their dorm mailboxes notifying them of job opportunities following graduation.

Unfortunately, underclassmen are probably not aware of these summer opportunities because the bulletin board is located in a building that does not have classrooms or other facilities used by students, and memos are not sent out to students who are not yet officially enrolled in the certificate program. In addition, the environmental studies secretaries have not been forwarding these opportunities to Career Services, because they were not aware that this department existed. Freshman and sophomores are well advised to use the summer internship binders in Career Services but are generally unaware that departmental secretaries also possess information on summer positions.

RECOMMENDATIONS

8.1 Improve currently offered environmental courses.

Lectures, precepts, and problem sets in ENV 301 must be improved to meet the satisfaction of the students. Although many lectures are very interesting, some tended to be dry and disorganized at times. Precepts should be taught by motivated, knowledgeable and dynamic graduate students or faculty for better in-depth analysis of issues. Some of the problem sets should be assigned as group projects including both science and humanities students, and cater to both groups equally. Problem sets, which test quantitative analysis skills, should integrate more information from the lectures.

Both ENV 301 and ENV 302 are relatively easy courses despite being listed as 300-level (junior level) courses. Students interested in pursuing the certificate should be strongly encouraged to begin these courses as early as possible. It should be emphasized in the Undergraduate Announcement and Course Offerings Guide that these courses are manageable for freshmen.

ENV 401: The Environmental Policy Workshop and ENV 411: Topics in Environmental Studies should be offered regularly and appeal to students interested in both science and policy. These courses should be rigorous enough to improve the integrity of the Program in Environmental Studies.

An undergraduate committee should be formed composed of students in the certificate program and faculty members to generate ideas and facilitate improvements to the structure and content of the program.

8.2 Add new courses with an environmental component.

New courses with an environmental emphasis need to be offered in the Departments of Economics, Chemistry, Religion, Molecular Biology, Politics, and in the Woodrow Wilson School. Some important courses might include Resource and Environmental Economics, Chemical and Environmental Toxicology, Environmental Ethics, Environmental Microbiology, and Environmental Law. Courses in these diverse areas would emphasize the general importance of environmental issues across all fields.

8.3 Improve the availability of environmental job information.

All students need to be informed of the existence of the bulletin board in Eno Hall advertising jobs and summer research opportunities through the Undergraduate Announcement and other information packets discussing the Environmental Studies Program.

Information should be transferred between Career Services and the Environ-mental Studies secretaries upon arrival. The facilities of Career Services should not be solely relied upon for displaying these opportunities, because the location is even more difficult to access than Eno Hall.

The department should set up an e-mail listserve of announcements of summer internship opportunities and courses for interested students that sign up during ENV 301, ENV 302, other environmental courses, campus environmental groups, or through the Environmental Studies secretary. This work could be done by the departmental secretary or by a hired student, and could be funded through the Princeton Environmental Institute.

Letters should be sent out from the department to major national environmental organizations requesting notification of either summer opportunities available to students or the appropriate contacts for obtaining such information.

8.4 Provide incentives for excellence in environmental education.

Rewarding schemes such as "Environmental Professor of the Year" might encourage environmental research and course offerings in the university. Such a scheme exists in the Engineering school through the E-Council that greatly enhances the quality of teaching in the school.

8.5 Make environmental coursework practical.

Case studies based on Princeton University's environmental situation can be introduced in many departmental environmental courses, such as those in Civil Engineering, Sociology and Chemistry. This would address and possibly resolve environmental problems on campus while allowing students to apply their knowledge and practical skills. Coursework could include updating and elaborating on the universityís environmental audit.

REFERENCES

University Contacts

Henry S. Horn, Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Dan Rubenstein, Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Gianina Cifelli, Secretary, Environmental Studies Program Office

Task Force Members

Marlene Haas '97

Amy Marr '96

Farhana Sultana '96

Mike Sze '97

This material may be used for educational and non-profit use. Commercial use of this information is prohibited without written consent. Copyright © 1995, Princeton Environmental Reform Committee, Princeton University.